Are You a Photographer or Documentary Film Maker?

Over the past 12 - 15 years we have worked with numerous photographers, documentary film producers, and videographers, each wanting to capture a particular theme or topics relating to mezcal, pulque and/or agave. As a precursor to confirming our interest in working with such professionals, we usually begin with an exchange of emails, and in due course follow up with at least one skype call, just to confirm that we are on the same page. We must be clear as to what our clients want, and they must have confidence that we will deliver.

How can we help?

Pre-production work is the key to ensuring a successful shoot. What does the client want to capture? Is there an event or stage in the process more important than the rest?  Is he or she primarily interested in portraiture, action shots in the fields or in the palenques, or all of the above?  Are there seasonal considerations which can conceivably or will likely impact? What is he or she seeking in the personalities of the subjects, their affect, demeaner, superficial appearance, dress, ethnicity, ability to communicate in English, Spanish or indigenous dialect, and so on?

Filming a pilot in Tlacolula de Matamoros

Our scouting begins once the foregoing is settled, or sometimes is part and parcel of our pre-production work, and consists mainly of selecting subjects, locations and best days, weeks or months to meet the objectives of the client. With Oaxacans, perhaps more so than with distillers, growers and harvesters in other parts of Mexico, it is of the utmost importance that we are able to rely upon our acquaintances, friends and associates in the industry, to ensure that no glitches arise the evening before or morning of a shoot.  This is how the relationships we have established and nurtured over the past two decades become invaluable.  We use people we can trust, and have a track record of not disappointing, although at times what the client wants requires that we establish new contacts. Often our clients have contracted with others including union members who have strict time parameters and constraints; we are sensitive to this dynamic.

To the extent we think it is required, we sit down with our clients to discuss enthocentrism, cultural relativism, and most importantly the importance of being respectful of the cultural mores of the Oaxacan subjects involved in mezcal distillation and pulque production. Most of our clients understand, but some require guidance. In the end it makes for a much more rewarding end result of our clients. The Oaxacans bend over backwards to assist, assuming they recognize that their customs are being respected through the sensitivity of the photographer and his/her team. 

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When we work with professional photographers, it's really nice when after they have returned home, they mail us a small token of their work that we can have framed and then presented to their subjects. Sometimes the client specializes in landscapes, other times stages of production, other times portraits, and of course sometimes all of the foregoing. 

Spike Mafford shooting with the Sociedad de Mezcaleros, out in the fields with a Zapotec family of tlachiqueros harvesting aguamiel. 

To organize a mezcal tour for your photography or documentary needs, email Alvin at:
mezcaleducationaltours-at-hotmail.com