Painted fish from Oaxaca, Mexico

This painted fish carving was photographed in a art gallery in San Angel in Mexico City.  The folk art
carving style originated in the state of Oaxaca and has become a commercial engine for the remote region.
This image has become the avatar for one of my most popular Twitter accounts, @TwavelTweeter. 

Painted Fish - Mexican folk art carvings from Oaxaca, Mexico 

How far back in history do the origins of the Oaxacan hand-painted folk art figures go?

If you thought Oaxacan carvings have their origin centuries ago with the Mayan and Aztec cultures you'd be wrong. If you thought the carvings were handed down through the generations of  the Zapotecs and the Mixtecs or one of the other sixteen indigenous cultures of Oaxaca you'd also be wrong. You'd have missed the dates by several hundred years. While carving was a part of the ancient cultures of Oaxaca they mainly carved ceremonial masks and later crosses and saints. This craft nearly died out  in the 19th century after independence from Spain.

The painted animal and figure carvings are a recent folk art craft that owes its origins more to the commercial art galleries of USA, Canada and Europe than it does to indigenous fore bearers of Oaxaca.

The colorful painted carvings like the fish above are a recent addition to the art landscape of Mexico dating back only about 60 years.  The first practitioner of these carvings was Manuel Jimenez, a peasant from San Antonio Arrazola.  He carved animals from chunks of Copal wood. The wood is perfect for carving.  Copal worked green and is soft and easy to carve and has a small core that rarely splits. When sanded smooth Copal has a porcelain-like smoothness that does not absorb paint.  Aniline paints were originally used but due to fading most artists now use acrylic paint that sit brightly on the surface of the copal carvings.

At first Manuel did the carving, sanding and painting himself. But as the popularity of his works grew he began to train other members of his family in the skills required. Thus it became a family assembly line. The men carve, the elderly and young sand and the women paint.

The tools of carving are the machetes, kitchen and pocket knives. The animal or figure that is brought forth is determined by the shape and characteristics of each piece of wood.  Carvings are generally completed within one or two days.

Eventually others in the villages of Oaxaca noticed that a good living could be made from the carvings. Families in San Martin Tilcajete and La Union Tejalapan got in on the folk business.  These communities have become folk art centers along with San Antonio Arrazola.  Generally each family developed their own distinctive style, design and color scheme. Each family kept its proprietary secrets safe by not hiring outside the immediate family members.

Pedro Linares, from Mexico City, added his contribution to the imagery of Oaxacan folk art in the 1930s.  Linares fell very ill. During his illness he saw visions of a forest where objects had the power to transform. Rocks and trees could become a fantastical animals that combined body parts of multiple animals into one strange beast, He envisioned donkeys with butterfly wings, roosters with bull horns, lions with an eagle heads.  In his vision they all shouted one word, "Alebrijes."

Once recovered from the illness he made drawings of the beasts and eventually began making papier-mâché and cardboard animals. The papier-mâché to wood carving adaptation was pioneered by Manuel Jiménez.  The technique then spread to other families and villages in Oaxaca. The Alebrijes have become some of the most popular figures in the Oaxacan folk art portfolio.

Dia de Los Muertos figures are the newest imagery added to the Oaxacan folk art product line.  Many are adaptations of the symbols and imagery of calaveras created by the printmaker José Guadalupe Posada.

Of course mass production has reared its ugly head and now there are replica "carvings" produced in factories and selling for substantially less than the authentic Oaxacan folk art carvings.  Buyer beware.

Do you own any Mexican folk art?  What is your favorite Oaxacan folk art imagery? What  do you think of the commercially mass-produced knockoffs?

Contact me at @JeromeShaw  or Facebook 

copyright Jerome Shaw 2005 / www.jeromeshaw.com

More information on Oaxacan Folk Art 

Portrait of a young woman - San Angel Market, Mexico City

A young woman mans a fruit stand in the market of San Angel. At one time it was a small town outside
of Mexico City, San Angel has now been absorbed by the staggering sprawl of the capital city Mexico.

 Portrait of a young woman - San Angel Market, Mexico City

The market in San Angel, though indoors, has a good quality of light for photography and an excellent variety goods for purchase. It has everything from windows of fish packed in ice to hanging rows of freshly butchered chickens. There dozens of kinds fruit and vegetables.  There are peanuts, piñatas and pumpkins, fabric and flowers, shrimp and spices, and coconuts, crabs and cactus inside the two block market. There are many places to grab a bite to eat.  It is a lively place to spend time and a great place to make photographs.  

I had to coax a smile out of this young woman at the San Angel market.  I mimed that I wanted to take a photo of her but at first she did not respond.  I looked into the camera to set up my shot and expected her expression to indicate whether I had her permission, but she was deadpan. I took one shot of her with a flat, stolid expression. I peeked around the camera and smiled at her. She smiled back and after one more exposure I knew I had my shot.  

