Listen to My Pictures – Photo Show June 24 7:30pm
Listen to My Pictures – Foto Class – Guadalajara, Mexico from Josh Meltzer on Vimeo.
Just finished putting together this video story about the kids that are in my photo class. We have our final show opening at the Museo Regional tomorrow, Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. in Guadalajara, México.
Last days of Photo Class
After nearly seven months of teaching a weekly photo class to a group adolescents here in Guadalajara, the students turned in their Canon cameras and we had our final edit for an upcoming show. We narrowed down 16,803 images shot by 19 students ages 11-16 to a small group of 50 photographs that are being printed and framed as I write.
I’m currently editing a video about the class and our experiences, that will be posted on the class’ website www.joshmeltzer.com/ltmp/ltmp.html soon as well as projected at the museum.
I would like to make an open invitation to attend the show, June 24 2009 at the Museo Regional in Guadalajara’s historic downtown at 7:30 p.m. The U.S. consulate is coming on board as a sponsor, and the kids and I are really excited to show our work to the city. We have promises from a newspaper and main television station here to make interviews with the kids to help promote the show.
Semana Santa, San Martin de los Flores
I have been working in a community of migrants from a neighboring state of Zacatecas just outside of the Guadalajara community of San Martin de los Flores since January. The 140 families make bricks by hand and live in extreme poverty. That story is still in progress….however, last week, Rosa, the family matriarch told me that for more than 200 years this week during Semana Santa (Holy week) there is a huge festival in San Martin de los Flores, where the crucifixion of Christ is reenacted.
So, I went, spent a full day in the full sun, and watched a play which felt as though it were acted out in real time as actors used the entire center of town in front of thousands of people throughout most of the day. Around 6:30 the actors follow as Christ and his followers carry a huge wooden cross about a kilometer up a small hill where they are crucified. When Mexicans perform a reenactment, they take it to the nth degree. In a procession of the Virgin of Guadalalupe last September, reenactors whipped each other with full force. In this reenactment, the crowd was the factor, with thousands of people packed on a dusty-footing hillside, all trying to get a glimpse of Christ. Pushing, shoving and yelling all around! Media included.
World Music Festival
Just a few pictures from Fiesta de la Musica which took up four plazas downtown Guadalajara on Saturday night. The last concert, La Mala Rodriguez, was supposed to start at midnight, but didn’t get off (in true Mexican fashion) until nearly 2 a.m. but was worth the wait. Very impressive opening by local band Radaid.
While waiting for the set to get some audio fixed, Danielle, Gustavo and Manzano went into a nearby bar which was about to close, except that Gustavo knew the owner. We walked into a closing bar only to be followed by half a dozen drunk people who cranked up the Karaoke machine and danced away for another hour. A crazy series of events….
Fronton (Handball)
Fronton from Evelio Contreras on Vimeo.
My good friend Evelio Contreras, whom I worked with in Roanoke (now he’s at Las Vegas Sun), is visiting for the week, and we’re working hard. Sunday afternoon we went to Parque Agua Azul, a city park, looking for a group of guys I photographed back in September who play Fronton (handball). I told him that day there was a man with only one arm, and somehow, he was there Sunday too, so we made a little video story about him and the game in the park. Afterwards he challenged us to a game, which we oblidged. It wasn’t as hard as I first thought, but my hand was sore the next day.
Yesterday, before shooting some interviews for my projects, we spent about an hour at the Lucha Libre office begging for press passes to today’s matches. I think we’re 85% there…still have to write a formal letter of request and drop it off later today before the fight. Should be fun if we can work it out. Stay tuned.
Zaico Circo
Missy and I went to a great show last night of a band/circus called Zaico Circo. They came highly recommended and we were treated to an amazing show of music and antics including people on stilts, a trumbonist standing on a table speaking in his own language, and incredible energy. This video below is from another performance, but at least you can see and hear them in action.
