Youth Photography Projects

El Nahual-Quetzaltenango, Guatemala

2008-12-31T10:50:00.000-08:00

The week long photography classes in Quetzaltenango went great. The students really loved taking photos and every time the cameras came into sight they would all get so excited. It is a
wonderful thing to see such joy on these kids faces. Once again, I am impressed with the results-I love seeing what they have come up with. I think this is my new passion-traveling with cameras and seeing what kids come up with. Good stuff!

ALL PHOTOS TAKEN BY GUATEMALAN PHOTOGRAPHY STUDENTS

2008-12-17T11:45:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the first day of the Photography Project in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. The project is taking place at the El Nahual Spanish School. The students were so so excited to have their hands on cameras! It was kind of crazy at first, everyone was really thrilled to be able to photograph-many for the first time in their lives. Very cool to see their faces just light up!

Exhibition

2008-12-12T18:07:00.000-08:00

The Ojos de Oaxaca exhibition went great-we had a slideshow of the students work and a group played live classical music. I was so proud of the students and all of their hard work! There was a ribbon cutting and we had a small ceremony-to give diplomas to each students. So great-feel honored to work with these young people and hoping there is a chance these classes can continue into the future...

Artists Words

2008-12-03T10:39:00.000-08:00

My name is Gihovanny Mora and I live in Oaxaca city. I have 17 years old. Since I was a child I like to show how I see the world by different means like art, writing, cooking and now photography.
Photography has shown me a different view of the world. We are sometimes so busy in our own world that we don´t realize and appreciate all the rich things we have around. Our view is the same everyday that we forget to hear the air, to feel the rain in our faces, or the sun in the sky. Every moment is magic, but people just worry about how to get a good future, and we forget our own life into the everyday work.
For me taking a photo is not just focus on the thing or object we want to take. It´s knowing what we want to show is thinking about what we want to remember, or what we want to transmit. Sometimes following rules about how to take pictures is not very useful, because we are more worried in lines, shapes, colors, etc. and we can´t appreciate a beautiful landscape completely, or we forgot what is the essence of the picture. I think the key is to know what we want to show, to feel the work we are doing, and to visualize our objective.
“IMAGINE A WORLD, YOUR WORLD, AND THE WORLD YOU WANT TO SEE AND YOU WANT TO SHOW TO OTHERS”.

Photography is a moment in paper. It´s a frozen time. I think Photography is more than that because when you have a camera in your hands, you see the world in a different way. When you have a curiosity to shape a special moment, and you realize that this moment maybe never come back is when you understand that your eyes are the real camera you need. Just to need to discover it, to accept it, and to use it. Photography is loving the moment, is allowing your curiosity to explore, is drawing colors, lines, expressions, fears, and happiness. But the most important thing is wanting to do the things you do.

Truth is that I don´t want to take pictures, but I enjoy doing it. When you know you have something to share with others, something that can provoke people´s emotions and feelings like the time the picture was taken, then a inspiration grows inside you, and you want to continue doing it. Then is when you realize that you can do the things you want, the things you love. You want to show and make people conscious about the problems exist in the world.
For me taking pictures means wanting to get an expression from the person is looking it.
I´m not a photographer, and I don´t know if one day I will be, but I´m sure that the things I do are the things I want, and this is not a waste of time. I want to shape an image not just in paper, but in the people´s memories. With pictures you can leave a small part of history. Photography is an art in which people´s thinking and thoughts are studied.
Photography is something from inside, but is something that you need to practice and work on it. As some photographers say is teaching your eyes, and teaching your mind because when you take a picture you enter into the people´s life if you want to transmit with your work.

Before I though photography was too easy, and it didn´t need a lot of work to do it, but with this course I can say my mind changed. Now I know Photography is not that. Photography is the study of a moment from different perspectives, from inside to outside, from the emotional level to the physical level. Photography is living it, is enjoying it!

-Isais Antonio Cruz

Since I was a child I like to watch the things I can see. Because of this, I´m interested in photography, because for me photography is the way to show people how the world is, and how I perceive it. Looking at photos is like reading, because photography is a language without words that people can understand in many levels, and this is wonderful. Pictures with colors or not-we can talk about the composition of it, and it all depends of how the picture is taken -this is the way we can understand it. People feel different things, depending on the composition of the picture.

There is no pleasure more extravagant than allows us to freeze the time
That magic moment that remains as a dream, a look, an object
The emotion to see through the other person takes us into the warmest paths
A smell, a taste… a complete life of color.

-Mayra Cruz Mendoza Sarahy

HOLA MI NOMBRE ES CYNTHIA DESDE PEQUEÑA ME GUSTA MUCHO OBSERVAR TODO LO QUE NOS RODEA EN ESE ENTONCES NO SABIA EL PORQUE DE MUCHAS COSAS FUE NO HACE MUCHO QUE DESCUBRI QUE ME LLAMA MUCHO LA ATENCION LOS OBJETOS EN TODO SU SENTIDO EL PORQUE SE SUS FORMAS, COLORES, ETC. PARA MI LA FOTOGRAFIA ES INTERESANTE YA QUE EN UNA SIMPLE FOTO SE PUEDE REPRESENTAR, DECRIBIR SENTIMIENTOS POR EJEMPLO Y OBSERVAR MUCHAS COSAS SIN NECESIDAD DE PALABRAS, EN UNA FOTOGRAFIA SE PUEDE DECIR MUCHO.
A MI ME GUSTA TOMAR FOTOS BASADAS EN LA PERSPECTIVA YA QUE SIENTO QUE LA VIDA SE OBSERVA DE MUCHOS PUNTOS Y DE CADA PUNTO DE VISTA TIENEN DIFERENTES OPINIONES, CARACTERISTICAS ETC.
CREO QUE ES INTERESANTE QUE TODOS SE DIERAN CUENTA DE ESTE PUNTO DE LAS PERSPECTIVA QUE TIENE LA VIDA Y QUE ES INDEPENDIENTE LOS PUNTOS DE OBSERVACION DE UNA FOTOGRAFIA.

-Cynthia Ruiz Perez

HELLO MY NAME IS CYNTHIA. I LIKE VERY MUCH TO OBSERVE EVERYTHING THAT SURROUNDS US. FOR ME THE PHOTOGRAPH IS INTERESTING SINCE IN A SIMPLE PHOTO IT IS POSSIBLE TO BE REPRESENT AND DECRIBE FEELINGS FOR EXAMPLE AND TO OBSERVE MANY THINGS WITHOUT NEEDING WORDS, IN A PHOTOGRAPH A LOT CAN BE SAID. I LIKE TO TAKE PHOTOS BASED ON THE PERSPECTIVE SINCE I FEEL THAT THE LIFE IS OBSERVED OF MANY POINTS AND OF EACH POINT OF VIEW-PEOPLE HAVE DIFFERENT OPINIONS. I BELIEVE THAT ALL THESE POINTS OF PERSPECTIVE ARE INTERESTING AND THAT LIFE IS INDEPENDENT OF THE OBSERVING POINTS OF A PHOTOGRAPH.

-Cynthia Ruiz Perez

Photography inspires me to know faces and contrasts of the world. Through photos I can see how people think, how they are. I can admire beautiful landscapes and transmit the way I feel.

For me photography is important because I can take scenes and moments that maybe never happen again. I can remember these wonderful moments that I had the opportunity to see.
I like to capture special and new moments in my daily life. I really enjoy the moment when I`m taking photos with my friends, my pets, or just when I`m photographing a new place. I think that sometimes just a photo can change my feelings. Photos can show true feelings people hide inside.
With photography we can describe the evolution of life. We can show changes and make some moments come back at the present.
A picture itself is a complete scenary full of magic life that speaks just by itself. A photo talks without the need to say anything. Taking pictures allow us to develop our own ability and imagination to create and recreate a history.

-Delgadillo Calderon Berenice Isui

I like Photography because is something I can use to preserve or keep a special moment. With Photography I can show feelings in diferent moments in my life.
Photographing landscapes, plants and animals is something that I really enjoy when I`m taking photos, and I like to remember these fhotos by the time.
I think Photography is interesting because just one photo can be percieved in many diferent ways, people undestand diferent ideas, and sometimes their ideas are completely diferent to the ideas the photographer wanted to transmit.
Next paragraphs talk about what I wanted to show when I took these photos.

