A moment of reflection before her surgery is set to start, in a room that used to be a kitchen now an operating room where doctors help women heal. Not just from physical problems, but from some emotional ones also, to live a better, and fuller life. Documenting a day in the life of the Gynocare clinic dedicated to women's health in Eldoret, Kenya.
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William Vázquez is an advertising, portrait & documentary photographer based in New York, USA.
Africa on my mind: documenting malaria testing and obstetric fistula treatment in East Africa
As I prepare for a return trip to Africa. East Africa this time around (Kenya and Uganda) to work on malaria and obstetric fistula stories I think back to my recent trip to Sierra Leone. I put together a video of some highlights of the trip.
Sierra Leone highlight reel from william vazquez on Vimeo.
This is the video I made for Direct Relief about their Midwife support program in Sierra Leone.
Direct Relief Midwife support program; Sierra Leone, Africa from william vazquez on Vimeo.
Tornado response; traveling to Moore, Oklahoma with Direct Relief.
I have been in hurriances and seen their aftermath. I have experinced earthquakes and seen the destruction. None of those past experiences prepared me for what I saw in Moore, Oklahoma after an EF5 tornado. In some places it was a destruction so total it is a miracle that people survived. Survived they did, and right away they started to pick up the pieces of their lives. Groups of all kinds started streaming into Moore soon after the tornado, church groups, NGO's, government agencies, veterans, and just regular people who piled up supplies and equipment in their trucks and drove hundreds of miles to help. They came to clean up, cut trees, feed people, provide medical attention, bring medicine, to help in any way possible. I am glad I was able to travel with Direct Relief to document their efforts in Moore. I put together a video which shows the relationship between Direct Relief and Team Rubicon. The goal being how working together they are able to more effectively get help to the people that need it faster and more efficiently.
DR Moore-OKC rubicon v3 from william vazquez on Vimeo.
This video is about Direct Relief's response to the disaster.
Photographing for Direct Relief, maternal and child health clinics in Sierra Leone, Africa
I was commisioned by Direct Relief to document their efforts in reducing maternal death for both the mother and child. Direct Relief provides midwife kits to graduates from the School of Midwifery in Makeni, Bombali District, Sierra Leone. The midwife kits provide the tools needed to safely deliver a baby. Tools that are almost impossible to find in Sierra Leone. I was commisioned to document in photography, and video different clinics in rural parts of the country as well as the graduation of the most recent class. Sierra Leone emerged from a brutally violent civil war 10 years earlier, and their infrastructure was decimated. It was one of the more challenging trips I have done with all sorts of issues ranging from lack of electricity, the extreme heat, eating well, bad roads, spotty mobile service, limited internet access, and very basic lodging at times. This is one of the countries where the term "conflict diamonds" originated from. On the up side though the people were amazingly friendly, and welcoming everywhere I went from small villages to the capital city.
These photos are more of my expericnes, and a feeling of the place. As a policy I don't publish any photos that my client can use until they have published first. So I will publish more at a later time. Many thanks to Lindsey Pollaczek the project director from Direct Relief who organized the trip and traveled with me. She organized a great trip and is a super traveler. It was a positive and deeply felt experience.
While we were having lunch under a tree, a boy carrying water and mangos passed by.
At the graduation the local photographers were pretty aggressive on getting their shots. So was I....
Crossing a bridge and just washed laundry drying the in the sun.
A typical village with land being cleared for planting.
A shot of me with way too much gear photo by Lindsey.
We did lots of driving to get to some of the more remote clinics, over 20 hours in total for the week.
A house by the road. Some of the houses are from the colonial period of Sierra Leone.
Everywhere I went I would have an entourage......many curious and cute kids
Typical road in the more rural parts.
More ground being cleared for planting. Slash and burn, not a good thing.
A typical girl selling bananas, and eating a mango.
Sometimes we had to get off the road to get to where we needed to go in Kono, Sierra Leone.
A general store in rural areas.
Everywhere we went we got smiles and waves.
