31jan

the TODAY project

sunday 31 jan 2016

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text and photos by roylu.

cemeterio general la paz bolivia

theTODAYproject

thanks to sergio balivian for facilitating the workshop john villalobos pamela boda for organizing the workshop and the photo club the participants of the workshop you know who you are celia, daphne, mansir for the wonderful birthday party

theTODAYproject 1 1 today, i went to the cemetery. nobody died. nobody i know. i went to take pictures. not of the the dead. but of the living. and how they are around the dead. their dead. their friend's dead. their neighbors' dead. the dead in general.

3 meet the la paz photo club.

2 not actually. i went just to take pictures. which you do when you participate in a photo workshop. which often is conducted by photo clubs. which i joined recently. today. everyone who participated in the workshop commits to join the photo club.

5 something like that.

sunday 31 jan 2016

cemeterio general la paz bolivia

4 i'm not much of a club person. i tend to lean towards the twin brother of the great karl marx, the even greater, groucho marx, when he said i refuse to join a club that will have me as a member.

6 but, as advertised by the club, the workshop or outing as the club called it was going to be led by one sergio balivian. professional photographer. ex-natgeo.

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cemeterio general la paz bolivia

theTODAYproject 3 7 that is, to one who is into paintball, like an invitation to target practice with an ex-member of the u.s. navy seal 6 8 you don't just say hmmmmm . . . .

9 you jump you ask howwhatwhenwhere 10 you shout im in!

11 i didnt shout though. but i immediately fired off an email reply, im in.

sunday 31 jan 2016

cemeterio general la paz bolivia

12 the meeting point was at a cafe.

8.30 – 9 am. for most of those in the workshop and for sergio as well. most everybody was already there when i arrived. sergio as well.

13 intros all around. the diplomatic or dip crowd. or those doing ancillary work supporting dip work. not surprising. the workshop was organized by an embassy.

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sunday 31 jan 2016

cemeterio general la paz bolivia

theTODAYproject 5 14 sergio no longer does regular work for natgeo. he mostly does adventure tourism photo workshops. all over. he had just been with a group to the salar uyuni. certainly one of the most awesome spots on planet earth. photo and otherwise.

15 half of the year he is here. half, there. here is sometimes bolivia there is mostly boulder,colorado. otherwise, elsewhere. everywhere.

16 we piled into separate taxis. our taxi was among the last to arrive.

sunday 31 jan 2016

cementerio general la paz bolivia

17 at the cementerio general the workshop has started. you couldn't miss it. a crowd of about 20 with cameras. big not to be missed dslrs. and two or three not more than four with iphones. huddled around sergio.

18 the instructions were simple. don't use full auto mode; try to use shutter speed preferred mode; set speed at 160 of a sec; better to overexpose; at least by three stops; shoot at raw mode; take the picture and apologize later; take the picture that you like; take the picture you can learn from; take the picture now; don't hesitate; go go go go go

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sunday 31 jan 2016

cemeterio general la paz bolivia

theTODAYproject 7 19 i went. breaking one rule: don't hesitate i hesitated because the group was becoming a flock then another rule: use shutter speed preferred mode. i always or almost always use full manual mode couldn't see why try something else now. then another: shoot at raw. though i know the reasons for using raw and agree with most of them jpeg works just fine for me. still another: better to overexpose. my aesthetics tend to favor the darker side. besides the day was all gray. overexposing will result in a washout. but, yes, here a washout in raw can be rescued. in jpeg it is dead as nails. sunday 31 jan 2016 cementerio general la paz bolivia

20 still, it was a good shooting session.

21 the cementerio general has to take general credit for that. indeed, while all the dead are or tend to be the same what people do around or with the dead especially in cemeteries is widely or even wildly different.

22 this cemetery is very clean. well maintained. the trees are trimmed. cared for. the niches are very well organized. according, as usual, to families and clans. but also, unusually, as it is my first time to see them, according to trade, profession, civic organization, ethnic affiliation and, most importantly, since they play a big role in bolivian life and history, the unions. the sindicatos.

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cemeterio general la paz bolivia

theTODAYproject 9 23 i overcame my initial hesitation. i just became comfortable with what i am comfortable with. i didn't shoot a lot. but i liked my shots.

24 i was happy.

25 that happiness spilled over later to a birthday party where i took photos of children with the same carefree enjoyment of life amidst life as the children i saw earlier amidst death.

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cementerio general la paz bolivia

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sunday 31 jan 2016

top kids san miguel la paz bolivia