miguel.

Miguel is a real estate agent in Tijuana. He was also the best dressed man at the 2011 Tequila Expo.

portrait of tijuana.

I was lucky enough to go down to Tijuana for Thanksgiving and work with and photograph Spectrum Ministries. Even more wonderful was that I was able to write an article and post a photo gallery from the day via my new job at The Patch.

Here's the article: http://imperialbeach.patch.com/articles/thanksgiving-thursday-in-tijuana

And here's the photo gallery: http://imperialbeach.patch.com/articles/photo-gallery-tijuana-thanksgiving#photo-3465113

I couldn't be more excited to be following my dream and finally working as a photojournalist again. The best part about it is that The Patch not only assigns me stories to write and photograph, but allows me to seek out my own. That's why I got to combine all of my loves yesterday. Ministry and photojournalism. I couldn't have asked for a better Thanksgiving.

Along with taking photos of the events of the day, I shot dozens of portraits of the neighborhood residents where we were working. By the end of the day, I had groups coming up to me tugging at my sleeve and camera strap, asking for their photos to be taken.

This is one of my favorite portraits of the day.

old man mexico.

On Wednesday, I went down to Tijuana with my roommate and a great old friend I knew from my days in Greece to hear an incredible missionary/photographer speak at the ministry my landlord runs. After we picked the brain of the speaker for a while, we headed down the dirt road to one of the tianguis set up nearby. Tianguis are a temporary open air market with vendors selling things ranging from pizza and tacos to second-hand tools and clothing. We opted to go to one of my roommate's favorite taco stands on the way out of Tijuana, so we didn't end up getting anything there, but luckily, I ran into this fantastic older man. He was asking for money (I think), so I got my friend Amber to translate for me and ask permission for me to take his photo. He stared at me blankly without showing even a hint of having understood what she asked. I finally just pointed to the camera and then at him and he nodded, but kept his soulful eyes fixed on me expectantly. I wish he'd responded in order for me to get his name, but Old Man Mexico will just have to suffice. *(Side note…I usually try and avoid reflections of myself in my photos of others, but the one that contained less of a reflection just didn't strike me as much as this shot…and for the first time, I actually don't mind my reflection because it kind of shows how personal the photo is to me since I'm in there too.)