Some things to say about street photography workshops

There are uncomfortable truths that they don't tell you. This is a completely free blog and therefore I will tell them to you.

I made this photo while busy to give a recent one to one street photography workshop

Do you know why some photographers give street photography workshops but don't want to be seen in their process while taking pictures? I'll tell you, also because I happened to see a celebrated master with my own eyes. Because otherwise their students would realize that their way of taking pictures has little to do with a genuine approach to street photography. They do staged photography that has nothing to do with real street photography. Notice that these photographers don't even have their camera with them while they "direct" the operations during a workshop.

Garry Winogrand and Lee Friedlander given street photography woprkshops, in their career. While Winogrand was used to give feedback and talking during his workshop, Lee Friedlander almost never spoke. 2 ways to be a photography teacher, 2 approachs that we have to respect. There are mentors that are severe, others more fiendly. And both approaches can work and being effective.

Let’s back to that celebrated master. I have seen with my eyes his attitude. I couldn't help but notice not because he was famous, I usually don't give a shit if someone is famous or not, in fact I tend to ignore famous people quite a bit. I noticed him just because I was busy with my photography expedition and you know what? This man was observing me while I was busy to make photos, because I make photos during my workshops and expeditions. He was watching me and maybe he thought I was taking too many photos, or who knows what else...sincerely I don’t care. My error was that at a certain point I decided to go with him and introducing myself. He denied being him, supported in this by his wife. I found this thing ridiculous. Even a certain attitude. For me a street photographer who doesn't have a camera is not a street photographer. It's something else...you know those armchair photographers? The ones who only have a camera when they have to do a project? Exactly, that kind, so anything but a street photographer.

But it's not that it shocked me that much. Anyone who has built a career in Mexico, and then acts the way he does is a miserable person. Another thing related to that unpleasant experience: while I was in the bus coming back to Mexico City from Oaxaca, after after I posted a reflection on people who reduce an event that lasts a week to the day of the big party, basically taking a tourist approach and not a photographer's, taking pictures in a way that is certainly not very empathetic, I was attacked by three Mexican photographers. They completely misunderstood the meaning of my post. But maybe they did it on purpose. I was referring to those who come to a place, taking disrespectful photographs, something I have often seen done in Oaxaca during dia de muertos with people who haunt cemeteries and photograph people as if they were animals in a zoo. The people of Oaxaca know very well what I am referring to and they, while appreciating the tourism that generates money for one of the poorest states in the entire Republic, are not so happy with how such a traditional celebration is sometimes literally violated by disrespectful attitudes.

Here I take this opportunity to say in capital letters: THE CEMETERIES OF OAXACA ARE NOT YOUR THING, DEAR TOURIST PHOTOGRAPHERS. LEARN TO RESPECT THE CULTURE FIRST AND STICK YOUR TRIPODS AND FLASHES IN YOUR ASSHOLE.

Returning specifically to the workshops, it is a mistake to think that a famous photographer is automatically a good photography instructor. They charge a lot and give you very little. They are also not really interested in you, believe me. I have been training photographers since 2011 and I still remember many of my students. Because, usually, I do a path with them and I dedicate time to them that goes beyond the workshop.

Unfortunately, many colleagues do not have a real vocation in sharing their experience. And they see students as dispensers of solids and nothing else.

To conclude…be careful if you think to take a workshop. There are a lot of sharks out of here.