May 25, 2009
Hace muuuuucho tiempo que el Pedro Pablo y la Barbara me habian contactado preguntando de la posibilidad de que yo fotografiara su matrimonio. Pero…como buenos Chilenos, me contrataron solo 7 dias antes de su matrimonio!!! JAJA!!!
Asi que, ni siquiera nos habiamos conocido antes de su boda. Llegue a la iglesia con mi asistente, Gabriel Ortega y empezamos a esperar la llegada del novio. Cada tipo en terno que vimos, nos preguntamos si era Pedro Pablo o no! Y a la Barbara, la primera vez que la vi era cuando llego, caminando para el altar! Pero aun asi, no habia forma de no quererlos. La sonrisa y amor que esta pareja comparte es una cosa que no se puede resisitir 
Son las 4 de la manana y pase todo el fin de semana editando sus fotos. Estoy muy cansada pero tengo que admitir que lo disfruto….y que estoy orgullosa de poder mostrarles al mundo las fotos de la Barbara y el Pedro Pablo solo tres dias despues de su boda!
Chiquillos, muchas gracias por haberme invitado a ser parte de su mundo en un dia tan especial para ustedes. Ojala que les gusten las fotos y en el futuro que nos podamos conocer mejor!
Hola Barbara, mucho gusto 
de Gabriel:
Y si…esta foto la saque desde abajo de la mesa del cura. Oops
de Gabriel:
La vista de Gabriel con un lente 85mm 1.8:
Y mi vista de lo mismo con un 50mm 1.4. Es el lente que mas uso. De hecho, podria fotografiar a una boda entera usando solo ese lente, tanto me encanta.
Esta serie de fotos de los newlyweds saliendo de la iglesia es mi FAVORITA porque me encantan las expresiones de los novios. Por eso puse como 20 de lo mismo, jajaja!
Ahora desde la iglesia hasta la recepcion en Terrazas de la Reina.
Vista de Gabriel:
Y desde mi perspectiva…la de la derecha es otra de mis favoritas de la noche porque hay tanta emocion en la foto!
Nuevamente la proxima es de Gabriel:
Y aqui esta la mia del brindis:
Finalmente les dejo con la sesion mini que hicimos…y cuando digo mini quiero decir que sacamos todas estas fotos en un total de menos que 5 minutos yo creo!
Con la vista de Santiago atras, que lindo! Y les cuento una pequena historia. En 2008 habia recien fotografiado a mi primera boda. Estaba recien recien comenzando mi carrera de fotografa de bodas en Chile. Y me contacto otra fotografa para ser su asistente para un matrimonio en Terrazas de la Reina (puedes ver mi trabajo del matrimonio en mi portafolio aqui, la pareja se llama Sam y David). Fui con ella para un par de horas y pense, “WOW. Ojala que algun dia yo tenga clientes en este lugar tan bonito.” Y ahora en 2009 tuve mucha suerta que mi sueno se realizo con Pedro Pablo y Barbara…que increible!!!!
Clasico estilo Kyle Hepp con mucho flare y drama:
Y para mi esta fue la mejor foto de la noche. El estilo y pose de la Barbara y el Pedro Pablo, combinado con las sombras me matan!!!
May 20, 2009
In Chile I feel like there is a lot of resentment towards the upperclass. I’ve heard people sneer “Cuicos culiados,” simply because they’ve seen a group of elegantly dressed Chileans and La Dehesa (a very wealthy, closed-off neighborhood where many upper class people live) has been referred to more than a time or two as “soul-less.”
In the U.S., there is poverty, of course. It’s a similar vicious cycle, extremely difficult for people to rise above. But, most of us believe that the American Dream still exists. I’ve never heard of a Chilean Dream. There are individual cases that prove the exception to the rule in Chile, but it does seem even more impossible for people to rise above here.
The social classes here seem very much set, if not in stone, than at least quickly drying cement. You are born into a wealthy family. Certain last names convey status and that alone can take someone far. It often seems like the nanas of this country accept that being a cleaning lady forever is their lot in life, and they won’t be able to change things so why try. While the upper class, accepts that they are simply deserving of the wealth they were born into. There isn’t a whole lot of social climbing going on.
Even living in Providencia, which is certainly a very nice neighborhood, but by no means the creme de la creme, I get the sense that I have to defend myself and tell people that I used to live in Estacion Central or Chileans will instantly assume that I’m a “cuica culiada,” too and judge me negatively for it.
In the U.S., there is distinctive culture of giving back, be it through time or money — and that prevails among all social classes. Overall, I found this information:
In 2006, Americans gave about $295 billion to charity. This was up 4.2 percent over 2005 levels, and charitable giving has generally risen faster than the growth of the American economy for more than half a century. Correcting for inflation and population changes, GDP per person in America has risen over the past 50 years by about 150 percent, while charitable giving per person has risen by about 190 percent. That is, the average American family has gotten much richer in real terms over the past half century, and charitable giving has more than kept pace with this trend.