Graduation ceremony complete with marching bands and procession in Makeni, Sierra Leone
Some of the midwife graduates posing for a photo on the football pitch. The graduates played a soccer game....It was great fun to watch
I photographed an expectant mother at her home and she invited us to lunch. Rice with cassava leaves, palm oil, pepper, and a warm 7up. In the photo Dr. Heidi from the Medical Research Center on the left, and Lindsey from Direct Relief on the right. Not everyone in the shot was invited to the lunch...this was our entourage who stayed to watch.
Photographing the expectant mother while being observed.
These girls were way too cute and loved having their photos taken.
It was hot, very hot!
Sometime we drove at night. We tried to avoid that.
In Freetown the weekends are a time where football is played on the beach there must be about 20 matches going on. Keeping ft is a big thing with people jogging everywhere.
Night time in Freetown....The smell and smoke of cooking fires all over the city, make the city very smokey, and its dark in places due to no power. This is the Times Square there is a big jumbo screen playing videos.
Typical roadside businness'
Typical road
Motorbikes are everywhere.
The marching band, and Abdul the trumpet player.
There was also an all girl marching band.
Each midwife team had someone to drive away the bad spirits. She was the best.
More motor bikes.
A goat tied up outside out guest house in Kono
The common area of the guest house, not bad
The bathroom in Kono. Pretty basic
My room in Kono with the requicsite mosqito net but the fan was not working. It was a long and sweaty night.
Hanoi Vietnam, Buddhist ceremony at the Ngoc Son Temple
In some images I create I control everything, models locations, time etc....Sometimes I am at the mercy of everything. In this photo there is some control going on, a subtle exchange between photographer and subject. An exchange that which guides the final result. Also predicting where the action is moving and waiting for the moment. These ladies performing a buddhist ceremony made it hard for me; thats what makes it fun. Photos are not taken they are made.
Global Cultures and Authentic Lifestyles promo
New e-promo out today. Photos from Shanghai, China and NYC.
2012, a year of travel in photos.
2012 was a big year of travel. Almost hit the 4 corners of the globe. With all that travel I still didn't get to the highest airline status close, but close is not good enough, and I still don't have a regular sleep schedule. A few of my activities while traveling, I stayed in a castle, lots of pointing at things I didn't know the name of, running around, driving many miles on the wrong side of the road on the wrong side of the car, speaking every language I know sometimes in the same sentence, and got a lot of "not possible" in trying to get my projects done. Most interesting place Hanoi, strangest food shredded dried squid with hot sauce, excellent by the way.
Collaboration, fine art project 1, Dominican Republic
This past Christmas I took advantage of being in the Dominican Republic, and started a project with my wife, Scherezade a fine artist. This project has been in the works for a long time it just took a while to get off the ground. We hope to have the project completed by this summer 2013. I don't want to give away too many details until we have it all done so the works can be seen as a body of work. Needless to say it will involve what we do best, using themes that we both find interesting and important. Here are a few in-process shots of one of the pieces without showing too much. This particular piece involved a burro (Chilingo's burro to be exact), Javier as our protagonist, and some costuming. This is just a start of the process.
You are not a photographer if at some point you haven't used a Tenba bag
I have used Tenba for years in various ways, carrying photo gear everywhere and was never disappointed. They also make some of their gear in Brooklyn, and of course I am a proud Brooklynite to support them. Tenba makes great products, and I am proud to be a Tenba Visual Artist
Teaching, Photography workshop in the "Dominican Republic"
I am just back from teaching a week long photography workshop in the Dominican Republic at Altos de Chavon - The School of Design. Chavon is a world class art school connected to Parsons School of Design. My wife Scherezade as well as many successful artists in the fine arts and fashion fields went to Altos de Chavon. The theme of my class was the "Narrative Portrait." It was an intensive 5 day workshop where we were working all hours of the day, and sometimes late into the night. A great class with very motivated students, one of the best. I don't get to teach that often, but when I do its a great experience, particularly at Altos.