I had lined up the composition to include the stack of oranges at the front of the stand to contrast with a background of bright yellow bananas. Light from an exterior doorway was coming from behind me.  I was shooting with a 180mm f 2.8 lens so I knew the minimal depth of field would isolate my subject. All I needed was a smile, a moment, to create a photograph.

Do you like to photograph people or would you rather photograph subjects that don't talk back?  How do you handle photographing people in public environments?  Do you ask before you shoot or beg forgiveness if the subject objects? Share you methods in the comments below.


Contact me at @JeromeShaw  or Facebook 

copyright Jerome Shaw 2007 / www.jeromeshaw.com

Palacio de Bellas Artes - Mexico City

The Beaux Arts exterior of the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.
The building  houses an art museum, a performing arts theatre and opera house

Palacio de Bellas Artes - Mexico City

Mexico City has some of the finest and oldest architecture in North America.  Mexico City and the surrounding environs were thriving cities in the Mayan, Toltec and Aztec periods well before the Spanish Conquistadores arrived.  While Jamestown, Virginia was a foundering (1607) colony of lean-tos, Mexico City was a bustling Spanish settlement, decades old, with solid stone buildings and a Cathedral unrivaled in the Americas.

The Palacio de Bellas Artes (pictured above), is a neo-classical white marble structure that sits across from the Alameda and adjacent to Bellas Artes Metro Station in central Mexico City. It serves as an art museum and hosts performance arts. It is the premier opera house of Mexico City and known visually for the extravagant Beaux Arts exterior, which was created from imported Italian Carrara white marble. Palacio de Bellas Artes is the home of several murals. Most notably those of Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and José Clemente Orozco.

The building of The Teatro Nacional, as it was then known, began on October 1, 1904. Designed by Italian architect Adamo Boari, it was originally scheduled to be completed by 1908. The project had several construction delays, many prompted by subsidence in Mexico City's notoriously poor soil. President Porfirio Díaz sited the theatre near the then financial district. It is located on the Northeast corner of the Alemeda promenade. The mass of the building is so great that it has been settling a few inches each year into the muddy earth of Mexico City.

The building was also delayed by many events among them the 1910 Mexican Revolution & Boari’s departure from Mexico in 1916, which virtually halted construction until 1932. Work resumed under the direction of Mexican architect Federico Mariscal and main building was completed in 1934. The final configuration of the square with gardens and Pegasus statues, designed by Boari, was not completed until 1994.

I had a wonderful evening wandering around the Alameda and through the streets of central Mexico City photographing.  A light shower might have dampened theater goers but it aided my exterior photo of the Palacio de Bellas Artes amplifying the reflections of the lights in the wet cobblestone pavement.

The best time to do cityscape "night" photos is at dusk, 30-60 minutes after sunset, while there is still light in the sky and after the building and city lights have come on.  This time period yields a more pleasing blue/black night sky than when you shoot cityscapes when it is full dark.  The building standout much more prominently than when you have the full black night sky.

Photography and text copyright Jerome Shaw 2007-2013 / www.jeromeshaw.com

Contact me at @JeromeShaw  or Facebook 

Jerome has also wriitten articles and columns for Confluence-Denver, Examiner, Johnny Jet, Bolder Planet, Recommend Magazine and Encompass Magazine

Interview with Travel Writer Jerome Shaw

A few months ago I was contacted by a college student, who asked if she could interview me about travel writing. Each month on Twitter and Facebook I receive questions from people wanting to break into travel writing, so I am publishing the Q&A in hopes that it will answer a few of the most common questions that those starting out in travel writing commonly ask.

Travel Writing & Photography Workshop and Tour 

Santa Fe, NM  December 11th - 14th, 2014

Interview with Travel Writer Jerome Shaw

• How did you start off your career as a travel writer? 

Oddly, I began my career in travel writing as a photographer.  I worked as the photographer as part of a team with travel writers.  I often traveled with the writers and photographed the places and experiences that they would eventually write about.  As budgets became more restricted many publications began sending only one person on the assignments and it wasn’t the photographer. Having worked with writers on travel stories over the years I saw how they worked on location and then read their finished articles.  This insider look at their processes gave me excellent training in travel writing. I began to both photograph and write on many assignments. 

• Why did you decide to pursue travel writing?

I enjoyed traveling and found the creative process involved in writing very satisfying.  To some degree it was an economic decision to combine travel writing with travel photography because of changes in the publishing industry. 

• What obstacles did you face breaking into the industry?

