Photography Workshop

Some time has passed since Tobi and I traveled by boat, bus and hitchhiking from Colombia to Costa Rica. In In this article I wont tell you all the anecdotes from our hilarious, frightening, always absolutely sick and wonderful adventures, but it can at least be said that there were two things …

Skateboarding and Photography!

I was in touch with the puravida-project from the very beginning (more than 2 years ago) and I remember the day Chris showed up, told me about his plans and that he had already begun to prepare the project. Like many others I was rather a spectator than real support, because at the time other things were more important to me…

We met again four months ago and I was almost off to Colombia, so why not push the project? Finally.
In Bogota, Medellin and several hitchhiking-spots – the people who we met, welcomed us in every place and we became part of the local crews instantly. We ignored language-barriers and made friends all over the South-American continent, some for life!

Walls are being build so we can smash them!

We build concrete-Skate-Spot on top of walls – that’s what Chris and the other guys and girls did. The result is stunning or even hysterical. Concrete-Love – brought from the „plattenbaus“ of the former GDR-zone straight to South-America, for those of you who attended history-lessons – completed in gray romantic and perfectly fitting into the landscape – colors, trees, waste separation, no cigarette-butts.
We hit San Isidro packed with three analogue SLR’s, of which my favorite one didnt survive the „brutal-engine-damage-giant-turtle-colombia-panama-(fucktheborder)-crossing.”I’m not going to list our equipment at this point, because I’m convinced that it doesn’t matter who owns the best, newest stuff. My pseudo-philosopical view on things is more a matter of the attitude towards photography – its about a feeling hard to describe, its about poetry… haha, what a verbal diarrhea! Get a big, fancy cam, shoot everything that gets in front of your lense and if you’re lucky there is someone near you, explaining what went wrong. If not you’re lucky again – you can call yourself an diot. Sorry, no offense. Improve your skills and give a shit for technically brilliant pictures. It’s possible to create an aura, a soul that revives your work – unique and valuable!

Our main goal was to engage the kids with our attitude towards photography. The first steps were made around noon; the weather was great (not necessarily guaranteed along these sub-tropic latitudes). Most of the kids had already heard of the workshop, nevertheless we handed out a list to set up a serious structure. Each guy (sorry gender no girls present) was supposed to write down keywords; the thematic frame.

Tobi led through the introduction and compensated for my lack of Spanish language. He explained the theoretical part, I did the practical part. We tried to cover as many things as possible, including: fold back of the mirror, incidence of light, shutting of the aperture and their relations to exposure and luminous sensitivity.
In the following we walked around to give the whole troop the chance to understand the handling of a analogue SLR. Second goal was to create a „free zone“ to achieve as authentic results as possible. All kids had a few shots to picture the motives they had chosen and here are the results:

LUKAS HORCH