SELVA DE CEMENTO/Concrete jungle by Diana

El Puente de la quinta me permite contenplar la belleza artistica y arquitectonica de mi ciudad rodeada de naturaleza pura.

Standing on a bridge on 5th Avenue allows me to contemplate the beautiful architecture of my city surrounded by natures purity.

SANGRE VERDE/Bleeding Green by Diana

Cali es Cali. Nuestro futbol corre por las venas grandes y chicos llevamos el color de esperanza que une todos los colores de piel solo CALI.

Cali (one of 2 Cali professional soccer teams) is Cali. Our soccer team runs in our blood and young and old wear green with hope which unites all the different people of Cali regardless of the color of their skin--only Cali.

REFLEJO de MI PADRE/Reflection of my Father by Yesid

Tome la foto por la luz en el rostro de mi padre.

I took this photograph because of the light falling on my father's face.

EL FAROL/The Lamppost by Yesid

Tome la foto por que al momento de ver el farol pasaba una nube y me parecio chevere.

I took this photograph because in that moment I saw a cloud passing by the lamppost and I thought it looked cool.

EL PAISAJE/Landscape by Anna Christina

La tome porque me gusto el contraste de los colores.

I took this because I liked the contrast of colors.

EL VIEJO Y LA CALLE /Old Man in the Street by Anna Christina

Esta foto la tome por el contraste que encontre entre los indigentes que estaban en la avenida 6, que es una parte de cali de personas de modo.

I took this photograph because of the contrast between the homeless people on 6th Avenue and the part of Cali they are in which is very wealthy .

SOLITARIO ENTRE COLUMNAS/Alone with Columns by Lisseth

Me gusto por que esta foto muestra a un anciano en las afueras de esta casa sin hacer nada esta situacion causa melancolia.

I like this because this photograph shows an old man outside this house doing nothing. It makes me feel sad.

PANORAMA DE CALI/Panorama of Cali by Karol

Me gusto por que muestra a una madre y a su hija disfrutando la tarde con un bello paisaje de Cali. Esta foto fue tomada en la Colina de San Antonio.

I liked this because it shows a mother and daughter enjoying an afternoon with a beautiful view of Cali. This photograph as taken on the hill of the Church of San Antonio.

LA INFANCIA/Childhood by Lisseth

Ellos son dos niños que se encontraban jugando en un parque cerca de mi casa.

These are two children I found playing in a park near my home.

CONSTRUCTORES DEL FUTURO/Builders of the Future by Lisseth

El “Mio” es un proyecto de transporte masivo que pretende modernizar la ciudad y beneficiar a muchos caleños.
Esta foto fue tomada en el centro de Cali y ellos son trabajdores de construccion.

El "Mio" is a massive transportation project that is trying to modernize the city and benefit many people from Cali. This photograph of Mio construction workers was taken in downtown Cali.

JUEGO EN EL ATARDECER/Playing Late by Oliva

Estos niños disfrutan de un rato de exparcimiento; Donde con su inocencia e inquietud, intentan elevar una cometa, sobre la baranda de la cancha.
Usualmente nadie lo hace de esta manera. Otros niños lo hacen con los pies en la tierra.

These kids enjoy a bit of experimentation where with their innocence and restlessness, they try to fly a kite over a fence. Usually nobody does it like this, most kids do it with their feet on the ground.

COSECHANDO/Harvesting by Oliva

Esta foto fue tomada en la huerta de mi padre.
Lo hice para mostrar, como con constancia y dedicacion, se siembra y luego ; podemos disfrutar de la cosecha, fruto del trabajo.
Estas hermosas flores sembradas por el, hace varios meses, ahora estan en el jarrón de su sala.

This picture was taken in my father's orchard. I took it to demonstrate how through sowing and hard work we can enjoy the harvest, the fruit of our labor. These beautiful flowers were grown by him and are now in a vase in his living room

July 20th, Independence Day

July 20th is Colombian Independence Day. In 1810 Colombia broke away from Spain. It is celebrated with military parade type marches in several cities throughout the country. Lucky for me, one of those cities was Cali. Here are a couple shots from the parade.

Kites

July is National Kite Month or something here in Colombia because they are everywhere. Whether you are in center city Cali like we were today or in Agua Blanca kids and adults are flying kites.

Diana's Grandaughter and Kites Flying over Agua Blanca

Anna Christina's Husband and Little Neighbor

Andres' Sunset over Cali

Yesid's Dog Tied to Pole & Everyones Gone Fishing

Karol Self Portrait

Oliva's Son's Friend with Cat Wrap

Critique

One of the best things about taking photography classes was the opportunity to get feedback from the instructors and fellow students in the form of a critique. The biggest drawback to using disposable film cameras last year was that there wasn't enough time to give the students feedback because it took forever to get their film developed. Today was our first of many critiques and everybody got a chance to see everyone's work and advice. Check out the following posts of the student work. We are pressed for time today and don't have Internet access where we are so I'm going to post their images for them tonight. They will be responding to comments to their images however so please post!

Gallery Trip

Today we went to go see an interesting photography exhibition in downtown Cali. José Kattán, a Colombian, traveled to France and photographed musicians on the streets of Paris. Louis Nespoulous, a Frenchman, then traveled to Colombia to respond along the same theme. This was a good opportunity to see how two diferent photographers approached the same subject and led to an interesting dialogue within the group.

Meeting with the Group

I finally got to meet with my kids again today. As usual, one of them made us a great meal. This time it was Anna Christina and her daughter Karol making Sancocho de Pescado (fish stew). Everybody got their shiny new digital cameras (Thanks to Latino Partnership Initiative and Congreso de Latinos Unidos) and learned the basics of how to use them. We're set to meet again on Wed. to check out a photo exhibit in downtown Cali and to look at everyone's first picts. Pictured above is the group chowing down and getting their cameras, Lisseth figuring out her camera with co-teacher Carlos, and Andres loving his new camera.

About Agua Blanca

Agua Blanca is often described as Cali's biggest slum. It is home to some 600,000 people, many of whom have been displaced from their rural homes by the violence between Marxist rebels and right wing paramilitary forces and other factors such as natural disasters. Left without alternatives they created their own neighborhoods by building makeshift shacks illegally without land titles. There was an awful period a few years ago where the government battled to forcibly dislodge the residents. Finally, the government began to provide basic services to these people and built schools and hospitals. More than 60% of the population of Agua Blanca live in poverty and earn less than US$ 2 per day. Here are a couple links:

http://www.accessallareas.org/aguablanca/background.html
http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/content/view/36/54/

Above photo taken by student Yicel Valencia.

Back in Cali

After almost a year I'm finally back in Cali! This has been a stressful year (as my teacher friends from Julia DeBurgos can attest to) and I'm excited to be back home. I'm excited because I will be working with the same group of children and their families again this year. With help from Philadelphia Latino Partnership Innitiative and Congreso de Latinos Unidos, I brought digital cameras for all my students. If you check my earlier entries you'll see that last year we used disposables (which were better than nothing), but this is a definite improvement. I'll be meeting the kids in the next few days and we'll be spending a month working together before they have their big exhibit at El Centro Cultural de Cali. The kids will be learning how to post their images to this blog throughout the project so please give them some feedback!