I met with some resistance having been a photographer for so many years. Some publications refused to accept me as a writer.  Travel writing is a very competitive field, especially for the well paid assignments for high circulation publications.  The move from print to electronic media has changed the landscape of travel writing greatly.  It is now easier than ever to be published but more difficult than ever to get paid well for being published.  If this trend continues the best talent young will naturally migrate away from the industry.

• What’s the best way to establish yourself if you’re starting off freelancing?

Create an excellent product, on time.  You will likely have to finance your own travel in the beginning or concentrate on local destinations.  You may also have to also accept low or no pay but I recommend you do as little of this as possible.  And never with the expectation that once you get your foot in the door with a publication by writing for free, that they will eventually hire you as a paid writer. This rarely happens.  Once you establish that you work for free or low rates it is very difficult to break out of that mold as far as an individual publication is concerned.  You’ll always be their low-cost option and the better paying assignments will go to writers that established early that they expected to be paid. Though, in the beginning you may have to allow some of your work to be published for little or no money to gain clips/samples to build your resume, chose these instances wisely.  

• What advice would you give to new travel writers?

Think about the place where you live as travel destination and produce travel pieces featuring your hometown.  This is a good way to produce low cost material that won’t break the bank if you don’t get top dollar for publication.

• What are common mistake travel writers make in their copy?

The mistake I make most often is to tell my readers how wonderful or terrible the travel experience was rather than show them what the experience was like.  

• How did you first get published?  

As a photographer I broke in with a Aspen Magazine in Aspen, Colorado illustrating features.  My first writing publication came early in my career when I was asked by Windsurfing Magazine to write 600-800 words to accompany my photographs of boardsailing in the spring in the Rocky Mountains.  It was a laborious, time consuming process for me to write that article.  For the time spent writing I would have made much better money shooting photographs. For the next fifteen years I declined writing assignments or passed them on to my writer friends.  

My first travel article publications were for an independent small market newspaper.  They were creating a new travel section and needed a reliable source of content.  I had a backlog of content from years of traveling as photographer and had seen the necessity to do add writing to my skill set.  We were a great fit.  

• Do you think it is necessary to have an agent?

No.  

While it may not be the best situation for travel

journalists the reality is most have to hone 

their skills in both writing and photography. We 

are re-entering the era of the "one man band" travel

journalist.  Soon we'll all have to add video

production to our skill set too.  

• Do you think travel writers should do their own photography? Why?

Funny you should ask.  I actually do not think they should but the reality is that they must in many cases do their own photos.  Especially in the early part of their career.  I still enjoy getting an assignment to do only the photography.  It allows me to focus one thing and do it well while the writer can concentrate on getting the details right and developing a complex story.  However, many publications simply do not have the budgets necessary to support two people traveling to a location and time necessary for them to create the article as a team.  

As a fledgling travel writer, especially working for on line publications, you will certainly be asked to create or provide photography to accompany your story. Becoming passable as a photographer is the least you should do.  If you really want to put yourself in a position to be in demand you should learn basic video production skills.

• Do you do any other writing besides for travel?

Yes.  I write social media and marketing copy.  I write promotional copy for brochures and website.  These are often for travel industry clients but not always.  

I write a lot of photo captions. I also write how-to photography articles.  I have in the past written for film and television projects.

• What is ‘good’ travel writing?

Writing that brings the location to life and draws the reader into the story being told while providing useful information is good travel writing.  The best travel writing shows, rather than tells the reader what the travel experience was like.  Everyone thinks that they can write travel even if they can’t write a business letter or a decent short story.  The best travel writing is personal without becoming a “what I did on my summer vacation” style of writing.  Good travel writing is just good writing.

• What is ‘bad’ travel writing?

Conversely, bad travel writing is just bad writing.  Two issues that are often part of bad travel writing are the use of cliched descriptions and overuse of adjectives, especially superlatives.  

• What are the benefits of being a travel writer?

Travel. More specifically travel with a purpose built in.  When traveling as a journalist you get access to people and situations that the average tourist or traveler does not get.  The satisfaction of being creative is also one of the benefits of being a travel writer. For me personally, meeting new people is one of the greatest benefits of my having become a travel journalist.

• What are the negative sides to being a travel writer?

Low pay and high competition are two definite drawbacks to being a travel writer. Travel writing is not a a high paying field except for a few elite writers. 

People also often equate travel with vacations. Traveling as a journalist has very little in common with vacation travel and much more in common with business travel.  It is a bit like living in resort town where most of the people visiting are there for a holiday but you have to get up and go to work while they play.  

• Anything else you want to add?

If you love to travel — get rich.  If you love to write — become a traveler. ~ Jerome Shaw

Links to other interviews with Jerome Shaw: 

Mode-Moderne Journal - Travel Photographer: Jerome Shaw  Seeing The World Through a Lens  

Job Shadow - Interview with a Travel Writer/Photographer