Day of the Dead in Oaxaca, Mexico

Sometimes vacations are about relaxation and lazy days and other times, it is an opportunity to test out another side of ourselves. I went to Oaxaca, Mexico with National Geographic to test out who I am as a photographer. It was quite a journey, we went on 1 - 3 photo shoots each day and had edit and critic sessions with two N.G. photographers. This meant downloading pictures each day and culling through them to select the best 25 from the days shoots before showing them to the instructor so they could critic and select the best 4 -8 for the day. Each student's selected images were then shown to the group with comments by the instructor's about what made the image good, what could have been done differently, and in some cases how they might be used in a magazine spread. We were given two rules, no cropping and shooting in manual mode.

I chose the Oaxaca trip because I am intrigued by Day of the Dead celebrations. I have heard and read about this special day that falls at the same time as Halloween and I wanted to experience it first hand. Day of the Dead combines native beliefs with the Catholic All Saints Day. They believe that the dead come back one day a year, and the living celebrate that moment with a special altar in the home and a night in the cemetery. The days leading up to the Day of the Dead are full of preparation and celebration.

In Oaxaca, sand sculptures are created in the Zocalo with skeletons, angels, and skulls.


Bands play, people dance, and children dress up in costumes -- usually skeleton costumes, but as the Halloween traditions creep South of the border, pumpkin costumes appear more often.


We spent the days leading up to Day of the Dead visiting communities and families to see and experience life in Oaxaca. We visited the Zapotec Ruins at MonteAlban and the ruins of Mitla, We went to and animal market in Zaachila, and the markets of Octolan, Mitla, and Oaxaca.













As we headed into the Day of the Dead experience, we were all glad to have practiced shooting in in a variety of settings. We were heading into the unknown, shooting at night with candlelight and flash as our only light sources. I was a nervous wreck for the first time that week. I am not much for flash photography and I wasn't sure I understood anything that we had been taught about flash photography. My camera and flash are supposed to be able to work remotely from each other, but I couldn't figure it out. This would have allowed me to move the flash so that it would be less direct and provide added light without the high contrast. In the end, I managed to get some cool images in the cemeteries. Maybe it was all the spirits because it is not my new understanding of the use of the flash.

From the mescal cheer:



To the quiet family moment just before dawn:



If you would like to see more images from the trip, Check out my flickr page.