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Well, last week was quite an exciting week for me. A while back, I was asked to come and give a lecture about my more recent work at Brazil’s largest photo festival, Paraty Em Foco. The festival is in it’s seventh year, and much of the photo world in Brazil has begun gathering there each year. There were also a number of international guests including Pieter Hugo, Olivia Arthur, and Penelope Umbrico (who currently has work on display for the Origins show at the MoCP).

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I flew there last Wednesday. It is my first time flying south, which is odd because there was almost no time change (or jet-lag), which was welcome. I landed in Sao Paulo and then it was a nice 5 hour drive through the jungle to the costal town of Paraty. I am told it is one of the oldest settlements in Brazil and one of the most beautiful.

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On Friday evening, I gave my lecture about my work. When I have given lectures in the past, at most maybe 30 people show up, so this was quite different. My lecture was sold out. The small hall where the lecture was to be given could seat 200, then there was additional seating outside in the lobby and in the main exhibition hall, where the lecture was simulcast to a large screen.

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It was an interesting format. First, I talked about my work for about 45 minutes. Then there was a public interview. My interviewer was a Brazilian photographer named Felipe Russo. He asked questions for around 20 minutes. Then we let the microphones loose to the public. That went on for about another 20 minutes. So the whole thing ended up lasting about an hour and a half.

Myself with French photo student Stephanie Chauvin in the Nikon Lounge

After the lecture it was off to the Nikon Lounge where Felipe was launching an online magazine titled “A Revista”. I spent some time there chatting with people about the lecture. It was odd for me. It seemed like everyone knew who I was and wanted to ask all sorts of questions and take photos with me. That was something I was totally not used to.

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On Saturday, I gave a workshop. Again, that was sold out. I ended up with 22 students. I spent the day with them talking about how to go about creating a body of work and how to market that work when it was finished. It was a lengthy day, but everyone was really happy with what they learned.

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After the workshop it was off to the Prince’s house (seriously, the Prince of Brazil) for a private party for the participants and photo collectors. I got to have a nice chat with Marcel Feil from FOAM in Amsterdam and with Pieter Hugo and Penelope Umbrico, as well as some of the other photographer and curators. Then it was off to dinner (around 23:00) with some of the organizers.

Then it was back to reality. I left on Sunday night, only to arrive just in time for class on Monday morning. It was a great experience, one that hopefully I will get to have again in the near future. I met a lot of great people and brought back a lot of prints and books from people I met.