Michael Gaillard (Harmony Artist-In-Residence)

Here are some images from the rodeo/fiesta in the town of Nosara, a few kilometers inland from Playa Guiones where the hotel is located. This is a five-night event, and the entire local population, children and adults alike, Ticos (locals), ex-pats, and tourists, all look forward to the event with great anticipation. I decided to return to my photographic roots for this endeavor, working from a more instinctual place and allowing myself to respond more spontaneously to the environment than I can with my other devices.

Below are thumbnails. Please click on the thumbnail. The image will enlarge to full size. When you scroll over either side of the image, you can see an arrow appear. Click on the arrow to proceed to the next image in the slide show.

The images below do not represent a complete portrait of this event, nor even close to a portrait of the community that populates it. That being said,  I am not averse to attempting such an endeavor in the future. I believe there to be significant symbolic weight embedded in this subject matter, but with it comes complications that always accompany a photographer witnessing a foreign culture. For me to endeavor to fully realize this project, if it were to become a project, I would need to become much more fluent in the language and the culture, otherwise I would always remain on the wrong side of the fence.

In addition to my excursions to the rodeo, my days have consisted primarily of photography with my 8×10 field camera. The results of this work will not be ready until after I’ve processed and scanned the film. Stay tuned for updates in the coming weeks.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 31st, 2013 at 6:04 pm. It is filed under Costa Rica, Creative Culture, Harmony Hotel, New York City. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.