I can’t start today’s blog without taking a minute to talk about the parrots. Below is a sound recording, and trust me when I say that you’ll want to listen to this! Apparently, several years ago, someone involved in the animal trade either freed a bunch of birds or they escaped. Either way, Monterrey now has a feral population of Red-Crowned Parrots flying around town. From what I can tell they seem to make two circuits every day; arriving in the square just in front of our hotel around 7:30 am and land back in the park between the hotel and the museum around 5:30 pm. The noise is absolutely incredible! We can even hear them from inside the classroom as they pass over and mark the end of the day.
Today was a typical day with a little twist. Instead of photographing in the afternoon, we had to get an early start and hit the road first thing this morning. We split the kids into two large groups with one group of students returning to TEDI (one of our favorite locations from last week), and the other group going off to a clinic that specializes in treating and training individuals with visual impairments. You heard plenty about TEDI in a previous blog but just a quick refresher, that’s the organization for students with Down syndrome. Our other location today, Destellos de Luz, is equally as impressive. Destellos de Luz is a clinic and education center that teaches life skills and treats different types of visual impairment. Their patients range in age as they help anyone, from newborns to adults. They often teach computer skills or how to walk using a cane. Wendy‘s favorite element of the program teaches individuals how to differentiate colored crayons with tactile stimuli. Thus teaches sight-impaired artists how to create using color. One crayon may have feathers attached to it while another has sandpaper; allowing the students to differentiate between colors once they have learned the correct touch association. The program was absolutely packed and there was a ton of activity. The programs we got to see were incredibly diverse and nuanced and had our students thinking about the mundane actions that they take for granted on a daily basis.
Fred and Arthur’s teams headed back to TEDI and got to spend a good chunk of the day with all of the incredible students there. On our first visit to TEDI, we didn’t have the opportunity to see many of their programs in action. Today, however, we had our minds blown with just how much they had going on! We got to see speech therapists in action, music groups, art therapy, guided play instruction. We also got to hang around for their recess. Kids everywhere! It was madness!
We headed back to the classroom for an early download and edit. When that was finally finished, and thank god it didn’t last nearly as long as yesterday, we jumped straight into our critique. If you’ve been paying attention you would have remembered that this morning our students skipped their daily critique so we could get an early start. So the images we looked at this afternoon were from yesterday. However, we’re not quite done with these early morning shoots…we’re in for quite the early morning tomorrow. Maybe, now that I’m thinking about it, this “new” schedule may be the new normal for the rest of this workshop. Early mornings here we come!
STUDENT IMAGES:
BEHIND THE SCENES: