Bosco's New Look

In Peru I was getting really hot all the time because my fur was so thick! I was sweating all the time so Elisabeth and Kendall shaved my fur, dyed it gray with dark gray polka dots, and a long white horn on my head! I look SEXY; I’m a sexy magical unicorn! I have a completely new look and I think it will attract hot horses in the Hamptons! BUT… Alexis left me on the plane! Maybe someone will find me and take me around the world, and not be left on the bottom of the plane forever!

Final Post

We arrived home yesterday and there was a general sigh of relief. Whether it was a deep breath of the fresh sea-level air, or the relief of all of us returning home in one piece, it was a happy time for us. Some of us returned with dread locks and charms in our hair, and some of us returned just as we had left. Overall, I will say, that this was a successful and enjoyable trip. We all have greatly improved in our photographic skills, as well as having grown in many ways. I enjoyed watching each student improve greatly in their photography from beginning to end. I would not return to Peru again seeing as it was a once in a lifetime experience, but I will keep the memory always. We made it through thick and thin and we are all glad to finally be home.

Carlotta's Videos

Posted By Carlotta

Daria

http://www.flickr.com/photos/martinoalexis/sets/72157623600175490/show/

Huacarpay Cleanup

Today we went back to the camp where all of the inhabitants of one of the flooded towns are living.  This is our third time back to this particular camp except today, instead of photographing, we all helped clean up.  Due to the rivers over flooding, they bring with them massive amounts of plastic and styrofoam that collect on the banks.  Each student and teacher took a different location of the bank and began picking up as much garbage as they could see.  By the end we had filled up thirty two garbage bags and had eliminated around 80% of the garbage.  As we worked in teams the river banks began to take different forms into something cleaner and the true beauty was revealed. 
As we were all along the river a local man came by with a megaphone preaching about how the locals should do their part to help the environment.  This man in addition to our contribution inspired some of the locals that were washing their clothes in the river to help us and take initiative.  Even our two drivers started to help us.  Although this was could be considered a small contribution in the larger scheme of things, it was a very rewarding and beautiful deed.  I believe it taught a lot of us the value of community service and how easy it is to contribute to a community in need.

Final Critique Part 3

Final Critique Part 2

Another Critique Clip

Another Critique Clip

Ki Beom (Daniel) Shin Final Portfolio

Sylvia Laytin Final Portfolio

Savanna Hoge Final Portfolio

Noelle Wyman Final Portfolio

Kendall Shedden Final Portfolio

Kate Fitz-Simons Final Portfolio

Hayley Smith Final Portfolio

Haleigh Rimland Final Portfolio

Grace Curatola Final Portfolio

Eunice Kim Final Portfolio

Elisabeth Walstam Final Portfolio

Claire Holmes Final Portfolio

Carlotta Kohl Final Portfolio

Jixin (Angela) Zhou Final Portfolio

sylvia's video

the students in village

On Wednesday, March 3rd we visited a small village near Pisac where the previous day a mudslide destroyed seventy percent of the village. We purchased milk, rice and bread to donate to the people of the village. When we arrived they were lined up to receive tents from the army, as most of their homes were gone. One family lost six people in the slide. We ended up in the middle of a funeral with a long procession to the cemetery that wound its way through the rubble of the village. It stopped outside the remnants of the women’s home and the pallbearers shifted the coffin back and forth in a touching ceremony to say goodbye. We were all overwhelmed with the pain and sorrow that the people were experiencing. While it was difficult for many of the students to witness such sorrow and destruction, their photographs captured the strength and resilience of the Peruvian people. It was a day that many of us will never forget.

Fifth Round of Ernesto's Selects

Fourth Round of Ernesto's Selects

Dance Dance Revolution

Today we left in the morning to go to the school near Huarcarpay again. To everyone's surprise, the town looked very different from our last visit. On our way there, the roads were flooded and some houses got ruined as well. We split in to two groups, one staying with the children from the school, the other heading towards the ruined village. And the two groups switched later. During the exploration of the village, everyone had some pretty awesome shoots about the flooded environment. When we were heading back towards the school, Ernesto led this group people into hitchhiking a truck. It was really a fun ride. Then the two groups switched places and we spent a little more time in this town and started heading towards another village.

