Exploring La Florida

On my first full day in La Florida my students took me around to see their wonderful town and the surrounding area. We also took the opportunity to start talking about photography and start taking pictures. A highlight of the day was when they took me to their secret little place where 

they made a swing. 

Reception in La Florida

Wow. It felt like the whole town was there to welcome me to La Florida today! It was amazing to see the enthusiasm and support that the community has for this project. I can't wait to get started with the students tomorrow!

Meeting my New Students

Today I met with my new students for the first time at La Javeriana University in Bogota. I was a little surprised when instead of the 15 students I expected I saw almost 40! It seems Padre Angel from Fundación San Martín de Porres has a tough time saying no. :-)


I discussed what we will be doing over the next few weeks and looked at what our goals and expectations will be. Then we broke up into groups with the help of Jenny Paola from Grincol Communications and Pillar from La Javeriana and worked on the name for the group, as well as mission and vision statements for our project. 

FLORMORADO (Purple Flower local to La Florida where it gets it's name)

Fotos por descubrir… de la florida para el mundo entero

Photographs to discover  . . . from la Florida and the entire world.

Mission: 
Mediante la fotografía sesibilizarnos y enseñar al mundo nuestras costumbres campesinas, con la participación activa de la comunidad de La Florida en su diario vivir, aprovechando nuestros propios recursos.


Using photography to better understand and show the world our rural customs, with the active participation of the community of La Florida in their daily lives, using our own resources.


Vision:
Consolidarnos como un equipo de fotógrafos, multiplicador, que construye conocimiento y opera trabajando la problematica social que vive nuestro pueblo, para mejorar la calidad de vida y la conservación del medio ambiente.


Consolidate as a team of photographers that builds a working knowledge of the social problems facing our people, to improve the quality of life and environmental conservation.


What a great start, I can't wait to go to La Florida tomorrow and REALLY get this project started!

Reunited with Grupo Aguacero

Today I was finally reunited with Grupo Aguacero after three long years. I am so proud that the group continues to do great work in Aguablanca. We will be continuing to work together even as I begin the next phase of Cameras for Colombia next week in La Florida.

New Project!

Here I am meeting students from Fundación San Martín de Porres at a computer lab at La Javeriana in 2009.

I am so happy to announce a new outreach project I will be doing in Colombia working with a group of students from Fundación San Martín de Porres, located in a farming community outside Bogotá. In collaboration with La Javeriana in Bogotá, one of Colombia's most respected Universities, I will be embarking on a two-year project with a group of students from the Fundación. Much like my previous group in Cali, these students will learn to use the camera as a tool to explore their culture and share their stories. In addition, I will be building a darkroom for them similar to the one I just recently completed at Stetson Middle School in Philadelphia. In fact, an integral part of the project will be a distance learning program where both groups of students will learn about each other's respective cultures using photography as well as video. Details are still being worked but the project could start as early as this coming September.

AGUA´0: PROYECTOS Y CONCURSOS

AGUACERO

Este nombre surgió por la necesidad de identificar el grupo. La intención inicial era utilizar el nombre del Distrito de aguablanca, pues la mayoría de los integrantes residen allí. Entre todos se llevo a cabo un debate, en el cual se descartó aguablanca debido a su significado negativo en la ciudad y el grupo quería identificarse con una palabra que no nos llevara a la estigmatización.
En ese debate surgieron otros nombres derivados de la primera palabra que compone el nombre del Distrito, la razón de encontrar nombres asociados con la palabra agua, es conservar el sentido de pertenencia al lugar donde residimos; de todos los nombres que surgieron, fue aguacero (agua´0) el escogido por decisión del grupo. Lo interesante del nombre, es que tiene implícito un doble sentido: aguacero como abundancia y agua-cero carencia de …

FOTOS DEL CONCURSO

El pasado mes de septiembre el grupo el grupo Agua`0 participo en un concurso de fotografía cuyo tema “Imaginarios de Ciudad”, organizado por el Centro Cultural Comfandi; el objetivo era mostrar costumbres y tradiciones en nuestro entorno. El grupo participó con 5 series de fotos compuestas por los siguientes temas: las mujeres y el trabajo, los niños, y la biodiversidad cultural y étnica.

Por Jimena:

Mujeres y el trabajo:

Niños:

El trabajo:

PROYECTO AGENDAS

Este proyecto consiste en elaborar agendas a partir de cuadernos escolares, utilizando una serie de recursos, como el dibujo, la pintura, el lienzo, etc para poder asi comercializarlos y hacer que el grupo sea cada vez mas reconocido.

Mexican Night

I have many good friends who are "undocumented" and mostly Mexican that work in restaurants and other businesses throughout Philadelphia. Because of the long hours they work, they can never make it to any of my shows so I decided to have a "Midnight Reception" for them. It was also my amigo Mexicano "Pedro's" birthday, so we combined it into one big party where Colombia met Mexico. I was happy that my buddies finally got a chance to see my work and that of my students, and even happier that so many other people came out as well.

Below is a pic of me and "Pedro" as well as one of me with my brothers of Gamma Phi Sigma, Hermanos Unidos, Fraterity, Inc. Plus the dancing queen, my mom, was back in action as you can check out in the video clip.