20-MAY-2014
Technology vs. manpower, Sucre, Bolivia, 2014
While photographing the activity at massive construction project on the outskirts of Sucre, I noticed dozens of workers laboring by hand, while only a few workers were using contemporary machinery to ease the burden and increase efficiency. To photographically interpret this situation, I isolate a lone construction worker bending his knees and back to accomplish a task. I contrast him here to the massive power shovel lifting tons of rock just behind him. The bending figure echoes the rhythms of the curves and angles of the machinery looming just behind him. I lead the eye into the frame from the lower left hand corner. A circle of stone provides a base for the figure of the man, and points to a small cone of dirt echoing the triangular shape of the power shovel. I also compare the posture of the bending worker to the posture of the silhouetted worker seated in the relatively comfortable cabin of the huge machine. This resulting image symbolizes how emerging nations, such as Bolivia, must weigh the benefits of expensive technology against what often proves to be the cheaper cost of manpower. In many situations, cheap and abundant manual labor can produce higher profits than investments in expensive machinery.
20-MAY-2014
Waiting for transport, Sucre, Bolivia, 2014
Hundreds of indigenous workers, most of them Quechas, gather daily on the outskirts of Sucre to board large trucks that will take them to the distant town of Ravelo where they will labor in the fields, or buy and sell agricultural products. This truck terminal provided fertile ground for portraiture. This woman was waiting for her bus to load while sitting in an aluminum shed, eating an orange. The sun was already quite harsh, but she was sitting in the shade, glowing in the light reflecting off an aluminum panel. I often try to work with reflected light – it is warm, soft, and renders detail beautifully. An interpretive portrait can communicate character and personality. In this case, I portray a woman who has seen much of life, yet still can summon the strength to daily earn her living. The hat and poncho speak of her Quecha roots. Her hands expressively grasp the last slice of orange as if it were a treasure. I used a 345mm telephoto focal length to make this image. She never saw me, and remained completely relaxed.
20-MAY-2014
Bound for Ravelo, Sucre, Bolivia, 2014
Three members of a Quecha family await the departure of their truck for Ravelo, where they will be loading the baskets now piled on the floor behind them with supplies and foodstuffs. I interpret the scene by framing a mother with two children standing just within the door of that truck. The children snack on treats, while the mother nervously peers out at the chaotic terminal from the relative quiet of the truck. This image is rich in interpretive detail – the anxiety of the mother is evident, contrasting to the anticipation of her children. One other interpretive cultural comment can be drawn from this image – these trucks are driven constantly, yet the board walls inside of them, while showing some water stains, are absolutely clean. If this truck had seen duty in the US, its boards would have been covered in graffiti.
20-MAY-2014
Stoic, Sucre, Bolivia, 2014
The stoic stance of this Quecha elder awaiting transport from Sucre to Ravelo helps me create a portrait that is indicative of character. Clothed in a traditional black hat and blue poncho, my subject benefits from the reflective light bouncing off the walls of the aluminum shed. A lighter blue tarp hanging in the background adds a frame of vibrant primary color. The profile is ambiguous – gender itself is not stressed here. This could either be a very strong man or woman, a person who has seen much, and learned the lessons of time itself.
20-MAY-2014
A face in the crowd, Sucre, Bolivia, 2014
Some of the trucks loading at this terminal were filled to capacity, but latecomers were still arriving. The resulting crowding made some of the trucks look and feel like cattle transports. In this image, I interpret that crowding by making the viewer actually feel the pressures of the moment. I focused on the man in the background, his face brilliantly illuminated by the harsh mid-day sun. He is seated with his back against the board wall, awash in a sea of hats. Everyone in this image is anonymous, except for him. He bears this pressure with passive strength and wears his Quecha sash with pride. He has most likely endured such crowding at Sucre’s Ravelo terminal before, and he probably will again.
20-MAY-2014
Anxiety, Sucre, Bolivia, 2014
In this emotional interpretive image, I tell the story of age, vulnerability, and anxiety. This elderly man was the last to board a truck bound for Ravelo. He did not have enough strength to push himself fully into the truck. Here, he stands in its entrance, hanging on to its steel door with one hand, and nervously rubs his taut face with the other. He wonders what will happen when the door closes. Will he find a place to stand? Or will he be ordered off the truck? I continued to photograph him as he waited. Eventually the driver shoved him back into the truck, the door slammed shut, and it drove off into the dust. We are left with this memory of him, his vulnerability and anxiety clearly expressed by his face and his hands.
