Transcript

Karina Mora  00:07  When you create with that in mind, from your heart, someone will resonate with that as much as you do.

Mónika  00:21  Welcome to Our Latina Lens Podcast where we elevate the stories and work of accomplished Latina and Latine photographers. I’m your host Monika, and today’s image tour episode Chicago-based fine art photographer Karina Mora shares three of her significant images that she created during her time in Mexico. These images represent different milestones in Karina’s creative journey. Karina has done so much internal work on healing her dual identities as American and Mexican and her images speak to that transformative healing process. If you haven’t listened to Episode Eight where I interview getting about her journey, be sure to go back and listen. She goes into her catalyst moment where she pivoted from being a wedding photographer who sought success as defined by others to creating her own path in photography and entrepreneurship. And now she brings others along with her on her journey of elevating her culture as she centers community. Amongst her other roles, Karina leads towtours to Mexico where she collaborates with skilled artisans for workshops and cultural immersion. In the show notes right in this podcast player, you can find a link to the tours. You can also link to see the images on our website, which can also be reached at ourlatinalens.com/podcast. At our website, you can also access a transcript and other links to Karina’s work. Now, let’s hear from Karina.

Karina Mora  01:55  In 2019, I went on a trip to a Oaxaca with my sister and my cousin. It was the first time that I had ever been to Oaxaca. And we decided to go during Dia de los Muertos. We wanted to experience that in Mexico, and we were hearing that Oaxaca was the place to go. Usually when I travel, I want to wake up early as the sun is rising and just walk the city, walk the streets before there’s a lot of people there before people start getting up. And usually it’s I see a few people trying to get to work or I can smell the panaderia getting ready to open. So this was during one of my walks around the city of Oaxaca. I was staying just outside the main downtown area. And so I was walking this particular street really drew my attention, I think it was the whole composition. On one side of the street, you see that there’s windows, there’s houses. And on the other side of the street is a stone wall that is being overlooked by some willow trees. And down the middle of the street are flowers that are being hung, like overhead. I just thought that was a beautiful picture a beautiful representation of this time during Day of the Dead, where the whole city is decorated. Even the little side streets in front of people’s homes, you can see that there’s candles lined up along the sidewalk where there’s the doors and the windows. I just loved that even in the background of this photo, you could see the mountains. And I think it was the blue mountains in contrast with the orange and the reds in this photo that really just drew my eye. And I was like I want to remember this forever. And I think that’s why I take photos the photos that I take in Mexico I want to capture this piece of time and have it with me forever to remember that trip to remember that time to remember the meaning of why I went to visit this place in the first place.

Karina Mora  04:39  The flowers that are hanging above the street are cempasuchil, which Is the marigold, which is so significant during this time. It represents the path and the guiding of our ancestors spirits back during this time, I thought it was so beautiful to see it along the streets. And to be enveloped in this image of flowers, guiding, to me, it looks like the flowers are guiding you down the street, which is the significance of the cempasuchil in the first place, the orange, and the yellow is in contrast with the street, the cobblestone wall, and the architecture just really, really made it feel like home to me. And I’m sure that’s probably that’s the idea we want. As the Day of the Dead Dead approaches, we want to be able to bring back those memories of our loved ones, and for them to come back and feel like they’re coming home.

Karina Mora  06:13  I think with every image that I take, I want people to feel like they are standing where I’m standing, and that they can feel and see what I saw during that time. And so as I walked the streets, I am holding my camera ready for me to feel connected to what’s in front of me. I know, like I feel like this, the moment I step off the plane in Mexico, I feel connected, but there’s something about, like a powerful composition, to really dig deep into your heart strings to pull those memories out for you to be able to feel the weather, the climate that it was the coolness of the morning, maybe the smells of the leaves, or the trees that are around. As I’m walking, I’m taking pictures. So I stop and I take an image. And then I walk and I shift my body a little bit maybe to one side of the road and I take another image and I shift to the other side and kind of like play with the angles of the what I’m wanting to see what I’m wanting to relate the composition and kind of just take time to be present in that space as well. Taking in the smells and the feeling and the temperature that’s around me.

