The Highland Rainforests & Villages of Mexico

In 1997 we presented a workshop starting in the storied city of Oaxaca, then moved into native rural Indian villages in the high mountains to the north. The first part of that workshop was wonderful; the second part was awesome. For this workshop we’ll expand our visit entirely to the second part: the magic mountain landscape with its many extraordinary villages in the shadow of Mexico’s highest mountain, 18,700’ Pico de Orizaba. On the eastern Gulf side of Orizaba and it’s northern neighbor, 13,800’ Cofre de Perote, we’ll visit the villages of Cuiyachapa, Xico, Naolinco, Excola, and others tucked into the dense rainforest. We’ll photograph farmlands etched into the steep mountain slopes, the wonderfully warm and welcoming people from the villages who farm those slopes, and awesome canyons that cleave the landscape below the mountains. We’ll visit places not found on any tourist agenda, and see life as it is there. And we’ll drive over the pass between the two mountains to see the astonishingly abrupt change from rainforest to high desert.

We’ll maximize our photographic flexibility by using rental vans rather than a large tour bus to explore these regions.

The instructors will thoroughly and thoughtully review each student’s portfolio, work closely with participants in the field, and fully discuss their own work, their materials, and their working procedures.

As with all of our foreign workshops, we strongly encourage participants to bring a non-participating spouse or friend, who always adds to the workshop experience and will undoubtedly enjoy the areas we visit as much as each of the participants do. Craig and Bruce have presented three previous workshops in Mexico, but this should prove to be the best yet.