This village was completely new to us. At first when we hopped out of the van we saw no one in the village. Later we learned that the whole village was having a ceremony. There was a band playing and the whole village gathered together to sit in a huge open square. There were people serving corn beer and beef stew with rice to everyone. Later a guy came up to us and started a dance with the fabulous music played by the band.

After vising this village, we headed back to the hostel and had another fancy dinner. Then we started critiquing in the cafe of the hostel. Ernesto gave out helpful advise to everyone as usual. It's another day for which we learned and enjoyed ourselves.

Fourth Round of Ernesto's Selects

Third Round of Ernesto's Selects

March Monday the 1st

Today after eating and being critiqued by Ernesto we headed out on a very scenic route to a small village high in the mountains. Now the story of actually getting there is very eventful. The small community that we visited does not often have visitors so the road there wasn't to stable. The whole way up we were very close to the edge of the cliffs, leaving us all at the tip of our seats. Once finally arriving and being able to take a breath we set out to interact with the civilians of our destination. The people of this town were all dressed in very traditional Peruvian clothing, including the women, children and men. We observed the merchandise that they had woven themselves, some of us even making some nice purchases to bring back to America. After wandering around and taking some amazing photographs we headed back home feeling very pleased at what we had just accomplished. We ended our day at one of our favorite restaurants of Peruvian fusion, and then headed back home to rest up for the next days

Pictures of the Trip

Here are a selection of images from our travels so far. The students and teachers are having an amazing time and the entire trip has been very successful. Enjoy!

Ollantaytambo, Peru

Herded Like Sheep

Second Round of Ernesto's Selects

Day6 Bosco's daily adventure!!!

This morning I went to the market in Peru. I went the market a few times this trip but, this market was not very crowded as the other markets. I was walking around with Eunice and Elisabeth and I watched them take pictures. People were playing volleyball right next to the market, it was quite entertaining when I saw Kendall was joining them.
While we were going to the village we stopped a few times to catch the magic moment!
Then we went to the village. I took a photo with a boy who was sleeping on the street. Likely, he did not get up! Elisabeth, Eunice, Haleigh, Hayley and I tried to enter the random house in the village. We follow the girl and asked her to go into her house. When we entered, her mother did not let us to take pictures. We had some energy bars for lunch, and went back to hostel.

Scenes From the Tent Camp

Here are some images from the tent city of refugees near the school in Huacarpay. Much of their village was destroyed during the recent flooding and mudslides. Many of the people will be moved permanently to a new location in Peru as their village is now uninhabitable.

Pisaq, Peru

the camp

Another Critique Clip

Rainy Satudays

Today we went to visit a group of kids in Cusco that was in a difficult situation because the children come from abusive families, and they are struggling to have a normal educational life. The goal of their foundation was for them to feel safe in their environment. We each got to play with the kids on the playground and took photos of them. After about two hours we each gave them toys, but they had to close their eyes and pick from the bag. After we left we took an hour and a half bus ride to another village, called Plaza de Armes. During lunch, Ernesto critiqued our photos. All of us learned our failures or our accomplishments from our photos from yesterday. After lunch, we all split into groups and roamed around the village searching for hidden gems that could make unforgettable photos. We tried not to take ordinary “travel pictures”, but take them from a different perspective. For example, everyone loves pictures of people, but most of the time they are the same because people are always focusing on the camera. Taking it from a different perspective such as taking a photo of someone naturally and not looking at the camera. After a long tedious day we came back to the hostel to pick our next masterpieces for the critique tomorrow morning.

