Thursday, 10 July 2014

Going Minimalist | Guatemala Foundry Photojournalism Workshop

In just over a week, I'll be traveling to La Antigua in Guatemala to join the rest of the faculty of the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop.

Since I'll be spending most of the week-long workshop teaching the fundamentals of multimedia, I won't have much time to work on any personal projects, so will probably only do some street photography.

It'll be an opportunity (and a joy) to leave behind the heavy DSLRs, and travel with a minimalist gear which, as shown in the above photograph, may consist of a Fuji X Pro-1 with a Fujinon 18mm and a Zeiss Touit 12mm, a Leica M9 with an Elmarit 28mm and a Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f1.4 as well. And just in case I need to record some audio, I'll pack a Marantz PMD 620, much smaller than my Tascam DR-40 that I use on my photo expeditions.

In the last Foundry Photojournalism I attended (Chiang Mai), I relied on these two "rangefinders", and it was a relief to be carrying one or even two of these comparative light tools instead of my two Canon DSLRs.

It's not my first time to Guatemala or La Antigua. I was there some years ago during its famous Semana Santa. Some of my photographs are on Las Tierras de Popol Vuh.

For those who don't know, The Foundry's goal is to help emerging photojournalists and documentary photographers to hone their skills, to have a chance to work with some of the world’s best shooters in the field, on real reportage projects, to create multimedia, to see some of the best work being done today, to collaborate, to make contact, plan future projects, develop your own vision and leave the workshop energized, and more committed then ever to concerned photography, storytelling and to documenting the world through the lens.

Call Me KIJU

Here are impromptu street portraits of Kiju on Crosby Street in Soho, NYC. Kiju is an alternative rock performer.