Hard to believe, but the Profundo Workshop is less than 3 weeks away! It’s taken a lot of dreaming, planning, organizing, collaborating, writing, website-making, and finger-crossing, and a wee bit of stressing, but we’re reallllly making it happen! I’m getting so excited!! It really is a dream come true!
Catch-up for those who haven’t heard about it: Profundo Workshop is a 3 day photography workshop happening June 24-28, 2019 in Tepoztlan, 2 hours outside Mexico City. Attendees will be photographing at Tashirat, a community whose staff have adopted 30+ disabled orphans, creating a home and school for some of the most vulnerable children in Mexico. Photos taken during the workshop will be turned into a gorgeous image library which Tashirat can use for family-photos and promotional materials (Tashirat’s work is primarily funded by donations from the United States).
I have attended a fair amount of photography education workshops and conferences around North America and have always been impressed by the quality and quantity of options available. BUT we wanted to add our own twist: a way to give back to international not-for-profits AND gain photography skills. AND Profundo has a family-friendly element that really sets it apart: there is a workshop for kiddos aged 10+ to attend while their parents are in the adult workshop. The kid’s workshop, led by experienced kid educator Kara Counard, will teach basic shooting skills to both attendees and to the young people living at Tashirat.
The Profundo Workshop has been blessed by the willingness of phenomenal and renowned photographers/teachers to join onto the project. We’ll have 4 teachers whom we should all be especially pumped about:
Kirsten Lewis (swoon!),
Citlalli Rico (be still my heart!),
Daniel Aguilar (woot woot!),
and Buffy Goodman (everyone’s favorite!).
Tashirat is an organization near and dear to my heart. Marisa, one of the long-term volunteers/parents for the organization, is one of my best friends from my childhood. I spent a fair amount of time at Tashirat in my 20s, and I was 100% mesmerized by the volunteers’ ability to give all their energy and love to the work they were doing and to the kids they are parenting. In this culture, in which we are constantly receiving messages that we need to be independent, these lovely humans have worked as hard as they can to create a community in which each person is loved and valued. It is truly giving and selfless work, which volunteers have clearly felt called to. And I feel weird even calling it “work”. We don’t generally call creating a family “work,” and that is exactly what Tashirat has been doing for these kids for the past 16 years.
We are also excited about our future! We are planning for the next profundo workshop in early spring 2020. Please join our newsletter via our website to find out about next years project. This just feels so simple and good. How can you not be positively affected after documenting such good work + giving back feels so good? Please join us in this-feel good-do good-learning-adventure-extraordinaire!
Everyone who is attending or teaching at this workshop has said that they look forward to the combo of traveling, learning, and giving back. Me too. Sincere and heartfelt shout-out to everyone and everything (here’s looking at you- caffeinated tea) who is making this happen. Look forward to workshop-ing with you all at the end of the month!
Andddd…if you want to jump on this bandwagon, it’s still possible to register until June 15th.
Deets:
June 24-28 2019
Tashirat Orphanage, Tepoztlan, Mexico
$1500 USD
Includes lodging, food, transportation to Tashirat from MEX, master classes, small group critiquing & editing, shooting time with teachers, an excursion & MORE!
More info at www.profundoworkshop.com.