The BEST World Trekker

Hey what’s happening? I’m going to tell you about my super wonderful wooftastic day! First I woke up and had some dog food because you know I need my nutrients for a long day! Then I jumped in the van and set out on my adventure with Haleigh and Kendall! Our first stop was visiting kids at a safe house who have abusive households. We got to meet and play with so many wonderful and nice children! I had so much fun; I even got to go down a slide in the playground! Once we were done playing with the kids we put a bunch of toys and clothes in a bag and they got to pick out of the bag with their eyes closed. It looked like everyone was having a really good time! Once we left the safe house we got in the van for an hour and a half to go to this little town called Ollantaytambo. When we got to the town we had a nice lunch at a little restaurant. After lunch we walked around the town and Hayley, Haleigh, and Eunice were taking pictures of the people in the town. We even got to hand out little gifts to some of the kids! When we were in town I was playing with some of the street dogs while Hayley and Haleigh were learning Korean from Eunice, and singing Bohemian Rhapsody, it was quite entertaining! After that we went off to a little market place and bought some cute items to bring back home, while some other people in our group went to go climb an Incan ruin! After a long day we got back on the van to the hostel.

Here are some pictures of me in the park with my new friends. Enjoy!

We are all fine

Hi all
We thought you should know that the earthquake is in Chile and nowhere near us. We are all safe and enjoying a beautiful day in
Ollantaytambo, a small village in the sacred valley with some pictuesque Incan ruins. We will post more when we are back at the hotel.

First Round of Ernesto's Selects

bosco

Today our group left the hotel at 9:15 A.M. and boarded our vans which took us to a site that had been gravely affected by the recent flooding. All the members of the ruined community were living in small blue tents on a schools property. As we drove up the sight was truly devastating. We were welcomed in by several of the teachers of the school. After photographing the scene for over an hour, we broke up into groups of three and worked with the students. We gave them cameras to use and they began to shoot everything in sight. They were overly delighted by the chance to use these cameras. After the photography expedition with the children we came back to the main square to listen to a song prepared by them. This part of the day was an incredibly enlightening experience as we were able to give back by a tragedy stricken community.

After lunch we re-loaded the van and drove out to some of the most beautiful landscapes any of us had ever seen. In the distance stood the Andes Mountains and around them were incredible landscapes of other mountains and rolling green lands. We all took many pictures as well as interacted with the land by climbing and walking along the many hills and plains.

After this adventure we returned to the hotel for a quick break before dinner at Inka-Fe.

Day 4

Today we woke up early and headed out to a school located an hour outside of Cusco. The school was housing families that had their homes destroyed by the flooding. The area that was housing the families included the actual school and tents for them to live in. We began photographing the people living in the area, quickly learning how difficult it is for them to be living in this type of situation. After that we broke up into groups to play with the children where we taught them how to take photographs. The children were very welcoming and sweet and bonded with us right away even with the language barrier. Before we left we gave the children our donations which included toys and socks. We went back to Cusco to eat lunch and rest for a bit. After resting we set out for another village that was affected by the flooding. However, we didnt make it to the village due to the beautiful drive and scenery and ended up not having enough time to go to the village. We stopped at two spots to photograph the beautiful mountains and valleys, it was so incredible that we lost track of time. At the end of the day we came back to the hostel and went out for dinner. Tomorrow we plan on making another attempt to return to the village.

Peruvian Details

Kids

Woof Woof!

Hey there! It’s Bosco! Today we woke up, ate breakfast, and went straight to this farm called Awana Kancha. I got to meet a bunch of llamas and alpacas and even though I wasn’t allowed to feed them, Hayley and Noelle did and they looked like they had a lot of fun! After visiting the farm, we stopped at a few places to take pictures and admire the beautiful views. Once we were finished visiting the sites, we took a van ride to a market. There were so many stands with so many colorful things it was almost overwhelming for such a tiny dog like me! We took really fun pictures of everything we saw, including dogs! After an hour of shooting and buying things, we went to a really yummy restaurant and ate the best empanadas in the world! I usually eat dog food so it was a real treat to eat delicious human food. We came home early to edit photos and rest for a while. Hayley and Noelle left me while they went and critiqued, but I don’t mind because I got to see them when they came back!

