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A Week in Oaxaca, Mexico

I've wrapped up a week+ in Oaxaca, Mexico with my partner in crime Eric Mindling, where we ran a cultural tourism photography workshop together. It came together brilliantly and was a ton of fun for us and our guests. Here is a collection of my favorite photos shot on this tour, captioned somewhat reasonably. 

If you're interested in joining us on the next tour, be sure to visit the workshops page and sign up for the newsletter, so you get notified when we plan our next one! (Which, by the way, will be in October 2017).

View fullsize Exploring the streets of Oaxaca City at night
View fullsize Exploring the streets of Oaxaca City at night
View fullsize A corn vendor on the Zócalo
View fullsize One of many amazing meals
View fullsize The musician, the audience and the legs… taken in one of many Mezcal bars in Oaxaca
View fullsize The proprietor of said Mezcal bar
View fullsize Three happy chaps… me (PhotoJoseph) on the left, Eric Mindling on the right, and our friend Flip from Ashland who happened to be in Oaxaca at the same time in the middle.
View fullsize Late night wanderings. Much of Oaxaca is being built or rebuilt
View fullsize Our man Eric in his home outside of Oaxaca, heating up a bit of lunch for this weary traveler.
View fullsize Our man Eric in his home outside of Oaxaca, heating up a bit of lunch for this weary traveler.
View fullsize Mole, courtesy of Eric's stove and a family event he'd attended the day before
View fullsize Victoria beer… the common alternative to Corona in these parts
View fullsize Tacos; build-your-own style. Among the many ingredients here are chapulines (grasshoppers)
View fullsize The blue light of a blues bar
View fullsize Singing the blues…
View fullsize Sunrise photowalk in Oaxaca. This was a scouting trip the morning our guests started to arrive.
View fullsize Sunrise in January happens quickly. The golden light doesn't last long, so when you see it you've got to grab it!
View fullsize Not the prettiest of establishments but undoubtedly fully functional
View fullsize I'm really not sure what these are… but I liked the roofs
View fullsize Peeking between buildings, drying one's laundry
View fullsize Trash day means rushing out to the truck with your garbage bags — no collected cans to deposit your waste into
View fullsize I bought a hat from this woman, and then asked if I could take her picture. First she said "no", then she said "for 50 pesos" to which I replied, "I just bought a hat from you". She relented and let me take her picture, but she wouldn't smile.
View fullsize The bread lady. She wandered into the restaurant where I was having lunch, selling bags of bread. I told her I'd buy a bag if I could take her photo. Deal!
View fullsize This archway led up to our hotel, and made for a beautiful start to our walk every morning
View fullsize On a photowalk with students now, I shot this primarily to demonstrate that you can combine extreme brightness and shadows in a single image. Plus, I liked the light and composition.
View fullsize Sweeping her entryway
View fullsize HIdden treasure
View fullsize Airing grievances. This is the Palacio de Gobierno (Governor's Palace) on the Zócalo. As is apparently common, there was a protest on the plaza right in front.
View fullsize Are you buying? In front of the Santo Domingo church, a heavily touristed spot, many vendors hawk their wares.
View fullsize The Templo de Santo Domingo. "The Church and former monastery of Santo Domingo de Guzmán is a Baroque ecclesiastical building complex in Oaxaca", according to Wikipedia.
View fullsize The remnants of a little Mezcal… sampling. We found a fantastic bar called El Tendajón — be sure to look it up if you visit Oaxaca!
View fullsize Morning police exercises at the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad
View fullsize The leaf sweeper at the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad
View fullsize A mariachi band we befriended at the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad
View fullsize The Templo y Ex-convento de Santo Domingo (Temple and former convent of Saint Dominic), in Yanhuitlan, Oaxaca.
View fullsize Sunset at Santo Domingo Yanhuitlan, Oaxaca
View fullsize Fast friends. Two of our intrepid photographers capturing the final vestiges of sunset from the steps of Santo Domingo in Yanhuitlan, Oaxaca.
View fullsize The courtyard in our hotel in Yanhuitlan. On the other side of that wall is the Santo Domingo church.
View fullsize A tlayuda, or large wheat tortilla, common in this region. At a private dinner for our group, our host is turning this oversized tortilla into a quesadilla, featuring the common string cheese, or quesillo.
View fullsize Back to the Santo Domingo church at night, capturing shadows
View fullsize Another early morning, now in Yanhuitlan. We set out to capture the sunrise on the red rocks of the region, and a small mist settled in to complete the scene.
View fullsize Smog is an unfortunate reality here, which is somewhat surprising given that the town of Yanhuitlan now only supports a population of about 700 people. I'd imagine much of it comes in from another region and settles in the valley. Fortunately the da
View fullsize The adorable daughter of our hosts who prepared a private meal both for dinner, and then breakfast the following day. She had a mouthful of silver teeth and was always smiling, but as soon as the camera came out she turned coy.
View fullsize We drove a very, very rough road all the way up to Monte Negro from Yanhuitlan. The views from the road were spectacular, but unfortunately the photography at Monte Negro itself wasn't terribly inspiring. We'll remove this stop from future tours.
View fullsize A lone tree pre-sunrise in the hills surrounding Yanhuitlan
View fullsize Another foggy, misty, smoggy morning over Yanhuitlan
View fullsize Near the Centro de las Artes San Agustín, artisans make paper and then paper jewelry by hand. These "beads" will eventually adorn necklaces, bracelets, earrings and more.
View fullsize A most unusual set of stairs at the Centro de las Artes San Agustín.
View fullsize Look closely at the trim on this building at the Centro de las Artes San Agustín
View fullsize The Zapotech archeological site at Mitla is considered the second most important site in Oaxaca. Unfortunately it closes early (before sunset) and so the light isn't terrific.
View fullsize The Grand Hall of Columns in the Zapotech archeological site at Mitla.
View fullsize A little street photography while returning from the archeological site, back to the hotel
View fullsize A (very) early morning departure brought us to the sunrise at Hierve el Agua, complete with infinity pools and a lone, barren tree just begging to be photographed.
View fullsize White stone mineral deposits at the springs of Hierve el Agua
View fullsize The walk back to the car from Hierve el Agua revealed beautiful, misty vistas after sunrise.
View fullsize Following our morning at Hierve el Agua, we had breakfast at Alice's Kitchen (really). This is our host, Alicia. The light here isn't completely natural… a high slit in the wall had sunlight pouring through, but not enough to really light the scene.
View fullsize Our breakfast at Alice's Kitchen included fresh made tortillas, made from freshly ground masa (corn flour).
View fullsize A pair of locals also enjoying breakfast in the smokey outdoor kitchen of Alice's Restaurant
View fullsize And this is Alicia! Full of smiles and laughter, patting out tortillas and making our wonderful breakfast.
View fullsize We visited La Costumbre, a Mezcal making still. Here a worker is shoveling steaming hot remnants from previously mashed piñas which will be used to cover the new piñas in the roasting pit.
View fullsize The man in charge at El Costumbre, Mezcal still
View fullsize One of a few workers at El Costumbre, Mezcal still
View fullsize One of a few workers at El Costumbre, Mezcal still
View fullsize Throwing agave piñas into the coal pit at El Costumbre, a Mezcal still. The quartered piñas will smolder for nine days before being dug out and mashed, the next step before distilling.
Monday 01.30.17
Posted by PhotoJoseph
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