Trip to the Village of Embera Puru :: Photojournalism Tips for Moms :: Mamatography Photo Workshops

Happy Earth Day : ) For this post I'd like to share my photos from last weekend's adventure to Embera Puru, a Native village here in the jungles of Panama. Home to some of the nicest people on EARTH!

Many months ago, I had a pleasant encounter with an Embera family on the banks of the Canal. I snapped a few pics of them, as they were happy to, but I knew that there was a greater, more colorful experience lying up river amongst their many villages. I've been making a vigorous effort to take advantage of my surroundings here and most of all, the people. The native culture amongst me is so greatly intertwined with the modern happenings in Panama. There are multiple native groups, the most prominent in my area of Panama City are the Embera, Kuna and  Ngöbe-Buglé peoples. My daughter's teacher is a lovely, Kuna lady who I adore, named Teacher Dady (a little confusing at first to my American daughter ; ) She is from a very popular group of islands called San Blas. These are amongst the most beautiful in all the Caribbean sea. I've yet to get there but it's next on my list!

What's so great about the Embera villages for me, is that they offer a unique photographic experience relatively close to home here in Panama City. A friend of mine recommended Embera Village Tours as they provide a very authentic version of a tourist's excursion. 

In the Mamatography Photo Sharing and Critique group, this week, I assigned "Natives" as our weekly shoot topic. I wanted to give this one my all!

The Journey to Embera Puru: Fredrico carried some supplies I wanted to donate. "Amor" was our captain.
When we arrived, what a welcome it was!

This trip took around 1 hour by van to a lush, green, hilly bank just east of the Panama Canal. Driving through the many towns north of the city is a pretty common site. It's hard to imagine what we would soon find on our journey. Suddenly, the earth just opened up! And there were these dug out canoes and colorful Embera men there to greet us. *A couple funny side notes: Our guide contacted them by cell phone which they can access by climbing the hills in the village to notify them to jump in the motorized canoes to meet the tourists at the shore "ramp". Knowing these things did not take away from the experience one bit! In fact, my bottom is utterly grateful that I only had to sit on that piece of ply wood in the canoe for an hour and a half compared to, if rowed, could've taken a full day or more!  

I brought just about ALL of my gear on this trip because I didn't have Safi with me, this time! It was important to me to really focus on capturing the essence of the experience and leaving the diapers and crankiness at home. I used both my camera bodies this day because on one I had my 17-55mm Wide angle, zoom lens for landscapes and on my new camera my 50mm normal/portrait lens to capture faces, details and HD video of the village. I put everything to use! Important to mention that I brought a large raincoat with me to throw over my gear on the boat trip. Luckily, I didn't need to use it as we're on the edge of dry to rainy season.

View from my canoe on Rio San Juan de Pequeni

This trip was a much needed escape from the awful realities that had been LITERALLY exploding back home and seeing it all here on CNN. When I stepped off that canoe and walked up the hill of musicians, my camera holding hands shook with joy! 

My eyes filled with tears as I marveled in the faces of chubby cheeked children and their bare breasted mothers. It was all just so beautiful, like I was meant to go there all this time.

I immediately locked eyes with little Leila. She's 1 of 3 daughters of my new friend, Silvania. Whom, greeted me in English. I was shocked! Most everyday people in Panama, even in the city, do not speak English. That's just the way it is. But here was this native girl, giving up on my bad Spanish, and communicating in MY language.

Silvania is a storybook in herself. She's just 20 years old, a mother of 3 and working towards going to college in the city to perfect her English to show visitors like me, where she lives. What was especially interesting about her, is that she is not actually an Embera. She is from the Ngöbe-Buglé culture generally located in the more Western side of Panama. She met her husband (I still have to get the scoop how) who is from the Embera tribe, and brought her to his village where they are raising their beautiful children together. The elder women, including her mother-in-law, help her care for her girls as well since her family is on the other side of the country. 

I gave Silvania the goods that I brought for little girls. I could laugh at my self because I brought them these fancy sandals from Nordstroms and all the kids were barefoot! Just the way kids should be. One little one got a kick out of a pair of sunglasses Safi never took to. 