Our Second Day Exploring

After a wonderful breakfast, we headed out this morning in two mini-busses for the Sacred Valley. However, we enjoyed several stops on the way. First up was the alpaca farm. Not only did we get great shots of the animals, but we also got the opportunity to feed them by hand. For the animal lovers, the experience was amazing. After bonding with the furry creatures, we checked out the gift shop and many of us found some great purchases. On the road again, we pulled over a few times to observe the beautiful landscape and even document the view with photographs. Finally we arrived at the Sacred Valley, and we were all blown away with the fascinating culture on every block. We split up for a while to explore the market and discover photographic moments to capture and add to our street photography portfolios. Some of us made bargains with the local street venders. Towards the end of our exploration it began to drizzle, but that didn’t stop us. By the time we had regrouped and walked to lunch, the rain had ceased and we were all ready for the world’s best empanadas. We tried the traditional empanadas, and some of us more adventurous ones sampled the specialties. After the meal, we headed back to the hostel on the bus. Upon arrival, we all went our separate ways to clean up our final photograph picks for the critique with Ernesto. That night we had a long, helpful session with him, where he commented on all of our photographs to improve our potential as street photographers. We were up late and ordered in pizza, but at the end of the day, we were all proud of our accomplishments.

Our First Photographic Journey

Our day began with a breakfast and an itinerary of the day’s plans. We set out at about 9:00 to do our first shooting of the trip. At first everyone was shy about taking pictures of the people around, but as the day progressed our confidence grew, and we began to feel more comfortable. The first thing we did to practice our street photography was to go to the a Plaza de Armas, the central square. We were able to walk freely around and explore the opportunities to take meaningful photos. Next we spent an hour in a local market and got to experience different aspects of the culture. We took many photos of both people and the surrounding landscape. Most of us made friends with a group of small boys who fallowed us around and asked us to take their photos. The children were extremely excited to see that we had cameras and constantly asked us to take their picture. The adults were not as delighted and constantly gave us mean looks or asked us for money for their picture. There were also many people who dress up in fancy Peruvian outfits and carried small animals or lead alpacas. These people asked us to pay them whenever we took picture of them. The next thing we did was go to the Incan ruins. We went to a few of the smaller ones before lunch and after lunch we went to some huge ones. The first one we went to is called Sacsayhuaman and there was a huge field with a lot of rock formations and stairs carved into the stone. This was beautiful because we could see almost the whole city of Cuzco and also mountains that had the word “Peru” carved into them. We also visited a place called Quenco where the Incas would sacrifice virgins. At one of the sites we visited called Puca Pucara a local band was recording a music video. It was great to see them dance and have fun. The last thing we did was go to a delicious Italian restaurant.

Ruff!

Today was the first day we walked around Cuzco and wow it was hot! We started off our day by going to a nearby plaza (sort of like a town square) and took photos. There are a lot of dogs around here, but I'm not allowed to go play with them because they are dangerous to such a small dog like me- but I went around with my good friends Kate and Claire while they took photos, so I wasn't lonely. I tried to go looking for treats in the local market, but I was too afraid that I would get lost. That place is huge! There is food, clothing, musical instruments-everything you could ever need.
Later on we went to ancient Inca ruins-they were amazing! Climbing around the ruins was fun, but it was a little difficult because the high altitude made us all really dizzy.
By the end of the day I was so tired, I fell asleep at dinner! But I stayed awake when I got home so I could write to all my friends- I miss you guys!
Love-Bosco

From Bosco!

Hey guys, Bosco here!
I am writing to tell all of my friends at home about the glorious time I am having here in Peru. I have made many new friends and look forward to taking lots of beautiful pictures with the help of Ernesto. I made a close friend, Jocko, and he is a pink monkey! He has a knot in his tail and yellow hands and feet. He is a very nice monkey with a rockin' personality! I am really enjoying my time here with him, just monkeying around, no pun intended. We have been helping each other out and making each other tea to help with the altitude sickness. Tonight for dinner we had doritos and chips ahoy with our close friends Grace and Carlotta.
Traveling was a new and exciting experience and I am so happy to be here!
I am quite tired now so I am going to retire to Grace and Carlotta's bed with Jocko!
Night!