Lion is not as people think:
In this fhoto my intention was showing things are different, and not everyone think the same. Always exist other ways to see the same thing.

Tradition and color:
I think Oaxaca is rich in tradition and culture, and I liked this photo because it shows how children want to preserve their culture. It is colorful and it represents Oaxaca`s traditions.

-Luis Angel Galindo Gutierrez

During a great part of my life I have been dedicated exclusively to the scholastic work, postponing everything that I have liked. Nowadays I have the time and mainly the opportunity to realize activities that are interesting to me… among them-photography. The photograph is like a many of us, we are like an art that has caught different important moments throughout the life from the man, places that we have imagined, also make us remember pleasing moments; it brings about different emotions and feelings to us. There are some who are born with the talent and others practice with what we are discovering- little by little new techniques, styles and new angles to photograph. A style that can define me… not yet? I have only photographed what the attention has called me, possibly in the future -I will define my photographs with some style. Now that taking this course has helped me not to be timid to catch what I like and not to concern myself with being observed by others, because what I am perceiving-who knows if another person is perceiving the same.

-Arq. Nallely Bautista Rojas

Photography is a moment that remains in our minds for the eternity.
It´s a magic instant where is not just the composition of photography techniques that creates a picture. There is a series of emotions and feelings combined which tell us a story that probably is not real.

Wilber Mèndez

Mi nombre es Gustavo Hassan y el interes de tomar fotos de diferentes temas y no solo de mi mismo es porque soy una persona muy observadora y me llama la atenciòn diferentes estilos de fotografia. Me gusta construir historias y poemas, tratando de demostrar al mundo la calidad del trabajo que consruyocon el pensamiento, palabras y corazòn.
Y al tomar las fotos me da un sentimiento grande de alegria ya que puedo dar a conocer la cultura y belleza demi ciudad y de los remotos rincones del mundo.

-Gustavo Hassan Vasquez Perez

Cunde la sensación de que, a fuerza de insistir en la naturaleza de ese especial registro de lo real que es lo fotografico, estamos, sin quererlo, facilitando la cristalizaciòn de un prejuicio, a saber, el de que dicho registro, por su cercanìa al fondo, estuviera condenado a reflejar el Horror... 1

Cada imagen transmite un sentimiento, es por eso que algunas impactan al observador desde el primer instante en que la nota, así las fotografías quedan grabadas en nuestro subconsiente teniendo esa imagen presente, contando historias atraves de imagenes congeladas.
...La fotografia tiene algo naturalmente muy inscitante en sí misma y poseen una gran fuerza y significado para la gente...le dan sentimientos detrás de la inverosímil maraña de fenómenos... 1
La gente busca esto incansablemente...

-FRANCISCO BEANA
notas para un ensayo de fotografìa

Excursion-Teotitlan de Valle, Oaxaca

2008-12-02T17:46:00.000-08:00

This weekend we all met bright and early and went on a photography excursion to a Teotitlan de Valle. Teotitlan is a weaving village about 40 minutes outside of Oaxaca. We all piled in 2 taxis that offered us the same rate as the local bus. It was a fun day full of giggling and creativity. When we arrived, we met Josefina-a local woman whose family is deeply involved in the tradition of weaving rugs. She was so sweet and gave us all a general tour of the town. We visited the local church-which was full of flowers for a Quincera that day. She then brought us to her friends house-who makes homemade candles out of beeswax and wonderful ornate colored wax flowers.

The woman showed us the process of heating the wax and then making candlesticks by pouring the wax over and over again. It was really a cool local house and was neat to be a part of the daily activity for this family. They had cactus in their front yard and a flock of turkeys that all gobbled when you whistled. The students found that hilarious! They would all whistle and the turkeys would gobble back. When they asked the woman why these crazy birds did this, she responded that they are happy.

Afterwards we all went to Josefina's house to watch the process of how they make ´tapetes´. The white bugs on the cactus (see photo) are cochineal. When they are smashed they create a red color-used for dye. It was neat to see these teens be a part of this tradition and document what is authentic to their country. It was fun to watch 10 students snap Josefina's mother weaving. She smiled and laughed as she was bombarded by cameras-like a swarm of papparazzi.

