Los Cerrillos, NM

About a month ago I went to Santa Fe, NM to attend the Photographic Workshops there. I took a Multimedia Storytelling class taught by Ami Vitale (www.amivitale.com). By the end of a hectic week I produced a piece, with my partner, Laura Feged, about Cerrillos, NM, told by a 94 year-old woman who was born and raised there.

Click here to watch it on Vimeo

The music in the piece, "Origami", is from Jake Schepps (www.jakeschepps.com). Please visit his website. He was totally generous in allowing us to use his music. He also plays for the Expedition Quartet.

Mary was an incredible person to interview. As you might imagine, there is a bit of concern in driving to a dusty old town 30 minutes away to photograph and interview a 94 year-old woman whom I’d never met. What if she wasn’t interested? After all, she must be tired of talking to visitors and other Santa Fe Workshop folks who’ve drifted into and out of town every so often. But Laura and I walked into Mary’s Bar, and there she was. Sitting and doing word search puzzles with her cats scattered about the cluttered, hardscrabble saloon.

She looked up when we addressed her and at that moment, her son in-law entered from the rear of the bar (the house), and was less than inclined to oblige us to anything. But Mary didn’t mind (so long as we bought something) and she began to tell us stories about herself and what Cerrillos used to be.

“We had four dancehalls…a meat market…a grocery store…anything you could ask for…but it’s all gone…the mines closed...”, she told us.

There were gold, turquoise and silver mines in the hills surrounding the town. Cerrillos, means “little hills” in Spanish. But eventually the mines all closed for one reason or another.

She continued with her life, and how she lost her husband, not long after he returned from WWII,

“I’m ready for the good Lord to take me, but he won’t take me”, she continued.

At one point in its history, the Spaniards considered making Cerrillos the capital of New Mexico because of the wealth found in the hills. But alas, that honor went to Santa Fe. The mines closed, and Cerrillos dried up. But in the center of town, a saloon survived. Mary’s Bar.

A picture began to emerge. In researching the story idea, we thought trekking out to Cerrillos might make for an interesting story. An old bar, managed by an old woman. I visualized a scene where bikers filled the porch, drinking beers, while the grizzled old matriarch keeps them all in line. However, it was the beginning of March, and no one was hanging around enjoying the dusty, windy, cool weather. So instead of a lively wild west sort of image we had preimagined, we saw a more poignant picture emerge. Dusty old town, aged woman; each of them timeless. They’d seen it all. The good times and the bad.

“I don’t take crap from nobody, " she would say, “I tell 'em...the door opens and it closes...”

She didn’t need anyone to tell her how to run her life. If they weren’t happy to be in her bar, then they could find somewhere else to go. And I suppose that might be what happened to Cerrillos. The people, the government, the money and the jobs found somewhere else to go. The door opened for Cerrillos and then it closed.

Mary stayed, though. She’s visited Rome, and she loved it. A family member of hers used to go over to Rome to train or teach Bishops and Priests. She even had dinner with Pope John Paul and “...the whole shebang over there…” But she loves her Cerrillos. She was born and raised there. What’d you expect her to do?

We really wanted to stretch ourselves with this video. Laura had not worked with video much, and I had only used video as a supplement to stills. We really tried to focus on doing nothing but video. Mary had so many things to say, but we also wanted to give it space to breath, and not bog it down with a running commentary.

Most of her quotes were fascinating glimpses into her life and Cerrillos as she saw it. It was an excellent example of time constraints being a great editor. Naturally, Ami was instrumental in helping us parse out the best bits of audio into a cohesive narrative. How different would the piece have looked or sounded with 2-3 weeks to work on it? I think much of the success of the video is that we were able to find visual cues and metaphors and arrange them succinctly without losing the feel or the sense of place. We tried to key in on that sense of desolation and the mood that the town had a prime that passed long ago. We thought Mary personified Cerrillos in a remarkable way and we hoped we could capture video of Cerrillos and Mary while weaving the audio into it in a meaningful way.

Not everything appeared as if it would go so well, however. At the end of our first day of shooting, one of Cerrillos’ local drunks (who was initially very friendly) began to verbally abuse Laura from the porch while she was shooting. That was our cue to wrap up and investigate the rest of the town for more shots. But at that point I began to wonder if we had overstayed our welcome. I was worried we wouldn't be able to return to shoot anymore. Fortunately for all of us, the next day all was forgotten and our second, and final day of shooting went well. We started to drive out of town, happy with what we had, but I stopped the car. The sun was setting and cast a beautiful orange on the hills around Cerrillos. We thought this would be a perfect closing shot for our piece. So we ran about 5:30mins of video as the sunlight slowly faded from the hills with some homes in the foreground. At that point we knew we had enough material to create something good. All that was left was putting it together.

I’ve wanted to attend workshops for years and this year I was fortunate to receive a partial scholarship to attend the multimedia class in Santa Fe. As it happened, the first day of class was the first day my piece about Ricky Chang appeared online at The News & Messenger, so I really felt as if I was transitioning into another phase of my development as a photographer.

The most important skill I wanted to take away from the workshop was the ability to systematically approach and execute an idea. I wanted to save myself from the aggravation of staring at 50 GB of material, not knowing how to start. Completing the Ricky piece the way I did was such an exhausting process that I knew producing any multimedia in the future would be difficult as I assessed the prospect of the stress and aggravation against the potential reward. I knew there had to be a better way to do it.

Aside from learning so much, we were treated so well the entire time we were there. It was quickly apparent that we were surrounded by people that were not only passionate about what they do, but were also genuinely interested in what we did and had to say. The classrooms and halls buzzed with enthusiasm. It was a nice change to know that there was only one assignment and it was due at the end of the week. For sure, there was frustration and stress from the frantic pace at learning to how to shoot, what to shoot, and then producing something respectable in 5 days.

I do have a small confession, however. I probably slept more during this week then I do when I visit Santa Fe on vacation. The Workshops close the computer lab at 830pm. Once the lab was closed, there was nothing left to do, because all of our working material and clips were organized on the lab computers. So every night, I headed back to my friends’ house, relaxed for a little and went to bed. The only exception was the first night of serious editing, where I was worried we wouldn't have enough time to finish.

Cerrillos hills at sunset

The workshop was a great experience for me. Immediately after the week ended I began to think of how to pursue all the ideas I already had written down from weeks, months, and years prior. I knew I had a plan, and if I put something together in a week with a partner, I certainly, with a little planning, could do it on my own, given some extra time. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that video is here to stay. We always have to adapt as visual journalists. Learning HDLSR and filmmaking is just another way we have to adapt. Different skill sets, for sure, but it’s not impossible. Ami mentioned at one point during the week that she thought we’d all look back on these times and think of it as the Wild West. I think she’s right. Everyone is trying to figure out how to make video profitable, and good. HDSLR is too easy and too good not to become a permanent part of news gathering and storytelling. Who knows where we’re headed? I do know, however, that getting started on learning to produce these types of stories is a step in the right direction.

Cerrillos and hills at sunset

Mary Mora and Laura Feged

Mary Mora and myself (Laura Feged photo)