Jock McDonald went to Cuba for the first time in 1990 with Bernardo Gonzalez, the son of Mexican Minister of Culture Juan Francisco Gonzalez. The elder Gonzalez had had become somewhat of a mentor to Jock on Latin American culture after giving him his first retrospective show in Mexico. “Juan Francisco said to me, ‘You’ll never understand Latin America if you don’t understand Cuba,’” Jock recalls.
“But he said, ‘I’m not going, I’m married. I’m going to have my son take you.’ I will never forget the look in his son’s eyes, the look that said, ‘I’m not taking a gringo to Cuba!’” Jock laughs.
Since 1990, photographer he has made some 50 trips to Cuba. What keeps him coming back, are the friendships he has found.
This month, The Face of Water, a series of portraits by Rudi Dundas that tells the stories of people affected by the lack of clean drinking water, opens at the World Affairs Council in San Francisco. On February 26, Rudi will give a lecture about the images at The Image Flow.
How can we let our kids be kids, to see the way kids see, while still teaching them something about photography? Hillary Sloss is a veteran photojournalist based in Marin County and a digital and film photography instructor at the San Francisco Waldorf High School. Her new class, Digital Photography for Youth, is designed especially to encourage young people to explore their world through photography.
The idea is, she says, to help young photographers create beautiful images that are youthful, but not childish. “It’s important to give young photographers enough so that they can advance their photographic skills, without inundating them too many rules,” says Hillary.
Acclaimed National Geographic photographer Catherine Karnow will present her lecture “The Art of Photographing People” on February 5 at The Image Flow, and a workshop in March. Known for her photographs of people, here, she discusses her teaching style, her existential search for “home,” and what drives her to keep on shooting.
“No matter whether I’m shooting on location or in a workshop, I have the faith that the magic will always happen,” she says.
You could say that Larry Davidson “discovered” photography as a young boy helping out his commercial photographer father. “I worked in his lab, and there was always a camera around the house when I was growing up,” Larry said.
In high school Larry and his friends built a darkroom in his garage from the spare parts they cobbled together from his father’s business in order to start a business of their own doing odd photography projects around town. But it wasn’t until later, when he took a few photography classes in college and also discovered Ansel Adams’s work that he says photography became something he could enjoy, just for the sake of it.
Larry’s work has since evolved from black and white landscapes, to bright and colorful architectural photography, to the vibrant abstract work he is now known for.
Working with encaustics began as a hobby for Margot Hartford, but now she is selling her pieces in four different galleries across San Francisco and on her website. She also teaches a popular workshop at The Image Flow.
“People like the process—they get into it. It’s tactile, easy, there’s nothing to learn. Anybody can do encaustics—that’s the beauty of it,” she said.
Fran Meckler has worked as a health educator for over 20 years, but says she always had an interest in photography. It wasn’t until after her daughters were grown, however, that she took her first photography class. “I wanted to do more than just go out and take pictures—I wanted to know what I was doing,” she says.
Since that first class, Fran has taken dozens of photography workshops and continuing education classes. A decade or so ago, she was introduced to social documentary photography by her friend Nancy Farese.
“Nancy had just taken a workshop in Uganda. When she told me about it, I thought, ‘This is it! I’ve found my calling!’” Fran has always wanted to help people help themselves, and through PhotoPhilanthropy—a term coined by Nancy and the name of Nancy’s organization—Fran found that she could combine her love of photography and passion for travel and global community service.
Hendrik Paul straddles two worlds: He grew up in Mill Valley, CA, where he took his first photography class in eighth grade. He spent his free time hiking on Mount Tamalpais and soaking up the northern California landscape, but his roots are firmly planted on a 500-year-old farm in Germany.
“It’s such a different life from how we live, this small farming community, living off the land. The men went out and did the field work and the women did the cooking. It’s still quite antiquated compared to California or America,” says Hendrik.
Photographer Vicki Topaz launched HEAL to tell the stories of these veterans and their canine companions. She began her portrait series, HEAL! Veterans & Their Service Dogs in 2012, in which veterans discuss the challenges they face after returning home, the perils of post-traumatic stress disorder, and the healing power of the human-canine bond.
Photographer Michelle Grenier says she’s devoted a significant amount of time to mastering her Canon 5D, but at the end of the day, she really prefers shooting with her iPhone.
“Sometimes my favorite shots have been ones that I’ve literally had to run to catch. I feel a certain instinct, and there’s a thrill that I feel when I catch something special. I think the best work comes out of spontaneity and a passion for your surroundings,” she says.
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