This is our last week of class and next Tuesday we have our photography exhibition. The students are all producing excellent work and I am continually impressed and proud of what they are able to create. It is exciting! I have been videotaping interviews with the students and when asking one student, Mayra, about her future and her hopes she said in Spanish ¨I am studying Architecture and enjoy this subject. But now I want to further my education in photography and maybe become a photographer¨. What sweet music to my ears:)

New Photos-

2008-11-29T13:40:00.000-08:00

Photo Essays, Family and friends....

2008-11-27T08:33:00.001-08:00

All the students have continued to shoot this week every day. Tuesday Vittorio D' Onofri came and gave a presentation of his work. (http://www.victoriodonofri.com/) It was neat for the students to see examples of his photo essays and it gave them some guidance for their own topics of interest. They are coming along-Isui is doing her project on women and domestic violence. Giohovanny is focusing on the old crumbling buildings of Oaxaca. Antonio-poverty in Oaxaca. We are going to present all of their photos in a slideshow format at the gallery show in December! Should be great.

Today the students are working individually around the city and then we are all meeting later to upload photos, disuss and plan the gallery exhibition. We are going to have a potluck, live music, prints and photo greeting cards for sale and a table with information about the Oaxaca Learning Center-which many of the Ojos de Oaxaca students are a part of. Hopefully we gain a lot of support for the Oaxaca Learning Center and the future of the Ojos de Oaxaca photography project. Today the group will collaborate to put together a Power Point Presentation for the art opening.

Saturday we are all going to a small weaving village, Teotitlan de Valle, outside of Oaxaca City. The students are going to gain more practice on taking photos with one subject. We are all going to shoot the process of creating tapetes (hand-woven rugs). It is a sweet charming village where women carry baskets full of produce on their heads and armfuls of roses in their arms. The streets are all cobblestone-a place with great lighting and perfect photography opportunities.

I recently contacted a local family there-who I met on my last visit. Saturday morning they are welcoming all of the Ojos de Oaxaca students into their home for a full papparazzi event-they will spin the wool, dye the fabric with various natural dyes, and weave while all the students will have a chance to document this great tradition. They use cochineal (the insect found on local cactus-that turns red when you smash it), indigo and alfalfa to dye the rugs.

Yesterday we made photography collages. The students were so creative and mixed up all their images in surreal and interesting ways.

Family and Friends-Portraits

2008-11-21T09:58:00.000-08:00

We have been working on taking pictures of family and friends. The students will be working on these portraits for the next two weeks-heres a peek of some of their shots.

Yesterday Marcela Taboada came and it was really great to have her come. The students asked her a lot of questions and were really absorbed with her work. Each student talked with her about their creative inspiration and why they want to learn photography. It made me wish that this project didn't have to end in a few weeks. They are all very creative young folks who are so eager to learn new things and put them into practice. I think that seeing Marcela-a professional Mexican photographer-made them eager to get out there and shoot again. Immediately after Luis Angel asked me if we could shoot tomorrow afternoon.

Self-portraits

2008-11-20T10:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we went to the Benito Juarez park again and practiced taking self-portraits. Before shooting, we looked at a lot of examples of how to show yourself without necessarily showing your face. The students experimented a lot and it was fun seeing them rolling around in the grass and setting their self-timers and running. They are also working on creative writing to be included with their self-portraits.

Once the light goes down every day, we have been going to the Comision Estatal de la Juventud to use their computers-upload photos onto flickr.com, play with photoshop and discuss everyones photographs so far. It's neat to see them get excited about what they produce and witness their pride in their work. They are all very supportive and respectful of eachother.

Last night everyone had the opportunity to take the cameras home to photograph family and friends. This will give them the chance to create more personal photos. We reviewed techniques for taking portraits and I am excited to see what they come up with.

Today Marcela Taboada is coming to give a presentation at Cejuve. (www.marcelataboada.com) I think it will be great inspiration for these teens to meet a successful photographer who lives right here in Oaxaca City. I am sure it will be great motivation. More soon.....

