Mexico with Jose Villa

It’s pouring buckets of rain outside of the cozy hacienda where we will sleep soundly tonight. Jose and I are here just a couple hours away from Guadalajara Mexico to finalize preparation for his November workshop. We spent a day and a half at his grandmothers house resting, hanging out and talking with the occasional meal (which she insists that I eat more than I am able). Yesterday we shucked freshly picked corn and roasted it over the BBQ. I was amazed at how delicious something so natural and pure could taste.

We came to Guadalajara, Mexico on Tuesday after Jose’s one day workshop in San Francisco with Gene Higa. The reason we are here is to prepare for His Mexico week workshop this November. We will be scouting locations and picking out models tomorrow.

This afternoon we arrived to the Hacienda (where we will conduct the workshop) which we have all to ourselves; all 26 rooms! We cruised through the nearby town snapping pictures of the local people hanging outside their homes. I brought a Hasselblad that a friend lent me and Jose is working it with his Holga. The pictures you see here were taken with my digital from both Jose and I. The rain started to pour after we finished our bottle of red following dinner. I stood in the downpour for awhile to remind myself of how real this whole experience has been.








Jose shot this image of his grandmother with my camera. He commented just how much he loved the light. It has been exciting switching off between shooting film and digital for the both of us.

















These last 2 shots are by Jose.
Amazing the way he sees the world and directs people and arranges objects. I have learned so much from exploring Mexico with our cameras in just these past couple of days. I think everybody in the world should take his Mexico workshop! I cannot wait to return in November. The Hacienda is gorgeous and when I arrived I felt like I went back in time or walked onto a movie set. We will photograph more today but I don’t think I will be able to post until I get home because we will be leaving our internet connection behind.