Tudo Bem Bahia
Salvador de Bahia, Brazil 2012
It’s time to ponder, to go over the intense year that I’ve lived and that is about to close with the last workshop here in Bahia.
With Stan we know each other well: I believe he’s at his fifth workshop with me. We just saw each there in Seattle for my presentation and editing workshop. I asked him to bring his best images taken in all these years. I want to understand if I can manage to find a common thread in all his work.
The workshop begins and we manage to alternate shooting and editing of his Brazilian images. In the spare time we look, little by little, a the various”chapters” of his work: Guatemala, India, Mexico, Italy, France, subway from different parts of the world.
I try to break his stubbornness in order to help him although, sometimes, he tenaciously resists.
Stan helps me with much love to make some important changes in the sequence of my next book ISLA. It’s like choosing moves in a chess game among infinite possibilities. We make some important breakthroughs.
In the end we are both quite satisfied with our mutual help. Stan has now about 60 images from which to start working on the puzzle of a future sequence. I share with him my beloved Bahian countryside: fishermen, farmers, roosters and many children.
I enjoy in seeing that during our daily editing Stan has been photographing still lives and landscapes that only a few days before would have been impossible for a photograher that often shoots from the hip. “I want to sweeten my way of seeing the world”‘ he says. I smile. Even him is pleasantly surprised. From his urban shots of people somewhat alienated and dislocated, always close to one another physically but far away mentally, I began to see more contemplative, sweet and tender rural moments that gives way to hope. I smile again.
Tudo Bem Camarada. EB
