” I want to say thanks to Emilio Banuelos and Elena Carrasco for their strong leadership and support over these past two grueling days. From your fan and friend: Thanks” – Suzanne
Suzanne Mir joined us in Guadalajara to conclude our Wandering in the Company of Strangers project. Thank you Suzanne for all your work and insight. It was great working with you. You really pushed yourself to achieve the goals you set for yourself.
“I am still thinking about how I am going to gain the confidence of perfect strangers. How do I get them to let me take their picture and not swear at me after? Or for that matter, how do get them to not hide their faces? It has happened.”
“I am returning to San Miguel de Allende satisfied, tired, elated and more confident.” -Suzanne
Last Sunday Collaborative: Isrohan Alvarez | Candelario Banderas | Emilio Bañuelos | J. Eduardo Barragan | Jorge E. Barragan | Caballo | Elena Carrasco | Sergio Garibay | Yorch Gomez | Ana Fernanda Goribar | Marshall | Paco Perez Arriaga | Karla Tarin | Denisse Tatemura | Angie Zuno
What a great Sunday night!
Fifteen of us, some of us photographers others writers, gathered in Guadalajara this Sunday to start the Wandering in the Company of Strangers project. We are excited to be working with such a diverse group of photographers, each with a direct connection to the city.
Thank you all for making time to join us.
Empezamos a vagar en gran compañia. El domingo nos reunimos 15 fotografos y escritores en Guadalajara para empezar el proyectoVagando en Compañia de Desconocidos. Que placer estar en compañia de tanto talento y de tener la oportunidad de colaborar.
The (Sub)Urban Portait is the focus of the workshop series Wandering in the Company of Strangers. The emphasis of this workshop is on creating an opportunity for people to learn and practice skills that will help them document their own communities. Workshop sessions are designed for practical use with personalized working critiques centering on the work you create and instruction for photographing how people inhabit, use and exist within their communities. It’s often how life is lived, particularly in very public venues, be it a market, a church, a park.
We will discuss ways to use the camera to give voice to a community by approaching people, building relationships, and making insightful images in their natural environment. We will also discuss ethics and responsibilities, light and composition and equipment choices. The purpose of this workshop series is to help you understand the narrative, aesthetic, and emotional aspects of photography.
Each day is divided between classroom instruction, discussions, personal and group critiques and fieldwork. Participants may work in black and white or color c-41 film or digital. Enrollment is open to amateur and professional photographers.
Our vision is to make urban portraits as a means of visual introductions of people from one city to people in different cities. Our goal is to return the portraits of the public, to the public; to make art accessible in comfortable venues by combining the work from each workshop in a book, exhibitions, online, and on the streets and other places where people gather to live.
for more information email us at blackbootsink@gmail.com
Jorge Barragan, Noemi Flores-Zepeda and Sergio Garibay, La Caja Magica, Guadalajara, MX
Black Boots Ink invites you to wander with us on the first annual, traveling, project-based workshop and exhibit introducing you to your neighbor.
The (Sub)Urban Portrait is the focus of the workshop series Wandering in the Company of Strangers. The emphasis of this workshop is on creating an opportunity for people to learn and practice skills that will help them document their own communities. Workshop sessions are designed for practical use with personalized working critiques centering on the work you create and instruction for photographing how people inhabit, use and exist within their communities. It’s often how life is lived, particularly in very public venues, be it a market, a church, a park.
We will discuss ways to use the camera to give voice to a community by approaching people, building relationships, and making insightful images in their natural environment. We will also discuss ethics and responsibilities, light and composition and equipment choices. The purpose of this workshop series is to help you understand the narrative, aesthetic, and emotional aspects of photography.
Each day is divided between classroom instruction, discussions, personal and group critiques and fieldwork. Participants may work in black and white or color c-41 film or digital. Enrollment is open to amateur and professional photographers.
Our vision is to make urban portraits as a means of visual introductions of people from one city to people in different cities. Our goal is to return the portraits of the public, to the public; to make art accessible in comfortable venues by combining the work from each workshop in a book, exhibitions, online, and on the streets and other places where people gather to live.
LOCATIONS and DATES
Guadalajara, December 13, 2009 Black Boots Ink Last Sunday Collaborative
The project begins in Guadalajara, with the participation of: Isrohan Alvarez | Emilio Bañuelos | J. Eduardo Barragan | Caballo | Elena Carrasco | Sergio Garibay |Yorch Gomez | Ana Fernanda Goribar | Marshall | Paco Perez Arriaga | Karla Tarin
San Francisco, January 22 -24, 2010
Instructors: EmilioBañuelos and IbarionexPerello
Special Guest Presenter: Ray Potes Participants:
The first California workshop will be hosted by Hamburgereyes in San Francisco. An exhibit in the Mission District will include the work from Guadalajara and San Francisco.
San Francisco enrollment closed
Los Angeles, January 29 – 31, 2010
Instructors: EmilioBañuelos and IbarionexPerello The Candid Frame will host the final California workshop. A public exhibition will include the portraits from Guadalajara, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
Guadalajara, February 26 – 28, 2010
Instructor: Emilio Bañuelos
We will conclude the project in Februry in Guadalajara, Mexico in Hostal Guadalajara .