Karina Mora  08:03  When I took this image, I was so excited. And usually I take an image and I spend a few minutes taking photos with my camera. If it really speaks to me, I will pull out my phone and take some images on my phone so that I could share an Instagram social media or just send to my family via text. I took this image and I was like this one is really powerful. This is really speaking to me, it kind of encompasses my whole trip. This is the one image that I think about when I think about my trip to Oaxaca in 2019 I may not have known it at the time, but this scene really spoke to me and I think even the next day I went back and I was like let me try and see if I can if it if it looks the same if if I can get a bit better angle. And it’s usually the first time that I visit some a scene that it’s it ends up being the one because you know the light is never exactly the same. Something on the ground might be a little different. This one ended up being the image for me from from that trip because this is an image of a street. I did a lot of walking and a lot of exploring since it was my first time in Oaxaca. I think that’s what this specific image signifies it signifies me exploring the city being excited about being there during the Dia de los Muertos the promise of being immersed in that tradition and that culture in Mexico for the first Last time, it was just a beautiful trip with my my family. And it was, it was so lovely to get to experience that with my cousin and my, my sister.

Karina Mora  10:22  This was one of the first images that I edited. And this is one of the first images that I said this is going to be in the Oaxaca collection. And I think the whole rest of the collection was kind of built around this image and these colors. So this image, in general, is one of my favorite out of all the ones that I’ve taken, but specifically the ones from that trip to Oaxaca. I get excited when I when I create something like this that really speaks to me that I can share with other people, specifically my family, because they’re the ones that I come back and tell all my stories to. But I think this one, they can really place themselves in the spot that I was in.Oaxaca we tried to find the street and we always whenever we go back with my family and visit a place that I’ve taken pictures we always try and find to see if we can see this same spot. And I pull up the photo and kind of compare and see how it’s changed. That is why I was excited because it was a reminder that I need to bring my family back here and we need to find this spot. And we need to not only find the spot but continue to explore the city in ways that maybe I didn’t explore the first time.

Karina Mora  12:00  This image brings me excitement. I have plans to go back to Mexico for a Day of the Dead this year. And so being able to share that experience in this tradition with other people that choose to come with me is exciting to me because just like I felt when I created this image, I hope that they feel the same excitement, grounding and connection to to Mexico.

Mónika  12:36

I love hearing how Karina creates a space for her early morning walks to observe, connect and create images imbued with personal significance.

12:47  I know I would love to travel with her if you want to experience Mexico with getting that info about her upcoming tours is in the show notes. Next, she shares an image she created after she realized she was out of alignment with herself as a wedding photographer. And she returned to basics in a photo 101 workshop in Mexico. There she hoped to reconnect with her love of photography and ground herself in the culture she felt disconnected from as a professional.

Karina Mora  13:22  This image was taken in the infamous workshop in 2019, when I first visited San Miguel de Allende, when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my business if I was going to pivot, if I was going to continue. And this is one of the images that was taken during our street walk. And I was just taking in the vibrancy of the colors around me this was right outside of a cafe, or on my way to walking to a cafe. And the contrast of the green and the bright pink flowers along a muted orange wall was so beautiful to me. And I think like you can see that there’s a window with a tree in the window. And that compared to the tree that was right below in real life was so interesting to me and it just made me stop and want to take a picture and see if I could bring that back home with me.

Karina Mora  14:45  We were in workshops in the morning and in the evening. And then during the middle of the day we had four hours to ourselves. And during that time I would walk to a coffee shop get a little ate lunch, and just walk around the city and take pictures. This was probably later in the afternoon wasn’t like a bright sunny day, which I was so glad for. Because when we’re taking photos, we always want to be able to control the light. And so I just loved the light that was happening in this photo is very balanced. It’s very, it looks like it was an overcast day, or maybe the sun was behind a cloud, because there’s a very even light. And so that just made the colors pop and stand out, I could hear the slow rumble of the street noise the cars, this was on a more quieter street. So typically I like to walk alongside a busy road and then turn off into a side street and walk along the homes. And usually that’s where you find really cute cafes, they’re tucked in, in between people’s homes or maybe on the bottom of, of someone’s house and someone lives upstairs, I was paused by this specific tree. I love this image because it not only represents the vibrant colors of the atmosphere, which is usually in Mexico, you see very vibrant colors, even the houses are painted different colors. But I love that this shows the tree coming out of the sidewalk, which is very common in Mexico. And it just goes to show like you find trees and you build around what’s already there to create the sidewalk that someone wanted to create. And I love that this little tree was left intact to continue to thrive. Such a nice addition to the side of this house. I know that this whole street was lined with more trees like this. A lot of the streets in San Miguel de Allende, you can find little trees like this that are just growing along the side of the buildings. But this one in particular, I think it was like the quietness of the street that I was in. And this was just like a simple piece that I could take back with me. It just made me made me smile when I was in San Miguel. During that time, it was around like February, January, February. And I remember being cold in Chicago, and being able to wear sleeveless as I was walking around taking photos and it was just like a representation of the summer. Because usually in Mexico when I would go to Mexico with my family when I was younger, it was always on summer break. And it was like so so hot on the beach. And because then we go is in the mountains. And between some mountains, it wasn’t as hot. It was just so comfortable to be walking around and like a sleeveless shirt. It was just like a perfect summer day.

Karina Mora  18:24  I was looking for simple ways to capture Mexico at the time. I think I had been so overwhelmed by only capturing people that I was wanting to take a step back and really think about the basics of photography. Think about composition that doesn’t pertain to people. Think about colors. I think when you’re photographing a wedding, you really don’t have any control over the subjects and the colors that people are wearing. And so I think on this trip, I was really just drawn to the different colors and how they represented who I was and how they spoke to me during that time the colors in Mexico, at that time, were very healing to me. And I was trying to capture that that warmth that vibrancy through my images

Karina Mora  19:50  In the wedding industry, as a wedding photographer, you might want to curate the photos a little bit, do some editing, get rid of blemishes or or what not. And so going to into fine art photography, I really had this freedom that I didn’t have to do heavy editing on my images. And at first, you can see that there’s like a meter on the wall. And at first, I was like, should I edit that out? Should I because this was back when I was still thinking about transitioning, and even the mindset when taking photos that were not for other clients for people. And I was like, should I edit that out? Is that distracting? Is that does that take away from the photo? Should I crop it out? All of these questions were coming up for me. And I almost didn’t include this one. Because I was like, Oh, that meter. But then I was like, No, this is how it is in Mexico, you see little meters. And then there’s a cage around it, or you see the light posts. And then along the walls could be a beautiful wall. But you see the lamppost wires, you see trees coming up out of the sidewalks. That is how it is in Mexico. And so I think that meter just makes it even more that much more powerful to me, because that does, that is representative of what I saw. That is representative of what I see as I walk through the streets, in in Mexico. And so I just wanted to make note of that, that when you are switching your mindset and how you’re taking images, you also need for me, I needed to heal and let go of preconceived ideas of how I think I should create or should have created. I think this is why I chose this photo. It’s because it’s so powerful. Not only does it represent, like, like I said, the warmth and the vibrancy of what Mexico represents, but the subject and the composition is intentional about what I included, and how it speaks to Mexican culture and the architecture as well.

Karina Mora  22:24  I actually asked my kids, if they had an image that spoke to them from the San Miguel collection. And after telling me that all the images were like their favorite, they both settled on this one. My daughter loves drawing. And she loves drawing plants and flowers. And so I think the combination of colors, and the subject is really what, what spoke to my kids. And at that time, I really wanted them to connect with their Mexican roots, just like I wanted to. This is one of the first images that I did offer as a collection and made into a sticker. And so my daughter has it on her music stand. I think it is this warmth and this vibrancy that really not only connected to me, but to my children as well.