Reflections and Shadows

2008-11-19T09:11:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we all went to the Benito Juarez Park to focus on pictures with light, shadow and reflection. It was a great time to photograph because the grey clouds were just clearing and the lighting was really dramatic. The students became a lot more aware of light-one student was so excited about using lighting-he said he wants the SUN to be the subject of his photo essay!

I feel like the students are starting to use line, shape and pattern more in their photos. We have been looking at a lot of examples of great photographs and discussing what makes these photos interesting. Yesterday we looked at the work of Graciela Iturbide. All of the students really liked her style and the strange dream-like quality of her photos.

Today we are practicing self-portraits with various backgrounds, facial expressions etc. We will also be starting our photo essays. The students ideas are great-Antonio is thinking about doing tattoos and Mayra has talked about doing LOVE as her subject. They will be working on these for the next few weeks-so it will be fun to see how their stories develop.

Very good news-we have an art show at LA CASA DE CULTURA OAXAQUENA for the month of December! The students photos will go up on December 9th and we will have an art opening that night at 8pm. If you are in Oaxaca City, be sure to come by and check out this great photography by local youth!

Where:

LA CASA DE LA CULTURA OAXAQUENA

Galeria Alfonso Rivas

EX CONVENTO DE LOS SIETE PRINCIPES

Gonzalez Ortega 403, Centro Historico,

Oaxaca, OAX. Tel: 51-62483

ccocomunica@hotmail.com

When:

Tuesday December 9, 2008 at 6:00pm

Martes 9 de Deciembre de 2008-18:00 HRS

Hope to see you there! :)

Photo Slideshow

2008-11-15T08:06:00.001-08:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32283992@N07/show/

Meet the Photographers!

2008-11-13T18:48:00.000-08:00

There are currently 14 students in the Ojos de Oaxaca program. Some cannot come every day due to work, school or homework. Pictured above is some of the members of the group involved in this project. Nallely is in the sombrero-she is a cheerful young gal who takes bright, playful pictures. Antonio is in the black and white pic above-he is very patient and takes his time with each image.

Today we all went to the Museum of Contemporary Art on Alcala Street in Oaxaca. They have a show up of historical photographs of Oaxaca-with pictures of old beautiful sepia tone prints. It was great seeing the students view images of Oaxaca from 1896 and pointing to street corners they recognized. It was fun seeing the students with their nose to the glass of an image, simply staring. I think seeing a lot of examples is good for them in terms of seeing what works and what doesn't in photography.

Afterward we went to a park behind the Santo Domingo area to photograph eachother and let loose. Then we all sat in a circle under a street light and discussed what we have learned so far through experimenting with our cameras.

Worldwide Youth Photography Projects

2008-11-12T20:04:00.001-08:00

1.) Aja Project: Disparando Cameras Para La Paz: Bogota, Columbia
www.ajaproject.org/columbiaproject.html

2.) Aja Project: Journey: San Diego, CA
www.ajaproject.org/sandiegoproject.html

3.) Aja Project: Record of Truth: Thai/Burma Border
www.ajaproject.org/karenproject.html

4.) Bridges to Understanding, Seattle, WA
http://www.bridgesweb.org/

5.) Chishawasha: Lusaka, Zambia
www.tribeofman.com/zambia

6.) Charleston Kids with Cameras, Charleston, South Carolina
http://www.charlestonkidswithcameras.org/

7.) Clicking Hearts: Belo Horizonte, Brazil
http://www.clickinghearts.org/

8.) My World, My View: Pokhara, Nepal
http://www.asha-nepal.org/

9.) Ncoppa e Quartieri (On Top of the Quarters): Naples, Italy
http://www.largobaracche.it/

10.) NicaPhoto: Nagarote, Nicaragua
http://www.nicaphoto.com/

11.) Photovoice: London, UK
http://www.photovoice.org/

12.) Shooting Jozi: Johannesburg, South Africa
http://www.shootingjozi.net/

13.) Through the Eyes of Children: The Rwanda Photo Project: Rwanda, Africa
http://www.rwandaproject.org/

14.) Voices: Tucson, Arizona
http://www.voicesinc.org/

15.) Eyes Wide OPen Wordwide: Springfield, Ohio
http://www.eyeswideopenworldwide.org/