While it is definitely unfair to directly compare Chile to the U.S. in terms of charitable donations, since clearly a developed country has more disposable income to give, the same article also gave the following stats simply comparing the U.S. against the rest of the developed world.
No developed country approaches American giving. For example, in 1995 (the most recent year for which data are available), Americans gave, per capita, three and a half times as much to causes and charities as the French, seven times as much as the Germans, and 14 times as much as the Italians. Similarly, in 1998, Americans were 15 percent more likely to volunteer their time than the Dutch, 21 percent more likely than the Swiss, and 32 percent more likely than the Germans. These differences are not attributable to demographic characteristics such as education, income, age, sex, or marital status. On the contrary, if we look at two people who are identical in all these ways except that one is European and the other American, the probability is still far lower that the European will volunteer than the American.
Maybe this is why in the U.S. we seem to resent our upper class less. How can you hate on Bill and Melinda Gates? They’re a couple who gives more away in one year than what most of us will earn in a lifetime. In the U.S. we do turn on those who don’t give. Anyone remember the public backlash when it was revealed during Britney Spears’ divorce case that she only gives $500 dollars a month to charity? We don’t tend to look at giving as something extraordinary, we look at is as almost obligatory if you’re wealthy.
I can’t find any info on percentages of charitable giving in Chile so let’s look at the Teleton, a telethon fundraiser for disabled kids, which is the biggest example of charitable giving here. Sadly, the amount that the big businesses give is pathetic. Falabella, Lider, etc. mostly do promotions where they’ll only give a certain amount if X amount of Chileans go make purchases in their store that day. Essentially, and I can’t find stats so again, I’m just guessing, I’d think that they’re earning way more off the deal than they’re giving.
Leonardo Farkas, a Chilean (self-made, or so he says) millionaire in mining, aside from Don Mario who started the Teleton decades ago, is probably the biggest and most well-known philanthropist in Chile. Unsurprisingly he lived in the U.S. for a big chunk of his life, and, correct me if I’m wrong, still lives there. I’ve seen a few interviews with him and he is extremely critical of the Chilean upper class for their lack of generosity. After donating $1.5 million dollars to the Teleton last year, he said he was going to round up other millionaires in Chile and try to start a nation-wide movement to be more philanthropic.
Oh, and did I mention he’s a freaking punk with a curly mullet-fro? Love it!
In the U.S., coming from the lower class, I’ve heard people be jealous, and sort of wistful of the upper class, hoping that someday that could be them. But I’ve never heard the kind of extreme resentment that I’ve heard in Chile. If I had to guess I would say I would say that’s because A. We think that our ruling class has earned their status in life by working their way up. B. The American Dream, or myth of the American Dream makes even the poorest think that someday they too could be wealthy. And, C. Our ruling class gives back more making us hate them significantly less.
Please remember, before you start leaving me hate comments about how the U.S. sucks in terms of social inequality or whatever…yes. Yes, it does. As I’ve said before, the U.S. sucking and Chile sucking are NOT mutually exclusive. However, in terms of being charitable the U.S. does not suck and that’s a good thing. I hope that as GDP in Chile increases so will generosity, because right now, as I see it, it’s sorely lacking.
May 19, 2009
AHHHH, I want to shoot all my sessions from now until eternity at Campus Central de la Catolica!!! It was so beautiful, we shot for 2 hours, but I swear there were nooks and crannies for days worth of inspiration. Unfortunately, I doubt I’ll be able to play the “I’m a student doing a project,” card again and the guards would probably kick me out if I tried it a second time.
I had so much fun doing this session. Marisa was an absolutely wonderful model! It definitely made me think that in the future I’d like to get into doing more senior portrait photography. I’m hoping that we’ll be able to shoot a few seniors when we’re back in Grand Rapids this summer.
Anywho, with no further ado, here are Marisa’s senior pictures!
J’adore this checkered floor. These last two are my faaaaaaaaaves!!!!
But, the question is…in color or in b/w?
I LOVED this spot for a photo but there were ten gazillion people walking by so I only got two shots that didn’t have students all over the place in the background. A few people have commented to me that it looks like everywhere I go for photo shoots is void of all people except for me and my subjects. Well, that’s just not true. However, I am willing to sit and wait for a solid 10 minutes until there’s nobody and I can get my shot.
And thanks again to Gabriel Ortega for coming out and getting creative with lights with me!
PS. For those of you who read my blog because you like to, ummm, read…about Chile and what not, not look at photos from my sessions, fear not, soon we’ll be back to normal commentary and posts. For now I’m a little inundated with photography sessions. But, in the future, I’m hoping for a more balanced mix of photos + Chile stories.
PPS. Marisa is wearing my gladiator heels because I helped style her for the shoot and gave her a couple options from my meager footwear closet. Don’t they look awesome?
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