Journal: Oaxaca
Week 2: 9 June-13 June
Monday, 9 June 2008, The "task-master" came out...it was only a matter of time!
It was pouring rain today so the workshop had to be held indoors. We had a task master of an interpreter (an older woman who obviously has teaching blood running through her veins) who kept the kids surprisingly well behaved! Well for the first half hour until she had to leave...then all hell broke lose. The 1/2 hour of silence bottled up and bottled up and it all came out at once! Brian was falling off his chair, Diego was chucking a ball around, everyone was talking on top of everyone! We had lost control and they knew it... well until I cracked it in partial Espanol, partial English (still finding it very hard not to laugh at their antics). We eventually got on to macro photography.
Tuesday, 10 June 2008, My Angelic Class!
Bliss Bliss Bliss! I had my angelic class of 4 today. The rain has finally eased in Oaxaca. I think I may actually have 4 graduates at the end of this workshop... : ) Macro photography is all about capturing details I said, in insects, flowers, leaves, textures, etc. So off the kids went. Found a big ant, a few small ones on a leave, a bunch of grape-like looking plant, chucked them all in a pile and the photo shoot began! I was petrified of the big ant, but had to pretend to be brave...'mas cerca' (closer) I said, macro photography is all about getting close and getting the details...hoping that the ant won't react the whole time! We had a good class today.
Wednesday, 11 June 2008, More macro, soccer & volleyball
I told Brian on Monday that if he is good today, he'll get to bring the camera home with him. It worked! He was still a cheeky boy, instead of me screaming at him, I could hear the rest of the kids screaming, "Brian no!!!" instead! I was ok with that. Still have great hopes for this kid. We persisted with Macro photography again today. With the exception of a couple, most of the kids got it! I saw Savina set up her shot... she placed a brightly coloured flower in between the black grills of a stair railing that backed onto a yellow wall, producing an amazing photo! Suddenly everyone's attention switched to a bumble bee that landed on a flower! It was like the hoarde of kids just found gold! They rushed back and forth with the bee until Brian came running to me with a massive grin on his face, showing me the photo he just took! Brilliant! Working to the short attention spans of the kids, we decided we'll play soccer & volleyball in the last hour (3rd hour). Great way to tire them out!
Thursday, 12 June 2008, Talents emerging!
Today's a very exciting day for me! 'Muy emocionada' as said in Spanish. Eliazib (one of the boys who joined earlier this week) and Coral are coming through with amazing photos! I am certain if you're to see their photos, you would want them on your wall for sure! I am so proud of these kids!
Friday, 12 June 2008, a new function... my favourite ... Black and White & a new maestro
Gloomy faces when I said Black and White... "No! Colores colores...Maestro!"... the kids screamed! Don't think they quite understood the whole idea of Black and White: Contraste (Contrast), Textura (Texture), Lus (Light)... I kept reeling it off... Nonetheless we got some beautiful photos!
A new maeastro (teacher) today too... Bernice (my cousin) from Singapore arrives tonight and will be sharing the joys!
OTHER PROJECTS | Zambia | Uganda | Cameras for Kids
Cameras forKids Journal: Oaxaca
2 June-30 June
Photo Exhibition in Oaxaca: 28 June