An edit of the final images will also be published as a book and online www.blackbootsink.com as Wandering in the Company of Strangers with literary portraits by J. Eduardo Barragan and Karla Tarin.
Jorge Barragan, Noemi Flores-Zepeda and Sergio Garibay, La Caja Magica, Guadalajara, MX
Black Boots Ink te invita a pasear con nosotros en el primer informe anual viajero, un taller basado en los proyectos y exposiciónes, que te presentan a tus vecinos.
El retrato (sub)urbano es la base de la serie de talleres Vagando en Compañía de Desconocidos. El énfasis de este taller es la creación de un ambiente para que los participantes puedan aprender y practicar las tecnicas para documentar su comunidad. Las sesiones del taller están diseñadas para su utilización práctica con críticas de trabajo personalizadas, centradas en sus imágenes, con instrucción para fotografiar como vive y existe la gente en sus comunidades.
Vamos a discutir las maneras de darle voz a la gente al acercarse a ella, construir una relación, y crear retratos de las personas en su entorno natural. También se discutirá ética y responsabilidades, la luz, composición y las opciones de equipo. El propósito de esta serie de talleres es ayudarte a entender los aspectos narrativos, estéticos, y emocionales de la fotografía.
Cada día se divide entre la enseñanza en clase, trabajo de campo, críticas personales y en grupo. Los participantes pueden trabajar en película C-41 blanco y negro, color o digitales. La inscripción está abierta a todos los fotógrafos aficionados y profesionales.
Nuestra visión es hacer retratos urbanos como medio de presentaciones visuales de personas de una ciudad a personas en diferentes ciudades. Nuestra meta es devolver los retratos del público a el público, para hacer arte en lugares accesibles al combinar el trabajo de cada taller en las exposiciones, un libro, internet y en las calles, algunos lugares publicos donde las personas se reúnen para vivir.
UBICACIÓN y FECHAS
Guadalajara, 13, diciembre 2009 Domingo de Colaboración
El proyecto comienza en Guadalajara, con la participación de:
Isrohan Alvarez | Emilio Bañuelos | J. Eduardo Barragan | Caballo | Elena Carrasco | Sergio Garibay | Yorch Gomez | Ana Fernanda Goribar | Marshall | Paco Perez Arriaga | Karla Tarin
San Francisco, enero 22-24, 2010
Instructores: Emilio Bañuelos and Ibarionex Perello
Invitado Especial: RayPotes
Participantes:
El primer taller en California será conducido en Hamburgereyes en San Francisco. Una exposición pública en el Distrito de la Misión incluirá el trabajo de Guadalajara y San Francsico.
Los Angeles, enero 29 – 31, 2010
Instructores: Emilio Bañuelos and Ibarionex Perello The Candid Frame será el anfitrión del ultimo taller en Los Angeles, California. La exposición pública incluye los retratos de Guadalajara, San Francisco y Los Ángeles.
Guadalajara, 26 – 28 febrero , 2010
Instructor: Emilio Bañuelos
Vamos a concluir el proyecto auspiciado por Hostal Guadalajara en México. La exposición final será la culminación de los trabajos de San Francisco, Los Ángeles y Guadalajara.
Una edición de las imágenes finales también se publicarán en un libro especial y por blackbootsink.com titulado, Wondering in the Company of Strangers/Vagando en Compañía de Desconocidos, con los retratos literarios escritos por Eduardo Barragán y Karla Tarin.
How can activism be a practice in love? I believe it must be, because activists need to learn how to love themselves and trust themselves to do the work that is necessary. Activism requires love to be sustainable. Whatever underemployed activist you are – an artist, a teacher, a community organizer – love can be the basis of your work. Not anger or frustration, but a passionate love of change, of your own self, and of the people around you.
As activists, our mission is to love the whole being of every individual, and work to improve each person’s quality of life by moving forward comprehensively and holistically. It is strange that many of us believe this, but forget to include ourselves. We are not pardoned. How can we fight for the improvement of the quality of life for others and simultaneously forget to leave room for our own feelings of elation and grief? As our society ignores the realness of emotional and mental stress for everyone, we feel that we must suppress our own experiences and struggles in order to be true, efficient leaders. There is a silencing of our needs, and we are forced to push ahead, perpetuating the cycle of our pervasive mental health crisis. Instead, we can combat the pandemic by doing our work passionately and forming our own practice of loving ourselves.
A fulfilling project, not to mention a paycheck, is a privilege not many are afforded.
And at the same time, we cannot take this privilege and turn it around into a guilt-ridden drive to ignore passions and needs that are not directly linked to an end goal. We cannot give and expect nothing in return. The work can feed you in some way.
How can we bring our whole self to activism? By loving ourselves as well as the people directly affected by our activism. In the old Jewish teaching from Hillel “If I am not for myself, then who will be for me.” We must perpetuate a sustainable model for activists, or else our actions and movements in the present will fail in the future. If we do not take this moment now, there will not be anyone to carry on the work, or even worse – no one to mentor the next generation of activists.
