Well, I fell in love with San Miguel at first sight but it has taken me a long time to start to feel like I might be grooving photographically. Although I've photographed in lots of places in Mexico and I think that I found a groove with the 16th century Mexican churches, for the most part it has been hard to find my own voice in San Miguel. I was talking with my friend Deborah Whitehouse another photographer here in San Miguel and she has experienced the same thing. But both of us are beginning to see below the surface in San Miguel.
I think that the colors and light and festivals of San Miguel are seductive. You rush out to photograph all of this excitement and foreign-ness but when you come back home and look at what you have shot, you think....Oh, I've seen these images before. And I had. I wasn't bringing anything new to the party. I'm not a street photographer so why would I think that just because I'm in San Miguel I would suddenly become one. All of my work is much more contemplative, more about the spaces where people are than about the people.
For the last year, I've been photographing in my own Colonia. And yes, I've photographed some of the festivals and processions in the Colonia but they are small and I can move through the crowd and there is time to watch and room to catch some moment happening at the edges. It is more intimate and personal.....more my style. I've also just walked the streets and photographed in the Colonia. It is beginning to happen. I think I'm finding my groove in San Miguel. Thankgoodness it has been a long dry spell.
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