Since when I became a photographer over forty years ago, forty-two years to be exact, I’ve always taken pictures of expressions of faith because my photographic career was born out of faith in a dream that I had at seventeen. My devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe began in 2012 when with my good friend Juan de la Cruz we decided to walk for over hundred kilometres (to be perfectly honest we only managed to walk seventy-five since we went totally unprepared) with many devotees from the small town of Cholula in Puebla state all the way to Mexico city where on the 12th of December over 5 million pilgrims gather to pay their homage to Tonantzin/Virgin of Guadalupe.
In 2013, I began teaching this special workshop. We have done it for 6 years in a row including 2018. The only difference being that last year, for the first time, we began the workshop in Cuetzlan, a magic pueblo in the state of Puebla. The spirituality that we experienced in those two initial days was very powerful. We were in the very heart of a very unique indigenous area. When visiting the main church in town, I was greatly impressed by the Gothic architecture of the immense church totally shrouded in mist. Talking to some locals I discovered that this very church was the one dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe. We also found out that two days before, in another church, they celebrate the black Virgin of Juquila. when I heard that we had this unique opportunity to photograph both, it was as if I was receiving an order from the sky and in 2019 we will focus the entire workshop within this region.
The new course will still be dedicated to Tonantzin/Guadalupe, but we will also be exploring many of the many villages of one of the most beautiful indigenous areas of Puebla state photographing smaller celebrations, daily life, landscapes and all the surprises that will unfold before our eyes.
Our headquarter will be a nice and cozy small hotel in Cuetzalan with his cobblestone street and ancient buildings all built with local stones. I already got two students ready to attend what it will be another very special adventure.
I can’t simply wait to be there for 10 long and slow days immersed in this beautiful microcosm of Mexican life! EB
To receive further info and the cost of the workshop please write to: ernesto_bazan@hotmail.com or bazanphoto@yahoo.com
Refund Policy
I rely on your attendance to organize many of the workshops’ logistics, so if for any reason you decide to no longer attend the workshop, please notify me at least 60 days before the start of the workshop. At that time I will refund your fee minus $200 cancelation fee. If you cancel between 30 and 60 days before the start of the workshop I will retain $250 as a cancellation fee. If notification is made less than 30 days before the start of the workshop no monies will be refunded to you.
Please note that in case of exceptional and unforeseeable circumstances such as hurricanes, earthquakes, major floods, tsunami, a war or governments’ change of policies in the countries I teach courses, BazanPhotos will only offer as a refund a new workshop in any of the other venues during that same calendar year. No other forms of refunds will be available.