Missy’s painting
Just wanted to show off Missy’s completed painting. She has been taking a oil painting course and recently finished this one, which is based from a photograph I took of Maria, a Huichol woman, in Guadalajara one day after taking her sick daughter to the hospital.
CODENI Piñata Party
Today was the posada (holiday party) for CODENI, where nearly all of the kids and their families gathered at a restaurant downtown to celebrate the end of the year, receive certificates and finally break down a piñata.
We have one more week in Mexico before returning to “middle North America” for a few week vacation to see family and friends, and have a lot to do before heading home.
Mini Multimedia Workshop
Fabiola Ruvalcaba from Josh Meltzer on Vimeo.
My friend, Miguel Martinez, a photographer at the Spanish language paper Mundo Hispánico in Atlanta, Georgia, was here for a week visiting family in his native Guadalajara, and he asked me if we could have a little mini multimedia workshop while he was here. He’s pushing the envelope at his paper to include some multimedia on their website and was hungry to learn more.
So, while here we worked for two very long days and evenings on a short story about Fabiola Ruvalcaba, a partially blind Judo star, who won the silver medal at the 2008 Paraolympic Games in Beijing this past summer. We shot a short interview and photographed her at the gym and at home to quickly put together this video story.
It was a great experience for both Miguel, who returned I think feeling very encouraged to try more multimedia at his paper, and for me, getting another opportunity to edit and work in Spanish more. We basically ran out of time to edit the video shorter, which it needs to be, but it was an experiment and a great start for Miguel.
Critical Mass, Guadalajara
I know that two wrongs don’t make a right, but after living here for three months, and using our bicycles to get around most of the time, we were seeking some sweet revenge on the buses, cars and even pedestrians. Every first Thursday of the month, over 3000 cyclists gather at Parque Revoluncion to ride about an hour on some of Guadalajara’s busiest and largest roads, blocking traffic, frustrating buses and cars and making a lot of noise. Perhaps the best was going through the tunnels that bypass certain neighborhoods and getting passed in the tunnel by a double-decker bike ridden by a guy in a gorilla suit. Ah Mexico.
Dia de los Muertos – Day of the Dead
We traveled to Patzcuaro in the heart of the state of Michoacan for a long weekend of camping with our good friends Naomi and Jose, Fulbrighters from Queretaro, and Annie, Super, Panzon and baby Elena. Thanks to a gracious invitation from Octavio, a Spanish tutor of Missy’s we had the luck to camp in Quercus, a wonderful little community outside of Patzcuaro, where we were treated to cool evenings, a wonderful campfire, and the lovely sounds of three collies howling through the night, roosters starting at 4 a.m. and a party up on a hill.
On the Day of the Dead, we traveled by boat to the small island Janitzio, on Lake Patzcuaro, where tens of thousands of people came to eat, drink and visit the communities on the island. Simply amazing amounts of delicious food and drink on the streets, as we climbed up a very steet set of steps to the top. We headed in for the night a bit before the huge crowds began to gather on the island.
The next day we saw Annie and Super and family off from the small community of Tzintzuntzan, a P’urépecha town which has the most beautifully decorated cemeteries. I shot very few photos because I felt that flying in and out of cemeteries and shooting on the fly was disrespectful for the families who had spent the entire night by the graves of their family members.
We tried to visit the archeological sites at Tzintzuntzan, but were greeted by a sign at the door that said it was free entry on Sundays, but only for Mexicans…so not wanting to take part in their racist rule of the day, (can you imagine such a sign in the U.S. “free only to Americans today”) we didn’t pay their entry fee.
Guadalajara Marathon
The 25th Guadalajara Marathon was today and we just missed the leaders, but got to watch the next few hundred finishers. The weather was perfect but there were hardly any fans in the final kilometers, so we made sure to make the athletes feel good in their final strides.
Most interesting to us, was the use of bags of water for the racers, rather than cups, which seemed easier to drink from.
And as usual, there is always one guy who needs to smoke at the finish line of a race.
Procession of the Virgin of Zapopan – Portraits
Portraits from the Procession.