Karina Mora  23:34  I see this image and it immediately brings a smile to my face. Because that first collection is very important to me. It was as I was learning as I was trying to figure out who I was as a photographer. And it’s even more impactful to hear my kids talk about it to hear my kids like say I love this tree. I wish we could have this tree in our home. And for those who don’t know, I believe it’s a buganvilla tree and it is native to warmer climates. This image is a special because I can have this tree as a sticker on my on my notebooks. I even have it framed in our home. It is a story for sure. And it is it’s definitely like not just one of my favorites but a favorite for the whole family. I had the opportunity to go back to San Miguel a few times since this image was taken but most recently, last year in 2022. I went with my husband to Mexico, we were photographing a wedding. And it was so special because it was for friends. It was a very small intimate wedding. And we took some time to try and find the places where I have taken photos is still there. I mean, a lot of things stay the same in Mexico. And I’m finding that I’m able to go back to the places where I took photos and see and imagine and remember when I first took an image of this space of any space that I that I revisit

Mónika  25:30  Photography can do so many things for us. In this case, photography provided a means for getting that to reconnect with herself, with her family’s homeland, with her kids, and with so many others to experience may go through her lens on social media. Next Karina shares another image that connects her to her experience with her family and Mexico, and shows her why it’s important for artists to create what resonates with us, regardless of the opinions of others.

Karina Mora  26:08  So this image is unlike most of the images that I have in in my collections, but this image is so powerful to me, personally, as we look, we see a wall that has this teal color, but it is not as primed as other walls that I may be drawn to take pictures of. But it looks a bit cracked. It looks all that looks worn. It looks settled into. Again, this was in during one of my photo walks. It was later in the day. I was. This was in 2018. I was on a trip with my friends. We traveled to Puebla. So we first flew into Mexico City, drove to Puebla, and this is in Atlixco, a surrounding little town in Puebla about I think it was 30 minutes outside of Puebla City. And I was just exploring, it was a new place I’d never been, I had heard about the city from another friend, we just decided to walk the streets and find dinner. And so this was on our way back, like we had walked for an hour or two. And this teal, caught my eye as I was walking. This wasn’t even a street that I was intentionally walking on. I was walking on a busier street. And this to caught my eye. And I told my friend, I’m like just a second. Let me let me run and take a look at this wall. I took a picture of it because it was first the color drew me in. But the contrast of this vibrant color. And it was so interesting to me that it was like there’s looks like there’s broken window. It looks like it hasn’t been painted in a while you can see the exposed brick behind the plaster. And so it was interesting to me because the sidewalk that I had been walking on, looked newly painted, and there were flower pots hanging. And then this wall was such a contrast. But it somehow spoke to me. And I think it reminded me of the little town that my father used to have a house in and Guadalajara. It was outside of the city of Guadalajara, and it was very much not as much like kept up as maybe a Centro would be like, newly painted. And so this reminded me of when I would walk with my cousins throughout the little Pueblo that my father’s mother lived. And we would just be walking and this is what it looked like. So it reminded me of my childhood home. And to me that was beautiful. And so I was like, I find beauty in this this particular scene. At the time. I wasn’t like, Oh, this is going to go into collection. But as I looked back on the photos of that trip, this one continued to speak to me and so I included it in that in that collection

Karina Mora  29:34  This street was like I said a side street so there wasn’t much noise like background noise going on. I remember the sun was setting. And so we were going to dinner and the sun was setting. So the light was where from where I was standing, the light was behind me. And so it was already kind of behind the other buildings and so it created this nice, even light on this side of the wall, I was like, let’s get this photo because I know if I come back another time, the light might not be just right. I really with all my images like I like nice, even light and that might speak back to my photography, wedding photography days where I was always looking for nice even light on people’s faces. But I’m always drawn to when the light is a little maybe overcast or the sun is hidden behind another, another building, but it’s still like a nice warm, warm light that is on when I’m looking at. Like I said, we were walking to dinner, and I was probably hungry at the time. But you know, when I take photos, I’m not thinking about if I’m hungry, if I’m thirsty, if I’m tired, like I see an image and I just stay there. And I try to remember the feelings that I’m feeling when I’m looking at something. This is just one of those times I remember, my friend was waiting for me on the like the sidewalk and she’s she’s kind of like doing her own thing, taking her own photos. And I was just standing there waiting, taking a picture of just the door, taking a picture of just the window, taking a vertical image, taking a closer image of the cracks and the different colors of the grays and the blues. With this particular scene, I remember just trying to document each component separately like the window, the cracks, the even the cobblestone or the bricks that are exposed up there. I just wanted to really try and compose different pictures in this one wall. But then, like the image that really made it for me was this whole wall and that meal that we had after. And I really like this teal color because it’s not one that I’ve come across very much in other images of mine.