I charge each and every person to take a moment and reflect on what you can do to support yourself. Even if you take 10 minutes out of your day to drink a cup of tea, I encourage you to try it. It might just be the change you need to make change in our world.
Keeping IT Out Why we should do away with all public places
by Greg Benchwick
I’ve really begun to hate everything public: Public busses with their surly drivers and sticky customers, candied seats and bubble-gum rails; libraries made for lounging street lizards and hypocritical intellectual hoods; parks with their goddamned fucking trees – so tall, so arrogant – the fucking sidewalks and public spaces with their skateboarding punks and gruesomely green grass. And of course there’s always the itinerant and frightfully exuberant youth in revolt that seems to grow out there like a germ. You must have to be young (or degenerate) to spend so much time out there with IT lurking around every corner.
Isrohan Alvarez, Zapopan | Emilio Bañuelos, San Francisco | Elena Carrasco, San Francisco | Ivan Cruz, Guadalajara | Alexcia DeVásquez, San Francisco | Gustavo Espino, Zapopan | Eric Fullmer, San Francisco | Perla Gomez, Guadalajara | Lydia Gonzales, Bakersfield | Tim Gonzalez-Mena, Oakland | Kelly Koehler, San Francisco | Kija Lucas, San Francisco | Foppé Mallory, Pinole | Cristina Martinez-Canton, San Jose | Cecilia Monroy, Chiapas | Colt Peterson, Alamo | Genaro Ramírez, Zapopan | Jorge Roa, Zapopan | Jorge Romero, Guadalajara | Diana Sánchez, Oakland
As a Mexican-American (very American), I was curious about what the real Mexico was like. Guadalajara was an introduction to a culture similar to my own upbringing and the experience of a traditional yet cutting-edge city vibe. Some residents say Guadalajara, in Jalisco, is like an adolescent that doesn’t know what it wants to be when it grows up. With a history going back nearly 500 years, Guadalajara should have surpassed adolescence by now. Yet, as growth continues, the urban seams of the city are bursting open even farther.
Litter, traffic and American corporations such as Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Burger King, Wal-Mart and 7-Eleven can be found in abundance throughout the city.Yet Guadalajara firmly preserves its historic city structures and traditions including churches, music, people and ways of life.
What many profess to love about their communities despite rampant urbanization are the generous, goodnatured and friendly attitudes of the people who reside there. From the youth of the city to the residents of the small towns that flank Guadalajara, many consider the good-will attitudes of the people to be the area’s greatest assets. People remain amigable or friendly, and the environment remains beautifully humble.
Black Boots Ink | Workshop Mexico
June 17-23, 2007
Instructor/Photographer: Emilio Bañuelos
WORKSHOP MEXICO 2007 PARTICIPANTS
Isrohan Alvarez, Zapopan | Elena Carrasco, San Francisco | Ivan Cruz, Guadalajara | Alexcia DeVásquez, San Francisco | Gustavo Espino, Zapopan | Eric Fullmer, San Francisco | Perla Gomez, Guadalajara | Lydia Gonzales, Bakersfield | Tim Gonzalez-Mena, Oakland | Kelly Koehler, San Francisco | Kija Lucas, San Francisco | Foppé Mallory, Pinole | Cristina Martinez-Canton, San Jose | Cecilia Monroy, Chiapas | Colt Peterson, Alamo | Genaro Ramírez, Zapopan | Jorge Roa, Zapopan | Jorge Romero, Guadalajara | Diana Sánchez, Oakland
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Black Boots Ink is about the curiosity that makes you walk into a new situation. It is about wandering in the company of strangers, about stopping, walking, working, protesting, progressing–it is about all of us.
The first Black Boots Ink Workshop takes place in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, with photographer Emilio Bañuelos. The seven-day workshop culminates with a public exhibition of the final images and a selection of the images will be considered for publication in blackbootsink.com.
Workshop Mexico, participants will have the opportunity to make images that show relationships between people and their environment.You will learn to photograph people and landscapes while creating a visual narrative. Workshop sessions are designed for practical use with instruction for daily shooting, personalized working critiques and editing.
Morning workshops will be held at Instituto Cultural Cabañas a cultural center designed by Manuel Tolsá in 1810. The Instituto’s106 rooms and 23 flower-filled patios house art exhibitions and the main chapel displays 57 murals by José Clemente Orozco from1938-39, including The Man of Fire.
Afternoons will be set aside for daily trips to visit Guadalajara’s neighboring towns. We will travel by bus to visit the Basilica de Zapopan, which dates back to 1730, the Zona Rosa, and the village of Tapalpa, Jalisco, where you will have time to make photographs and learn about contemporary Mexico.
Publications about women are often published with the intention of defining them. Black Boots Ink is taking a different approach. Each photograph is an individual statement about women and as an essay the images undertake a discussion with the viewer using photographs to create dialogue.
We invite you to share your knowledge, please leave a comment.
What makes a woman, motherhood, beauty, strength…?
Your words are a part of this work.