The here and now... and what and why

Complacency is a trap. At least that’s what I was thinking when I up and left the comfort of a Yankee prep school gig, where I taught music, amongst other things, for 28 years. There was also that life long career as a composer, musician and artist.

First, it was a year in St. Thomas, USVI, working as a reporter and shooting photography and then, a year in San Agustin Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Time passed.
More time passed and a year back in the Athens of America followed by a hasty return to Oaxaca where it is all happening.
A couple of years in San Sebastian Etla and now, just down the road in San Pablo Etla. Life is good.

Click on an image to see it larger.
For additional photography please visit my flickr page.
You can find my music on Jango (World & latin - Worldbeat) and at iTunes and most online stores.
¡Soy consciente de todas las tradiciones del Internet!
If you are coming to Oaxaca, please contact me for tours or advice.

Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo
The view from Corazon del Pueblo

The hereafter re me

My photo
Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
Musician, photographer, videographer, reporter, ex-officio teacher, now attempting to be a world traveler

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Shots of the day - Plumas Dos

Today was the last day of the fiesta in Teotitlan del Valle. I wanted to stop by and take Emelia Ruiz some flowers in thanks for the wonderful meal last week. She greeted me at the door, thanked me and gave me a plateful of her molé negro with pavo (turkey,) some rice and homemade tortillas. As I said before, she makes the best molé I ever tasted and today just reinforced that opinion. It is a rich, shiney purple/black with an incredibly smooth texture. Mmmmm... muy rico!
Then it was off to shoot the danza de las plumas. A picture perfect day with mostly townspeople there. I learned from being a reporter that you try to put yourself in a position to always get the shot. Today that meant geting inside the ring of folks watching and kneeling down so as to not block anyone's view.
I knew this was coming. The two guys controlling the whole scene are part clown, part ringmaster. They make sure everyone is happy, that things are going smoothly, that the dancers get water, mescal or sodas, they work the crowd.

I was too easy a target. What a riot! Everyone was laughing at me, make that with me, because I was laughing pretty hysterically, all the while shooting. I have no idea if he was actually shooting me. I hope so. I will have to check the tape.

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