THE INFLUENCE OF PHOTOGRAPHY

I’ve heard it said that behind every picture is a deeper story, so I will write a little bit about my last post titled Nadia's Day. I would also like to make mention of why I love making photos of everything from a beautiful young woman to a beautiful 100 year old grandma.

I guess my true passion for photography and the knowledge of it's influence goes back to my sailing days down the Pacific Coast. It was about six years ago (this same time of year) when I decided to quit my job and take a voyage of a lifetime (that really did change my life forever). The first leg was down the coast of California from San Francisco to participate in a regatta called the Baha Haha which started in San Diego and ended in Cabo San Lucas. Then I sailed on with a friend through the Sea of Cortez and down the coast of Mexico. I eventually settled in central Mexico and I especially liked a cute little funky beach town called Barra de Navidad. It was also in this town that I met a wonderful person named Rosy who I later fell in love with. She is my soulmate and my incredible wife now. It was on this voyage that I learned to see and feel things differently. My camera soon became my voice when I couldn’t communicate verbally. This little box with a lens on it enabled me to share my passion with people through my photography. Simply put, my camera was often my way of speaking.

I am so thankful for my photography and the journey it has bestowed on me. At this time I can't dis-connect our gallery from my photography because our gallery is my photography. I am so delighted that our gallery is heading in the direction I desired by becoming more and more a mini cultural/visual resource for local people as well as people traveling through Barra de Navidad. My personal philosophy for my photography is the same as our philosophy in our gallery … which is to make photos of what I see and feel for all walks of life and try to the best of my ability to put passion and a soul in every photo. Our gallery also tries to help the local people and sometimes we give photos away when we feel it’s needed. This is something I started many years ago when I first arrived in Mexico and long before we opened the gallery. I originally started handing out photos to families and local people with little resources (probably considered poor by American standards) because it seemed as though every time I took their picture they were so interested and excited ... I just had to share and give back this wonderful energy I felt from them, plus I loved giving them a photo and seeing them smile. It was at this time that I really realized a photo can create joy, cause tears, and it can influence. I have also come to realize that a photo can contain valuable memories for a person. For example, I have taken thousands of photos of the local people and a few of them have passed on. Well, the families come to our gallery because we may have a photo of their loved one and often times it's the only photo of this person. This is when I get goose bumps and choked up, but I am happy that I took the photo.

So … how is it that photography can change a life or my life? Well, I have many stories and I don’t think I can share them all, but I can share a few.

The first story is about Nadia and how her photo session came to be. At first glance these photos look like any other photo shoot of a beautiful young woman who may or may not be a professional model. Well, Nadia is not a professional model. She is a local young woman from Barra de Navidad who is from a poor family by American standards. Her dad is a fisherman while her mom stays at home to raise five children. Nadia has dreams like any other young woman and one dream was to do this photo session and pretend for a day that she was a fashion model. So Rosy and I decided that a photo shoot would be a great idea. Nadia would experience her dream come true and it would also provide a few more portrait shots to add to my portfolio (two birds with one stone and all good stuff). So, Nadia was very excited when we asked her … and the funny part was … she told her mom that we would do a photo session with her, and her mom didn’t believe it, so her mom came by our gallery to confirm the story … pretty funny … then mom was happy too! So Nadia came by the gallery a few days later and Rosy, Nadia, and I headed to a nice beach location just north of Barra de Navidad for the photo session. Nadia brought four dresses, one of which she borrowed and we all had a fun afternoon as you can see from this link: http://rhfotografo.blogspot.mx/2013/09/nadias-day.html

Another interesting story is the time when I was doing some street photography while walking around Barra de Navidad and I came across a man with a face full of character. It appeared as though he had lived a hard life and he was probably about 50ish in age. So I pointed the camera at him and asked for a photo, he didn’t say anything as he turned away from me … I almost walked away but then he turned back and I clicked a shot. About a week later I printed the photo and it turned out great with a lot of emotion packed into his glorious face. A day or two later I ended up going around Barra de Navidad handing out photos. I saw him again (by the way, he is a man with little in his pocket but just like many people in Mexico and in Barra de Navidad, he is a highly spirited and happy man) and I walked up and handed him the photo. He looked at the photo then he looked at me, then he looked again at the photo, and then (I will never forget this) he looked at me again with a tear rolling down his face, he then stood up slowly and put his arms out and embraced me and said "gracias, muchas gracias"! One of his friends later told me that he had never had his picture taken before … this was the first. This is what a photo can do!

Then there was the time about a month ago when Rosy and I went by to chat with a local printer who really likes my photography and he invited us to a fiesta. But this wasn’t just any fiesta … it was for the celebration to save the large ocean turtles on the Pacific Coast and namely in a place called Careyes, which is a fancy place with homes for the wealthy (there’s books galore written about this place and it's beautiful archititure). Our printer friend wanted to introduce us to the owner of Careyes who also owns a gallery there (well, it’s more like a museum you’d find in New York than a gallery). The reason for all of this was to meet the owner and possibly line up a future exhibition of my photography. So the night went well with excellent food and a lot of wine being poured. We did get a chance to chat with the italian billionaire and the night was complete. We’ll see what happens about a future exhibition. I will keep you posted. Oh … I should mention a funny story within this story. When we were driving up the coast to Careyes from Barra de Navidad (about an hour away) I really didn’t realize that we would be at a party full of up-scale folks in nice clothes … because I usually just wear flip flops, shorts, and a tank top (pretty common beach wear for me) but luckily my wife Rosy had my back ... she brought along a nice black dress shirt for me which I told her I wasn’t going to wear … UNTIL we drove into the parking lot and I saw many very expensive cars that are the mirror opposite from what we drive. So I put the shirt on and all was good.

I have countless other stories of my experiences of making photos of children to those shots of respected older folks (with three people so far over 100 years old) and every time I click the button on my camera I feel a wonderful energy. I guess I really do love photography. This is what it’s all about … recording life no matter where, when, or why.

Man, I was going to stop here and close but I just realized that I may have missed one of my most influential stories of them all. This one’s about me being asked by the local municipal this winter to take pictures of our beachfront in Barra de Navidad which has gotten a bit smaller over the last few years because of a number of reasons. These photos ended up going to the Governor of the state of Jalisco to show what has happened to the beachfront … and because of these photos and other presentations made on behalf of Barra de Navidad, the Governor of Jalisco has now agreed to provide funds of several million dollars to go to the redevelopment of Barra de Navidad. Similar to what the state of Jalisco has done with the waterfront in Puerto Vallarta. So one last very cool thing about this story is that the Governor is coming to Barra de Navidad next week (first time ever and a big deal for little Barra de Navidad) and I am the sole gringo (American) asked to do a presentation. I will represent the pueblo/people of Barra de Navidad. I will be presenting a large framed photo of Barra de Navidad as a beautiful place to live and to visit ... and this photo will be one that was taken by my camera with my hands, with my passion … so a photo can and does move mountains.

Hope you enjoyed my rant …

And this blog would not be complete without photos. Here's a round of photos from a day of celebration for a retired teacher and educator. He has taught countless people in Barra de Navidad and highly respected in the state of Jalisco for his influence to all. His name is José Concepción Torres Franco and he is 95 years old ...

Location: Barra de Navidad, Mexico

Seas the day,

Robert Hansen

I LOVE TELLING VISUAL STORIES WITH MY CAMERA
Let me shoot you …
available for projects worldwide

CONTACT INFORMATION
Email: rhfotografo@gmail.com

Websites: rhfotografo.com or barrafotogaleria.com