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SHOOTING UP FILM IN SANTA FE The saloon looks straight out of a set in a Western
movie. The cowboy leaning over the bar, drowning his sorrows in
his glass, could have been cast as the villain in any melodrama.
He stares at me with mean narrowed eyes as I approach, my camera
bag clumping against chairs, my tripod clattering on my shoulder. |
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"Hi! D' ya mind if I take your picture?" I say, remembering that Lisl Dennis, our photography teacher has warned us New Mexico natives are reluctant to pose for tourists yet she's opposed to tipping people her students photograph in the course of her workshops. The cowboy draws himself up to his full height, knocks his hat to the back of his head, wipes the beer off his beard and says, "Go ahead, city fella. But how much are ya gonna charge me for my picture?" |
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We're in Madrid, a one-time ghost town in Northern New Mexico, now full of would-be artists, sundry characters and former hippies from the 60's, all trying to start a new life in a town that essentially died in 1956 when its coal mines became unproductive and its population of 3000 moved elsewhere. But that's by the way. I've now got my portrait in the bag -- my assignment for Lisl's Creativity in Culture class for Santa Fe Workshops in Santa Fe, New Mexico. "We hold our workshop in Santa Fe,"
says Landt Dennis, Lisl's husband himself a travel writer, "because
it's the most foreign destination in the United States. The Hispanic
communities here go right back to the time of Phillip II of Spain.
We're outsiders, minorities, Anglos -- so say hello first before
you try to photograph people, and smile." |
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"You won't find Santa Fe easy to photograph -- that's another reason we meet here," adds Lisl. "We've got construction sites, busted-up cars and landscapes hidden by barbed wire. The cinema verité of this theater town creates problems. You'll solve them either by accepting the telegraph poles and the old pickup trucks and including them in your photographs or by getting closer for graphic interpretations of details. Both ways work . . . sometimes." |
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The opening-reception saw the students meeting for the first time. Lisl and Landt Dennis who run Traveler's Eye photo tours in Morocco, India and Provence in France also run a week-long travel photography workshop once a year for Santa Fe Workshops. This particular Santa Fe class has attracted nineteen students. Their reasons for coming are as different as their backgrounds. |
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Says Jonnie, "I'd like to have a better eye for presenting a place." Says Anne, "I'd like to be more professional. After 30 years in photography I'd like to see my stuff in magazines." Says Gerald, "I had a Leica in 1936. I showed it once to my wife. She took it and went far beyond me. Now I want to catch up." Says Trish, "I want more zap in my photos." And says Lisl to that last one, "What if they have too much zap? They may not get published!"
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