19-MAY-2014
National colors, Sucre, Bolivia, 2014
I was drawn to this setting by its colors. The Bolivian flag is red, yellow, and green, echoing the coloration of this building and its huge bags of soy piled inside. The future identity of any country rests upon its children, and Bolivia is no exception. This toddler briefly escaped from the grasp of his mother, and I framed him as he symbolically wanders alone amidst pale versions of the colors of his nation. He was angry, and instinctively tries to strike out on his own at this moment. My interpretation blends color, emotion and scale to symbolize both a nation and its children in search of an identity.
19-MAY-2014
Past, present, and future, Sucre, Bolivia, 2014
Bolivia is often identified in the public mind as a “colorful” country because of the vivid costumes worn by the ethnic groups representing its culture. Photographs of people wearing such costumes sometimes call our attention first to the colors themselves, diluting the potential presence of the people within them. That is what originally happened here. The colors of this mother’s poncho were so vivid that they overwhelmed her calmly determined attitude. The striking white reflections dancing across on the gray wall behind them were competing with the color, as well. After converting this image from color to black and white, the mother comes to our attention first. She now strongly represents the present moment, instead of the past traditions of her people. Meanwhile, the young girl who walks beside her, as well as an infant wrapped within the poncho, are equally important. They represent the future. The stripes on the mother’s costume are now relegated to the past, while the mysterious reflections on the wall (caused by light bouncing off windows on the opposite side of the street) become far more symbolic as well. They seem to dimly recall the past, while at the same time implying the future. The focal point of the image now rests in the mother’s profile – eyes closed, head bent forward as she climbs a long hill to the school with two children in tow. This image underscores the potential importance of black and white abstraction in shaping our interpretation of photographs.
21-MAY-2014
Schoolgirls, Sucre, Bolivia, 2014
These children were sharing what appears to be an engrossing book on the sidewalk just outside of their school. They were on a break, and one of them is simultaneously enjoying a treat as well. A third child’s hand, bearing a drink, breaks through the frame at left. The children knew I was photographing them, but they were so absorbed in the book that they essentially remained oblivious to my presence. My interpretation is based on creating a sense of intimacy. By moving in with a telephoto zoom, I take the viewer into their confidence as well. All of us become engaged. We want to learn more about what they are studying here. The image engages our imagination and makes us partners in a process.
19-MAY-2014
On the march, Sucre, Bolivia, 2014
I was having dinner in the center of Sucre when I hard a marching band playing the rousing American Civil War song “When Johnny Comes Marching Home.” To hear such music in the heart of historic Bolivia was remarkable in itself. I quickly left the restaurant, and found the street just outside of it filled with marching schoolboys as far as the eye could see. I did not take my prime camera to dinner with me, but I always carry a backup camera in an iPhone strapped to my belt. I quickly learned that the tiny lens on the iPhone was quite not up to stopping the nighttime movement of the marching mob of kids filling my screen. On the other hand, the iPhone camera's optical disadvantages encouraged me to make use of blurred motion to interpret the scene to tell the story. The iPhone camera shot this night scene at the slow shutter speed of one fifteenth of a second, causing most of the moving schoolboys to appear blurred. Yet some of them stopped moving at the moment I tripped the shutter, and thereby appear a bit sharper than the others.The interplay between clear and unclear subjects gives this image its interpretive power – a throbbing sense of movement. (I never did find out why they were marching through the city’s narrow streets. Nor did I ever learn why they chose to march to the beat of a song written in another country, about a war they most certainly know little or nothing about.)
21-MAY-2014
In touch, Sucre, Bolivia, 2014
Cell phones and the Internet have become a necessity for many Bolivians, and are quickly reshaping its culture in the process. This image is all about that change. This young man peeks from his hood at his phone, just before jumping onto his motorbike and riding off in a cloud of smoke. I photographed the scene in layers to build my interpretation. The silhouette of the motorbike anchors the foreground of this image, changing from black to bright red as it rises from shadow into sunlight. The curve of the bike echoes the curve of the man’s shoulders. He dominates the image from the middle layer, his thumb poised to strike home. A whitewashed wall, bearing the shadow of the ornamental tree at right, completes the image with a background layer.
21-MAY-2014
Also in touch, Sucre, Bolivia, 2014
This image pairs perfectly with the preceding scene. It offers contrasting ethnicity, age, gender, and color to my previous image of a young man checking his cell phone. Instead of standing in the harsh light of day, this indigenous woman patiently waits within the shade of a historic convent’s entryway. She also studies the screen of a cell phone she holds within her fingers. I use the beauty of reflected light and color to enhance my interpretation of this scene – she stands before a gleaming metallic wall, reflecting the purplish color of the tiled floor, as well as the golden hues of the courtyard tiles beyond. Reflected sidelight outlines her legs, hands, phone, and profile in glowing color. Her blue striped apron adds a touch of striking primary color to the image. Meanwhile, her expression symbolizes a patient response to what she sees on the yellow phone cradled within her hands.