16.) Fair Mail: Huanchaco and Trujillo, Peru
http://www.fairmail.info/

17.) Fotokids: Guatemala City, Guatemala
http://www.fotokids.org/

18.) Fundacion Ph 15: Buenos Aires, Argentina
http://www.ph15.org.ar/

19.) Katrina: Images from FEMAS Airport Village: Baton Rouge, Louisiana
www.kids-with-cameras.org/news

20.) Kids Camera Project: New Orleans, Louisiana
http://www.kidcameraproject.org/

21.) Kiosk Ngo: Bujanovac, Serbia
http://www.kioskngo.org/

22.) The In-Sight Photography Project: Brattleboro, Vermont
http://www.insight-photography.org/

23.) Venice Arts: Venice, California
http://www.venice-arts.org/

24.) Focus on Youth: Portland, Oregon
http://www.focusonyouth.org/

25.) Exposures: Cross Cultural Youth Arts Program: Vermont
http://www.exposuresprogram.org/

26.) The World Through my Eyes: Mozambique
http://www.theworldthroughmyeyes.org/

Market Madness-Portraits of people

2008-11-12T19:20:00.000-08:00

Today was a really fun day-we all went to two local markets-the Benito Juarez market and the Abastos market. You can pretty much find anything in these places-baskets, roses, live chickens, fresh tamales and more. It is a visual feast and completly over-stimulating. A perfect place to practice shooting...

The students are more and more comfortable together. Today there was a lot of laughing, smiling and joking. They are getting more and more confident when asking people for a photograph. It is great to see them experimenting-getting down on their knees, trying different angles and seeing what works. They are starting to be more aware that everything inside the frame counts. I can see that they are paying more attention to the background and details in their images. I am noticing that they are using pattern, line and color to create more interesting images. Many of them have a natural eye for color and framing. I am feeling very proud of these young folks.

I am very impressed and can't wait to see what the future holds for these budding artists.

All photos were taken by Ojos de Oaxaca Students.

¨The camera is a remarkable instrument. Saturate yourself with your subject, and the camera will all but take you by the hand and point the way.¨

-Margaret Bourke-White

Museum Day

2008-11-12T10:58:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the second day of class. These young folks are really bright and fun. Yesterday we all went to the Alvarez Bravo museum to view the current show of Pedro Meyer.

(http://www.cfmab.blogspot.com/)

It was great-all the students talked about composition, meaning, emotion, line, light etc. They were all very perceptive and I am impressed with them already.

After the museum, we practiced shooting again to get comfortable with the cameras and each other. Already I am noticing that they each have their own style. Nallely shoots bright and playful pictures (see shoes). Betina loves faces and portraits of people. She shot a few of children that are so great. Antonio is pensive and quiet. He takes his time with every shot and his pictures capture calm peaceful moments. (see pigeon)

Today we are all going to two local markets that are CRAZY with pigs heads, hot peppers and red high heels all side-by-side. We will be practicing shooting faces and portraits amidst the madness. Should be a visual feast! More soon...

First day of class

2008-11-10T18:04:00.000-08:00

Today was the first day of class. Eleven students showed up at the Oaxaca Learning Center eager to learn and practice photography. After a few minutes of discussion and logistics, we set out to take pictures right away. At first the students were shy with each other and didn't talk much. Many of these teenagers have never met before. They hesitated to take pictures and looked a little lost. However, after 30 minutes of photographing each other and random things, they became more comfortable and talkative.

We spent two and a half hours wandering around Oaxaca City taking photographs. Today was very unstructured-the time was for students to become comfortable with their cameras. It allowed them to be more confident in asking people for a shot. It was fun sitting back and observing these eleven young people go at it. Each personality differs and already I am so impressed by their sense of composition. Some are very shy and don't want to ask to take people's pictures. Others are very direct and walk right up to complete strangers requesting a photograph.

It seems we are going to need to meet downtown everyday in order to catch the light. By the time we ended up downtown, we were losing the sun. I suppose we are learning how to make this successful as we go.

This energetic group is going to be so much fun. They each have their own personality and special qualities about them. I am excited about what this month will hold. Tomorrow we are going to the Alvarez Bravo Photography Center. There is a black and white show there right now and it will be a great spot to discuss the elements of photography.