Something Different
This one shot of a series I plan to use for an installation that I have been commissioned to do.
In my travels I see all sorts of things that I would love to photograph but don't have the time, the right equipment, or I missed the opportunity (the story of my life!) So I file it away for future projects (the list keeps growing). Some of these projects have a commercial aspect, or is something I find interesting and want to explore. A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to photograph some fighting roosters while in the Dominican Republic on a different project. The whole thing was set up on the spur of the moment, and I was not prepared conceptually or equipment wise. I created some photographs, but with the intention of coming back and doing something different. One of the hardest things about these kind of projects is being able to get access to things whether its people, places, or situations.
I always found the roosters to be beautiful and their movements visually stunning. Also the passions that are aroused by their fighting I found alien to me, but observing the people around me it is pretty amazing.
Here is the set in a private fighting ring at the Trava (fighting rooster ranch).
No animals were harmed for the photo shoot.
Tenba traveling photographer interview
I can shave off a little more time on my 15 minutes of fame. I was interviewed by the very talented Aimee Baldridge for Tenba Traveler on some of my travel experiences.
Direct Relief International newsletter cover photograph
A little girl with her grandmother waiting her turn to have her blood sugar measured at a free event in a the small town Sacaba. This past April I traveled to Cochabamba, Bolivia to photograph at the Centro Vivir con Diabeties. I was working with Direct Relief International which provides technical support as well as material to the centro for them to accomplish their mission. It is an honor to be working with DRI, and the dedicated people that work there. It is amazing how much good they do in the world. Have a look at their site.
This is my second trip to Bolivia as well as visit the Centro. They are great people doing great things for their people. From the plateau city of Cochabamba to the mountain city of La Paz where it feels that you are always walking up or down hill. I don't think I will ever tire of visiting Bolivia, and its people.
Aging out of Foster Care: Brittny's story
At 18 years old you age out of the foster care system. That means no place to live, no job, no support, and the emotional scars that have been caused by having to go through foster care. This is Brittny's story on the challenges she has faced since she aged out of foster care.
This video was a collaboration with Salaam Garage a citizens journalism for social change NGO and myself check them out.
Photography featured in Abbott Brazil Corporate Citizenship Report
I was in Brazil last year on assignment for Abbott Global Citizenship report. This particular report is for Abbott Brazil specifically using photos I took while in Brazil it also includes photography I did in China, Haiti, as well as the USA. Here are a few selected pages from the report. If you want to see more of what Abbott Brazil does in corporate citizenship click here. Also check out the main Abbott citizenship site here.
Moment in time: Mumbai 2/4/11 1:42pm
A rare quiet moment in Mumbai. Most of the time the buses are filled beyond capacity. Love the colors.
Moment in time: Goa, India 2/10/11 3:06 pm
It's all about the eyes, smiling and unafraid of the camera.
Moment in time: Shanghai, 2.2011 3:19 pm
Liang getting a nutritional evaluation through Project Hope at the Shanghai Children's Medical Center
Mini story: Project Hope, Shanghai Childrens Hospital 2.19.2011 10:46am
The first time that the mother got to hold her baby after a month in intensive care after being born prematurely. She couldn't stop smiling, and there wasn't a dry eye in the room. I will get to follow-up later this year on the baby's progress.
Salsa dancing at "Lets Dance with Arthritis" in Galway, Ireland
I didn't know what to expect when I showed up one frigid morning in Galway, Ireland. What I knew is that I was photographing a dance. Its always hard to predict what going to happen when working on scant information. At least I wouldn't have the communication issues I face in places that don't speak English or Spanish or something close. Although I always muddle through with limited charm and wit. It was great fun and I also made a small video for the client and the NGO. So here is a plug for them, a good organization that helps many people.
Use it or lose it! Arthritis Ireland an, organization for arthritis sufferers in Ireland organizes dances to get people suffering from arthritis up from the couch and on to the dance floor.The goal being to get them exercising which helps keep them limber. This is one couples story on living with arthritis