Procession of the Virgin of Zapopan
Every October 12, Catholics all over Mexico converge in Guadalajara for the Procession of the Virgin of Zapopan, when the 10 inch statue of the virgin is carried out of the Cathedral in Guadalajara, and leads an 8km parade with 1 million people to the community of Zapopan on the outskirts of the city where she enters the Basilica of Zapopan.
The size of this procession is indescribable. One million people go a very very very long way, and the parade just doesn’t stop. The celebration starts the night before when thousands of people sleep on the streets and begins with a 5 a.m. mass at the cathedral, which is nearly impossible to gain entry to. At 6 a.m. the tiny virgin leaves the cathedral to ringing bells and applause from the waiting crowd.
What struck me most about this parade was that it so accurately symbolized the combination of Spanish and Indigenous cultures here. For a Catholic holiday, the majority of the parade participants were made up of indigenous dance groups, wearing the most beautiful clothes of embroidery, huge feather-filled head dresses and metal or shells on their feet to make noise while dancing to the beat of a drum made from a barrel.
Towards the end of the parade I walked for a few kilometers with a group of young men dressed as savage warriors, representing the images that the Spaniard conquistadors had of the indigenous people of this region when they arrived. With this group were two other young men dressed as Spaniards wearing velvet vests and decorative hats and carrying two-meter-long switches from branches. Taunted by the dancing “Savages”, the two men proceeded to whip the others as hard as they could with the switches to the point at which the “Spaniards” were sweating and exhausted and the “Savages” were covered in welts and bleeding. It was quite a site, and really was amazing to see the brutality, literally. Each time a switch would break, a young boy would run and fetch another from a wheelbarrow being pushed from behind the group. Afterward, I spoke with the group’s leader who explained the performance and its significance in the history of Mexico. I was lucky to escape without being whipped myself. It was hard to get close enough to shoot and remain out of the switch’s stroke. Too many times I could feel the wind off the switch on my face!
I also made some portraits of many of those in the parade which can be found here.
Capoeira and Chapala
With our new friends Annie, Super, Panzon, and Elena, we spent nearly the full day together, first joining them, or I should say, observing the whole family, in Super´s Capoeira class in the plaza. Then they invited us to go to Lake Chapala, the biggest lake in Mexico (unfortunately too pulluted to swim in). We stayed all afternoon at a series of pools of different temperatures heated by geothermal energy.
Finished the afternoon off with some arrachera, and corn ice cream, before the ride back, when Panzon and I took pictures of each other in the back of the family van through crazy Guadalajara traffic. Many thanks to Tiffany Brown, a photographer at the Las Vegas Sun, for introducing us to them here.
Tamales!
Tamales from Josh Meltzer on Vimeo.
Thanks to a recommendation from our neighbor, we visit the Tamale Stand on Plan de San Luis at least once a week, where we spend a whopping 42 pesos on four tamales, delicious salsa, and a cup of sweet warm atole. Here’s a little video I made tonight during dinner just to give a little taste. Yum.
When it rains it pours
So, it’s the rainy season here, which means Missy and I get caught in a shower nearly every day on the way home in the evenings, but last Friday, even the locals said they hadn’t seen a storm like this in years.
Vuelta a México
After a rough night covering the grito, and the eve of Mexican Independence Day, we awoke to wonderful weather, and a fresh start. As usual, it took us a while to get going, and we finally made it downtown, hoping to watch a parade, but just missed it, as we found out. Fire trucks were heading back to their stations and the street cleaners came out onto the main roadway, cleaning up litter, confetti, and scraps of tacos.
Street cleaners? Seemed a bit strange, since a few days of wind and traffic would suffice to blow the trash into another street…so I asked a cop what was going on the rest of the day, and he told us that there was a bike race at 2 p.m. Not any old little race, but the Mexican equivalent of the Tour de France, called the Vuelta a México. I had read about this stage race in a newspaper, but now we were going to get to watch it.
