Oaxaca workshop

We spent the week in Oaxaca de Juárez, usually known simply as Oaxaca. The city is quite nice, with lots of public space in the historic center, beautiful churches made of this distinctive green-tinged brick, and one of the most active zócalos we’ve yet visited.

Against the backdrop of this lovely city, we led a small 3-day photography workshop with El Centro Esperanza Infantil, a group working with children in Oaxaca. We were placed with this group through The Muskoka Foundation, which works with overlanders like us, getting us short-term volunteer opportunities throughout the Americas. The local coordinator, Peppo, helped to set up the workshop.

On Saturday, we talked to the kids about visual storytelling. Juan talked to them about street photography (which they loved) while I bored them with the heaviness of photo stories. Sunday, we went on a photo excursion through the Zócalo, the 20 de Noviembre market, the Parque Benito Juarez, and the Plaza Santo Domingo.

On Monday, we–well, Juan, really–helped the kids through the lengthy editing process. You can see a selection of their work here:

From Miriam Garcia Sanchez:

From Alma Judith Ramos:

It was wonderful to get to know this great organization, which pairs students with individual donors to help fund their educational expenses. The center itself is a beautiful building, a home-away-from-home for the kids, who drop by to hang out, meet visitors, read, eat, and get help with homework. The kids we worked with showed a great amount of enthusiasm and commitment, and we are hoping to help them continue with their passion for photography. Although they are granted limited use of the center’s cameras, we are hoping to help them get in more time shooting by getting donations of used digital cameras.

Please contact us and let us know if you have an old point-and-shoot (preferably with all the necessary accessories) that you’d like to donate! More from Oaxaca at limpire.com.
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