She and all the Emberas were so warm and kind. Men and women alike. The little girls whom were big sisters, really amazed me. They were little mothers themselves, filled with affection for their baby siblings.

Another baby's treasure!

Leila being sneaky with the big girls.
The cloths shown hanging on the line and on the female Emberas, are designed by them. However modern technology has enabled them to sketch their designs and then deliver them to the city where they are then EMAILED to Japan, printed and shipped back for them to wear, sell and enjoy!

Beautiful goods, handmade by the Emberas

Silvania coiling a traditional basket made from hand died, palm fibers.

"Angelina"
as our guide Dave said, she's never seen a camera before ; )

Lunch! We were fed a fresh feast of Tilapia, which was caught in transit, with Patacones (fried Plantains)
in a leave sleeve. 

Mom splitting up a snack. Keeping the peace amongst little villagers! 

If you have the chance to take the simplest of excursions in which you can capture a native group, do it! Even if they too are adjusting to the modern world, they choose to stay removed from it. This makes for an intriguing VISUAL STORY in the style of "Photojournalism". Even in your day to day lives, when you're taking pictures, attempt to tell a story. Take more than one picture of the same thing or person on a particular day or at a special place. Remember every moment of a unique experience through multiple unique images.

On this day, I truly was a kid in a candy store. One just couldn't take a bad photo of these lovely people! I can't wait to return, next time with Safi. We're going to have a sleep over with Silvania and her girls. Should be intersting to see how Safi fares a day with out the iPad! Silvania says SHE can't wait to go to the city in July and catch up on TV. Though, her kids say to her "Mami, I don't like TV". Bless their little Embera hearts!

Happy Snapping, Vicky

A Spectacular Family Day & a Story Book Giveaway : Children's Photography Techniques : Mamatography Photo Workshops

This past weekend we had a detour in our plans. For weeks, I've been scheming with a new friend here in Panama to venture to the Caribbean coast so that I could start a photo documentary on the Kuna Yala indians and camp with our families. (My camera having been collecting dust for weeks.) But, the "sicky spirits" had a different intent for us. Both of us and our kids were completely laid up with a mega virus that apparently shows up here at the beginning of the rainy season. There are no seasons here really, just rainy and dry! With that, we wouldn't be venturing on a 3 hour car ride then to an hour wooden boat ride to a remote Caribbean island with 2 sick moms, 3 feverish kids and 2 WELL husbands.

Feeling a little better, Safi's Daddy and I decided to make lemonade out of this situation and take off for an overnighter to El Palmar Beach, a shorter drive on the Pacific side.

There, we enjoyed splashing in the water and just escaping the city. Sunday morning we took a stroll on the sand and had an al fresco breakfast. The light was perfect to snap some shots, so of course I did!

One of our favorite activities to do with Safi is reading. She especially enjoys it at breakfast time. So with the light what it was, I captured her enjoying a good read. 

I have these brand new colorful books that I've been dying to show to Safi. Back in May I attended the Mom 2.0 Summit in Miami and mingled with the best of the best Mama bloggers. There, I met an extraordinarily warm and smiley lady, Leah Lesser. She's the Communications Director for Barefoot Books, an independent children's book publisher with a vibrant twist! This month on their Facebook page they asked "What does storytime look like in your family?" and photos from moms around the world flooded in. I took quite an interest to this concept. So, this is our take on it…

Check out the giveaway that Barefoot Books is offering to Mamatography readers at the end of this post!

Later that day, we took a drive up to the mountains to El Valle for a cool off and to stroll the zoo that was highly recommended by my friend, the co-sicky. An hour drive up, then slightly down into "the valley" we arrived at  Zoo Nispero. It was an ethereal place made from my dreams I tell you! Like The Secret Garden of Panama. All the surrounding mountain peaks were covered in mist and everything was a glistening green. With that, it was PICTURE TIME!

