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!

Silvia

Silvia is a little town about 3 hours away from Cali in the departamento (state) of Cauca. Silvia is home to an indigenous people (Indians) called Guambianos. There are many communities of indigenous folk throughout Colombia with different customs and traditions.

Pull Over!

I got pulled over today for the 1st time ever in Colombia. We were on our way back from the town of Silvia. It was a little scary being searched by soldiers with machine guns, after all, it’s something we’re not used to in the US. We had to wait while they searched us and the car thoroughly and then ran our IDs to make sure they were legit. The soldiers were really cool and let me take pictures of them while we waited. I asked them how often they caught someone with something illegal and they said, “All the time. Mostly people with an illegal firearm or false IDs.” In the recent past, Rebels often kidnapped people on roads like these and many Colombians stopped traveling. Current president Alvaro Uribe helped change that by taking a hard line on Rebels and Paramilitary groups, making it safer to travel. There are still incursions by Rebels from time to time but mostly way up in the mountains or in other remote parts of Colombia.