Our Journey Begins

Our trip began with a lot of preparatory activities. We spent the day at Ross packing our "babies" full of donations and equipment, reviewing our portfolios, and mentally preparing for the adventure ahead. By 3:30 we had completed our preparations and were ready to eat and be off. We ordered from Villa and brought our food on the Winston. Finally, we arrived at the airport with approximately four hours before our flight departed. We checked in and then decided to buy neck pillows, food, and magazines. We boarded the flight, eagerly awaiting our arrival in Peru. The excitement had been brewing for quite some time now. Most of us slept like good little pods throughout the flight. Some of us decided to watch the wide array of films we could choose from. For the most part, it was a calm and easy flight, other then some turbulence here and there. Once we arrived in Lima, we got our bags, met up with Ernesto, and checked in for our next flight. We got on our flight from Lima at approximately 9:30 AM and arrived in Cuzco about 2 hours later. Upon our arrival in Cuzco, we all got our luggage and headed out to the vans we had waiting for us. While leaving the airport we had some candid photos taken of us, which we were told we would have a chance to purchase later on in our trip. We traveled through tiny roads and passages, finally arriving at our hostel; our quaint home for the next couple of weeks. We then had some time to rest and settle/adjust to our new settings. Many of us felt somewhat uncomfortable from the altitude. Our symptoms include dizziness, nausea, vomiting, and sleepiness. After our rest, we went to exchange some money and grab a bite to eat. Following lunch, we had some time to refresh before beginning the critique of our home portfolios. Ernesto gave us some insightful feedback on our images and an encouraging attitude towards the next couple of weeks. This should be a very productive and successful trip! Tomorrow we have a packed day, and we all are looking forward to it.

Alexis' Famous Vocabulary Terms

* A DUMMY- noun. One who checks the premise for missing items before departure.

* DUMMY CHECK- verb. The act of checking the premise for missing items before departure.

* DOG’S BODY- noun. One who is stuck with all the “grunt” work for being “naughty” (see definition)

* NAUGHTY- verb. The act of doing something you shouldn’t be doing, but not really sinful. Ex.) “They were just being loud naughty teenagers!”

*A BABY- noun. An extra suitcase that does NOT belong to you. Often filled with charity donations when leaving for a trip. When departing back to said home base; often filled with souvenirs and other useless stuff.

we are here

just got to our   hotel , drinking some coco tea will blog soon with our adventure

CUZCO - PERU: An Intimate Photographic Journey with Ernesto Bazan

COURSE DESCRIPTION
Students will have the rare opportunity to work one-on-one with renowned documentary photographer Ernesto Bazan in a private workshop tailored specifically for them to explore the culturally diverse Cuzco, Peru and its surrounding villages. In his teaching Ernesto Bazan stresses the importance of being emotionally in tune with your subjects to produce a series of revealing images that will portray a sense of the place and of its people. Each student will choose a theme or story to explore and develop, both photographically and in journal entries, through out the workshop. They will also post their work and experiences on the web.

"Through out the workshop we will be staying in a charming hostal in Cuzco in the picturesque neighborhood of Saint Blas a few blocks away from Plaza de Armas, Cuzco’s colonial main square. Each morning we’ll go out shooting. Some days on the streets of this fascinating town, other days we will be visiting some of the outlying villages and the farmers’ communities in the Sacred Valley such as Urubamba, Ollantaytambo, Pisaq, Calca, Maras. We will have the opportunity to photograph and share the villagers’ daily life, and try to capture the flow of life unfolding before our eyes in Cuzco and in the small pueblos full of mystery and magic. Additionally we will be working with an orphanage and several schools. With enthusiasm and honesty, I will help all of you capture some of those little surprises that photography constantly reveals to us. My ultimate goal is to help each participant create an appealing body of work with personal, strong, individual images. Each student will be encouraged to develop his or her own photographic language and to search for the invisible thread that ties a story together. At night, we will have both one-on-one editing sessions and group critiques in which the whole class will discuss many photography topics such as framing, composition and content within the context of individual images. We will also find time to enjoy the music, the culture and the charm of this precious colonial town.".~ Ciao Ernesto - Excerpt from Ernesto's letter to us about the workshop in Cuzco, Peru