Karina Mora  32:07  I think I was transported back to when I was a kid and walking around the little boy Leto that my cousins lived in that my abuelita lived my father. He purchased a home from my abuelita. And so when we would visit, we would stay in this house. And we would have like meals together with the whole family. And I remember walking like my main meal was always a torta ahogada. And so we would walk through the pueblo to get the tortas ahogadas from this lady down the street. And then we’d go to the little store on the corner and get chips and some lime and some Coke. And it was transporting me back to those memories of when I was young and just I felt at home when I came to visit, visit my cousins and we were back with my father’s family.

Karina Mora  33:24  This is one city that I have not been able to make my way back to yet. I have been back to Puebla, but I haven’t been back specifically to this wall. Even though I haven’t been able to be back to the specific while I think this image has been super powerful and impactful. In my fine art photography journey. In 2019, I had the opportunity to be invited by a local store here in Chicago to display some of my work for an Open Studio walk. And so every year Pilsen, which is a little little area in Chicago opens up a lot of small businesses to do an Open Studio walk. And so there’s a lot of artists that are featured. And you can go and you can see all of the different booths. And during the weekend, the artist is there during certain hours and you can talk to the artists see their work, purchase their work. And so I was invited by my friends to have a display. And so in that display was were photos from San Miguel de Allende, the Oaxaca Collection, the Puebla Collection, and this is one of the images that I had as a bigger framed print on the gallery wall. I will never forget this story. So I was there for two days available for people to speak with me to ask me questions to meet me, it was an amazing experience. But I had this one person come up to me and they saw all the images. And they’re like, why would you choose to display a photo of a wall that is kind of ugly, like it’s not polished, like it’s not doesn’t look clean. And I was shocked that someone would say that, first of all, but then it gave me the opportunity to share the story that I just shared that it reminds me of Mexico that I remember, as a kid, my family, this, these are the types of walls that I would see. And to me, it was beautiful. The color drew me in good just reminded me of home, essentially. And I was like, it was the memory for me. And they were like hmmmm, it just doesn’t look like any of your other work. And I’m like, Okay, and so that was a comment that stayed with me. And so the next day I came back and you know, as an artist, you’re in your head, and you’re like, Oh, why did I put that photo up, maybe I shouldn’t have included that in the gallery wall. And the next day, someone came to see the gallery. Well, several people came, came back to see the gallery wall and talk to me, but there was this one person in particular. And she said, I love this photo, I love this color. She’s like, this reminds me of my little town where I grew up. And she’s like, I’m gonna purchase that. And I was, like, shocked, I was holding this emotion of confusion because someone saw this image and was like, Why did you include that they call the dirty are not as nice. And then this other person completely resonated with it and wanted to purchase it and have it hung in their homes because it reminded them of a piece of themselves. And so I like that is so encouraging as a creator that you’re not going to create something that everyone is everyone’s going to fall in love with. Some people will not like it, though, they might not resonate with it. But I encourage people to keep creating, because it is impactful to them. And when you create with that in mind, from your heart, someone will resonate with that as much as you do. And I think that is a story that is so pivotal in my fine art photography journey. And this image is to thank for that and I think that’s why this continues to be such a special photo for me.

Mónika  38:02  Gracias for listening to Karina’s image tours with me. I’m so honored to hold these experiences. Which image resonated with you? Which part of her story connected with your own experiences? I would love to hear from you. Send me a voice memo or text message on Instagram @ourlatinalens. Or send an email at hola@ourlatinalens.com It would be so helpful if you hit the share button right in your podcast player and send this episode to a friend or a family member who you think would really enjoy hearing Karina’s stories. I’m so grateful for your presence here. Thank you for listening. Gracias.

Mónika  38:48  Our Latina Lens podcast is produced, edited and hosted by me Monika Aldarondo Lugo. Our theme song was created by Matjias Mueller. Our logo was designed by Tumpa Mistry. Thank you again for listening.

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