We made our way to the souvenir table and bought a couple of jerseys, hats and trinkets for gifts. The first person we met at the table was an Irishman, from the international cycling agency, the UCI, who was in charge of anti-doping, a big issue in professional cycling. It is his job to test many of the athletes each day after each stage for performance-enhancing drugs.
I finagled my way onto the route, hiding behind the other photographers who all had official press badges, and covered the race from the roadway. It was great to practice my two passions, photography and cycling, at the same time. The race was going to be 18 laps on a 4km circuit, but after about 6 laps, it poured rain, and the race was stopped. Deep puddles formed on the corners, and the riders waited it out, while the race officials decided to make this stage only ceremonial, and the results would not count. This decision, caused nearly all of the 100 or so riders to drop out, and the 15 that were left, restarted, and finished with a sprint after 5 more laps.
In the end, a Spaniard won the non-race, took his place on the podium, received his sombrero, ceremonial bottle of champagne and sprayed the photographers, as is tradition.
It was a great way to finish the two day festivities, which started pretty rough the night before. Missy was beaming ear to ear, watching the racers, and it was wonderful to see a mix of professionals in the race from Europe, with fancy high-end sponsorships, and teams from Guatemala and Cuba, who had no sponsors at all, and were outfitted in unmarked jerseys.
The race will finish in Mexico City in a few days, and apparently has enjoyed a bit of a comeback after being idle for a few years.
The race also proved to be a great place to meet people too, as I was approached by a dance student, Claudia, who kindly passed on my business card to some of her photography student friends at the University of Guadalajara. One of those students, Jorge Hernández, has expressed interest in helping me teach photography to the kids in CODENI. We met with him for a coffee a few days later to go over plans for the class.
Viva Mexico!
Today was Mexico’s Independence Day, actually the eve of the Independence Day. I was excited to cover the event, but the weather was pretty horrible to work in, with a near steady rain or downpour most of the evening. Still, the crowds were unbelievable, and in the center, I was packed in the midst of a huge crowd of people all awaiting the “grito” or shout from Guadalajara’s political leaders. At 11 p.m. the announcer yells ” Viva” before listing the name of every independence fighter from the early 1800s, and the crowd answers, “VIVA”.
Avenida de 16 de Septiembre was closed to traffic, which made a wonderful spot to walk with families. Everyone was in a great mood, some more drunk than others. I don’t know what I expected or why I was surprised that the crowd was that big, since I had been forewarned, but it was less-than-ideal shooting conditions since I was stuck in one spot the whole time, switching back and forth between photographing the people around me, and the fireworks overhead, all the while recording audio.
We made it back to the apartment, completely soaked, and exhausted. Unfortunately the large crowd and flu-symptoms were rough on Missy, but she was a block away to hear and watch the excitement from the square. I think had the weather been more pleasant we could have enjoyed the festivities more, and we were sad to have missed a little Fulbright gathering in Guanajuato that we opted out on, but hopefully we’ll get together with friends from Fulbright soon enough.
Disparity
It is visually so obvious the gap of rich and poor here, almost within inches. Missy and I traveled to the well-off suburb of Zapopan, where some of Guadalajara’s nicest neighborhoods are. There we visited the wonderful Museum of Art and stumbled upon a wedding at the cathedral afterwards.
At the end of the wedding, two people moved around the perimeter of the guests, who were moving towards the bride to congratulate her. One was a 10 year old boy, selling toys, and the other an older man, selling some sweet sugar drinks. I couldn’t help notice two girls, wearing beautiful white dresses, no older than the boy selling toys, as they eyed up his wares. Here was the disparity just inches apart.
Tonight is Mexican Independence Day, and although it’s pouring rain, we’re heading on our trusty bikes (thankfully with fenders) to the city center for the celebrations tonight. Pictures to come of course.
