14 Quebras Molas Gallery
Salvador de Bahia and Reconcavo Bahiano, Brazil 2012
® Aliona Londono
Being in Bahia was a wonderful experience and sometimes even magical. I didn’t know what to expect of this part of Brazil. I was surprised to feel so many times that I was in South Africa, a country that has a special place in my heart. Here in Bahia I have found my second South Africa, so many déjà vus. Besides of growing in my photography, I loved to discover how people live in this part of the world. I enjoyed looking at everybody’s pictures, to see how different we reacted at the same situations.
I have learned a tremendous amount from Ernesto.
I have also took in a great deal from all the other students in the group.
In addition to that, I felt very lucky to have participated with all the other students to the editing process of Ernesto’s black and white panoramic images from Cuba. Aliona Londono
® Geralyn Shukwit
“Brazil… again?” – asked by too many, too often.
Returning to Bahia was like returning to life. These workshops are my time to focus in on photography and allow the rest of my world to fade away, if only for 10 days. Editing my images I feel I was far more aware of what was around me and the emotions were stronger than before.
Even after a week home I can still close my eyes and grasp every laugh as well as every tear.
Miss Christiane will remain in my heart as she learns to live a life not hers by choice, though she does not complain. She has a love for life known by few and she shares it with all that share love in return. The openness of all in the Factory is beyond words and I am grateful with Ernesto for bringing them into our lives.
14 Quebras Molas (what a lucky guess mine was!)…we learned so much from each other through vision, words and especially laughter and I will always cherish our time together through Salvador, Cachoeira and beyond.
Ernesto – thank you for your vision of learning and capturing life. As you share this with all of us we don’t just become better photographers but better people as well… until next time! Geralyn Shukuwit
® Giorgio Negro
Aliona, Geralyn, Giusi, Justin, Mircea, Romain…. I wanted to thank you for all that you have given me in these 10 unforgettable days. To discover each morning your fabulous photographs has been for me a marvelous learning experience, a unique opportunity to learn to become a better photographer, to be able to see beyond what my so limited eyes could perceive. And how to forget the pizzas, the smashed fingers, the weddings in a row, the little sister in Justin’s room, the horses, the caipirinhas and that crackling Babel tower that our VW van would turn itself into everyday? For all of this I thank you and love all of you.
Ernesto, one more time, our paths have crossed and, once more, you taught me how to follow my course. As a true Maestro. Thank you especially to you. I’m sure we will reunite again soon since our hopes and our dreams have so much in common. Giorgio Negro
® Giusi Storino
Since the very first moment I landed in Salvador I felt the nice sensation that I had made a really good choice. This was the first time I was taking a workshop with Ernesto and my photographic skills were so limited that I would have never expected that this experience would have changed, in so little time, both my way of taking pictures and of looking at things and people around me.
The ten-day workshop in Salvador and Cachoeira was a full immersion in the life of these people and these landscapes, a daily experiencing of new sides of the human soul.
The group was a special one and I’m not flattering anyone by saying that I’ve already been missing them all, especially the way everyone helped me, and also the great moments and the fun we all had.
Ernesto and the other students in the group were able to transform what had to be a ‘simple’ workshop into something special and unique.
He has been a wonderful teacher showing a great understanding for my efforts and my mistakes and always tried to encourage and inspire me. Getting to know him better I could appreciate more not just the great photographer he is, but also the man and the poet. I could see how people, and in particular children there, love him and how he is so close to them.
I also had the privilege of taking part in the editing of the images by more experienced students like Giorgio and Romain.
I would really like to take this opportunity to thank Ernesto and all of my fellow students: Aliona for her sweetness and friendship, Justin for the fun moments we had and for being always there to help me, Giorgio and Romain for their kindness and generosity, G. for the fun she gave us and for her daily smiles, and Silvana for having shared with us her amazing experience in photography and her ‘wisdom’.
And now… I’m planning to go back to Bahia again to take my second Bazan’s workshop. Giusi Storino.
® Justin Meredith
As Israel arrived at our last shoot to take me to the airport, a flood of emotions pulsed through my body. The inevitable close to an unforgettable experience stared me in the face. I moved hurriedly through the halls of a decaying makeshift building fighting back tears to say a last goodbye to a family of new friends and beautiful Bahia.
The group similar to a great photograph, was a true alignment of diverse and unique elements. A collective of individuals committed to making great images and encouraging each other to stay focused when doubt crept in.
This experience would not have been possible if it weren’t for Ernesto’s selfless attitude toward teaching and the photographic process. I thank him for his true support and example of creative leadership. Justin Meredith
® Mircea Sorin Albutiu
The workshop with Ernesto and the photographers group 14 Quebras Molas in Bahia was very intensive. The fact that Ernesto introduced us to places that he knows very well, gave me the confidence to take some pictures, which are not easy to take on a 10-day trip in a foreign country by yourself. The daily reviews and editing helped me to understand better the subtleties of photography.
Thanks Ernesto and the group 14 Quebras Molas. Mircea Sorin Albutiu
® Romain Fournier
It has been three weeks since I have returned home and the memories of this last Bahia journey are still very fresh in my mind. Somehow, it feels like I came back from Brazil endowed with the ability to be everywhere at once. While I am here in Lausanne writing this short message, I am also there in Bahia running with the kids of the landless movement camp. Together we walk some dusty narrow paths, we make our way through the vegetation and after a while, we slowly but surely reach the top of a hill. The kids laugh, play, they seem to enjoy the moment. They have so much energy that it is almost overwhelming, positively overwhelming. I pause for a while and I look at them, I let my camera down. Viewing their expressions, their body language, I can feel that they are very proud to show us their land. I hardly have time to muse about this that one of the girls grabs my hand firmly and drags me in the swirl of a frantic downhill run… it is total madness… Jefferson overtakes me, he is barefoot and keeps running, and running and running … until he suddenly stops! A girl is there picking up some flowers… he imitates her… then both kids run back into our direction and give us the flowers as a gift… a truly priceless moment…
I am now back in Switzerland enthused to have shared instants like these with you guys. Thanks Ernesto for making this happening in your workshop. Romain Fournier
® Silvana Andrade
“Just one desire overwhelms me: to discover what’s hidden behind the visible, to bore through the mystery that gives me life and takes it away, and to know if an invisible and immutable presence hides behind and beyond the unstoppable world’ s flow.” Nikos Kazantzakis
The voyage…
The voyage was an interior one, and although an image says more than one thousand words, this time the experience overcame the spectrum of what you can see. In Bahia remains a piece of me, the richness stays in my heart thankful for each minute lived. The emotions still create confusion within me, even so laughter, love and the luck of living stay within me, in my quotidian life as it were for the first time that I lean out of the window to see the street close to the church of Bonfin.
The trip was an interior one, each moment was the right one, never before, never after.
I greatly thank Ernesto for this wonderful opportunity to share the trip and his vision of photography.
To my dear workshop’s companions of the group 14 Quebra Molas thank you for your teaching, your patience and joie de vivre.
To Christiani… the value of love is an infinite present, my heart stays with you little girl.
From the bottom of my heart thank you Ernesto. There aren’t any other words when they are the correct ones and come from the soul. Silvana Andrade