Inside the zoo was a wide open garden with a dreamy pond and of course the backdrop of the mountains. Safi was dressed in her same vibrant orange dress from the morning which was a nice contrast to the green around her.

Now for some shooting tips…

1st, make sure that your shutter speed is always fast enough when shooting under low light conditions. As the clouds rolled in I had to increase my exposure but leaving your shutter open longer isn't usually the best way to accomplish this because you will see blur in your photos as did I. When I reviewed my shots at home, I noticed I had used 1/60 for many of what could've been my best shots. Thus, having to scrap some of them due to motion blur. Don't make my mistake! Stay in the safety zone of 1/80 when shooting off of a tripod and subjects in action.

Next, look for some kind of light in the eyes. This isn't always easy, especially when it's overcast. If possible, use a reflector if only to add a "catch light" to your subject's eyes. This means that the eyes are reflecting some sort of light source coming from the sun, flash or any other reflective service even water can produce this quality. So, always be mindful of additional light sources around you.

Lastly, when you're somewhere scenic, create some variety in your series of photos. Shoot the space you're in! Your kiddos are forever adorable, but don't forget to capture the scene itself so that when you output your photos whether it be in a printed album or on Facebook, etc. you'll always have a memory of that special place you visited with your family.

AND HERE'S THE GIVEAWAY: Enter in the Rafflecopter below to win your choice of a Barefoot Book! Check out www.barefootbooks.com/shop and see what's up for grabs.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Safi reading Who's in the Farmyard, another colorful publication by Barefoot Books

Now for an end note, I have some very BIG announcements to make in the coming weeks and have been plugging away on the Mamatography Instructional Photo App. 

Stay tuned for all the goodness!

Happy Shooting, Vicky

Sunrise Photo Session Lesson & Contest :: Showcase Your Mamatography

Happy Saturday Mamas! I took this shot this morning overlooking Panama City and thought, hmmm? I'd like to see what others see at sunrise! If you dare to wake up before your kids, I promise you it's kind've refreshing, then PLEASE SHARE your point of view at sunrise.

HOW TO SHOOT A SUNRISE:

(This technique calls for shooting in Manual Mode-"M" on most camera models)

First, as with all shoots, set your cameras ISO. I recommend a low ISO i.e. 200 so that you do not have any visual "digital noise" or "grain". You want a nice smooth, sharp image.

Next, use a tripod!

When you are capturing a sunrise or later sunset you will likely want to use a photographic technique called a "long exposure". To do so, you must have a tripod to stabilized your camera so that shake is not visible, which occurs by hand holding your camera. A long exposure is when you adjust your camera settings to shoot at a long Shutter Speed.  With a fast shutter speed, you likely would have an image that is too dark (under exposed). This is because the shutter did not stay open long enough to capture what little natural/ambient light exists at these tranquil times of day. I recommend starting at a shutter speed of around 1" (that's 1 second).

After you've set your ISO, put your camera on the tripod and choose a long shutter speed, you'll have to follow your camera's internal light meter to guide you in choosing the correct aperture for this "exposure". Ideally, you'll want a very small aperture if you are shooting a land or cityscape as I was above. By using a small aperture, i.e. f11, f16 or "smaller" you'll retain the detail of all the subject matter in the frame giving you a professional touch! (Think Ansel Adams) Be sure to follow your light meeter while adjusting your aperture until you reach what looks like +/- 0.

Now that you know how to shoot a sunrise...Let's make it a contest! 

Here it goes:

First, Upload your Sunrise Shots to your Facebook, Flickr, Pinterest, etc. pages. Then share a link to your image by commenting below to this post with a short description of your location and technique for capturing your early morning images, plus your first name and last initial. If you have a blog where the image is posted, share that too!

Next, Follow this Blog by email (on the right of this page) to track other's submissions and stay afloat to the winner announcement which will be at random on June 1st. With the winner's permission, your image will be displayed on this blog with credit to you.

WHAT YOU'LL WIN?

2-LIVE 1 hour Photography Webinars with a copy of the Mamatography Photo Basics & Beyond ebook!

I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Happy Shooting, Vicky