Cooperativa, Bike Repair
Today, Missy and I went with Danielle to the Cerro de Cuatro, a hill named for the towers of Channel 4 television that sit at its top. It is one of the poorest neighborhoods and is where many of the Otomi families live. For several months, Danielle and other organizers have been working with a group of Otomi artisans who are forming a cooperative that will enable them to sell their embroidered arts internationally.
It was incredibly exciting to be a part of this group. I shot video during their meeting, where a lawyer was present to help draft up a contract. The women are dedicated and organized and this was so wonderful to see. Missy will be designing a website for them, and I’ll be working on a short video story about them, and their plans for the cooperative.
Later in the day, I decided to find a bike shop, because my saddle has been sliding downwards everytime I ride, and with long legs, the bike was nearly impossible to ride with no leg extension. I took it to a little “living room” (literally) bike shop where two guys sat around a pile of bikes, wheels and parts and fashioned a shim from a Pepsi bottle that worked like magic. How I love Mexican ingenuity. To set the scene in this “shop” we were surrounded by the following things. Metal fans on high with no guard, several kittens, some eggs, two slices of bread soaking in the Pepsi that was poured out of the bottle that was used to fix my bike, a TV, several ripped up chairs, and an assortment of bike parts lying around.
Later on the way to Spanish tutoring, I met Jaime, who is a freelance garbage collector. Today he was moving old computer monitors and chairs from a building downtown. Nice guy, hard worker. I’m going to add him to my collection of street worker photos.
This weekend is the start of a 4-day holiday in Mexico for the 16 de Septiembre independence celebration which happens on Monday night and into Tuesday. Crowds are expected to be huge downtown, and we’re looking forward to it.
Off to see a photo exhibit at a nearby museum today (Saturday).
We have our wheels
A few pictures that Missy took of me working at the Mariachi festival, AND
We have bikes, so no more slow walking around the city…well, actually, not quite yet, we don’t have locks yet, but soon. Got some heavy duty helmets too.
Mariachi Festival #2
Friday was one of the last nights of the big Mariachi Festival and this time, there was actually a concert that corresponded with the location on the festival’s website. Of course, since it was at the Plaza de los Mariachis, perhaps it was a given that it would be there.
The concert was a professional band from out of town, but what was most interesting to me were the local mariachi guys who work in the plaza nearly every night looking for work. I talked with a couple of guys who filled me in on how it works. I’ll definitely be going back there when it isn’t a festival night to tell the story of the mariachis. Along the main roadway there, Independencia, there are nearly a hundred mariachi musicians there, standing in the median or the curb waving down cars for business. Can’t wait to do some more work down there.
This series of pictures is mainly of the Estrellas de Mexico, though there are a few of some of the local guys as well.
Mariachi Festival #1
Mariachi Festival – Guadalajara, Mexico from Josh Meltzer on Vimeo.
Guadalajara is well-known as the birthplace of Mariachi music, and this week, the annual festival is happening all over the city…or at least so says the Mariachi Festival website.
On Wednesday, Missy and spent almost two hours traveling to a southern barrio looking for what was supposed to be a verbena, or street concert/party, but found nothing. We wandered around the neighborhood asking four different groups of people if there was a concert of Mariachis that night, and we all got the same answer. “Not in this neighborhood, no way.”
So, we were redirected by some older men to take the 52A or C bus back to the city center where we would surely find the Mariachi Festival, but to make sure on the way to the bus stop, to avoid this street or that street, which would be a little more dangerous for the gringos to walk. OK, so back we went.
In the end we found a fantastic concert going on in a lobby of a government building. The only problem was the group of 5-6 serious looking police officers standing at the door. I assumed it was an invitation-only concert, but when I asked the officer if it was, he asked me where I was from. When I told him the U.S. he waved us in. So, we enjoyed the last four or so songs, which were loud, powerful and fun. The Reyes de Mexico were on stage and I ran around trying to make some images quickly, and recorded a little audio of the concert in this piece above.
When we left, we wondered why it was so easy to get in, I suppose they want tourists to see that part of Guadalajara. Next time, I’ll see what happens if I say I’m from Honduras?