Why I Keep Taking So Many Photos at Festivals | The Culture of Sharing I Learned from Guelaguetza

I learned everything important on the ground.
As someone involved in Guelaguetza and local festivals,
I continue to capture their memories and moments in photographs.

Hello. I am Saru, living in Oaxaca. Today, please let me write about my Guelaguetza spirit.

Among the readers of note, or on FB, is there anyone who has seen the account Saruya saruyaoax?

Every time, for a single festival or event, I upload 200 to 400 photos. If you include the photos I don't post, the average for one shoot, even without using burst mode, is
700 to 1100 photos.

I frequently use FB, which allows me to post up to 80 photos at a time.
(Actually, I could upload more, but if it exceeds 80, I can't edit the text or images.)
On top of that, I aim to upload the photos on the night or late night of the shoot whenever possible.
While everyone's festival excitement is still high.

“FB???” You might think I'm not keeping up with current trends, but
personally, I can't think of any other social media that allows me to post so many photos at once
and have them seen by so many people.

Besides, I have the impression that the people of Oaxaca actually use FB quite extensively.

This summer, I had a conversation with someone who works as a professional in magazines and photography, who came to see Guelaguetza with me as my attendant.

“In my experience, people who are truly good at photography often don't take a massive amount of photos,” they said.

It's true that everyone has their own way of approaching photography.
I think there are various styles and aesthetics in the photography industry.

I just thought, “I see. There are geniuses in the world, after all.”

In my case, where the number of photos is high,
I was just talking about myself, saying this is how I am. Haha.

Yes.
The reason I have so many photos isactually based on the spirit of Guelaguetza.

▶ Click here if you want to know more.

What is the essence of Guelaguetza? (My personal interpretation)

• Sharing = Sharing culture

• Helping each other = Getting involved to make the festival happen

• Giving to each other = Letting people know about the village through dance and local specialties

When you are at the scene of Guelaguetza, right in the middle of the festival,
you can feel the incredible passion for the festival.

The groups of village representatives who gathered from afar,
the mezcal and local specialties they treat the spectators along the parade route with,
and the gifts thrown into the crowd after the performances at the Guelaguetza venue.

In fact, those "gifts for everyone"
come out of their own pockets and those of their fellow villagers.

The efforts of the local people who devotedly support the Guelaguetza.
Their pride. Their passion.
I truly take my hat off to them!!

Seeing that,
I started to wonder, is there something I can give to everyone at the Guelaguetza?
Something others can't do, but I can help with!!
That is what I began to think.

And the answer I came up with was,

“To capture these memorable moments of the Guelaguetza
in photos and deliver them to everyone!”

That was it.

In famous social media, mass media, and news reports,
there is inevitably a focus on photos of a select few that look good.
And they just show one or two flashy, impressive shots!

But there are truly so many people participating in this Guelaguetza.

With 30 people per group and 15 to 16 groups,
there are roughly over 450 dancers alone.
If you include the band members and the support staff, it's an incredible number.

Even if it's impossible to photograph everyone,
I want to capture photos of as many people as possible.

With that in mind, I click the shutter as much as I can and run around the site.

I make the photos I take available for free, so that anyone who appears in them
can download and save their images from the Saruya FB page.

By the way, there are many photos of people I don't know at all. Haha
But because I've been doing this for over 10 years,
my FB follower count has reached about 14,000.

Moreover, many of them are people from Oaxaca and Mexico.

With this many followers,
even if I don't know who someone is,
acquaintances who find the photos will tag the person by saying,
“Hey, that's so-and-so!” which is a huge help!

Honestly, I want to deliver the local culture to Japan, so I'd like to increase my Japanese followers too, but...
Well, that's fine. Haha

Thanks to everyone, my followers are still growing steadily,
and I've even started getting invited with comments like, “We're having a festival (event) in our village soon, you're invited!”
I'm so grateful!!!

Sometimes at a festival, people will come up to me and say,
"Hey, you're the one who took my profile picture!"
It's really nice to be recognized like that.

It makes me genuinely happy when people like the photos I've taken.

Unexpectedly, I've also been benefiting from the
healing effectsof the people in Oaxaca, Mexico.

No matter what kind of photo it is, thanks to the Mexican tendency to
"shower people with praise,"

"What a wonderful photo!"
"Beautiful photo!!"
"You're the best!"

They praise me to the skies.

Thanks to that,
"My photos are wonderful!"
my self-esteem has skyrocketed. Haha.

In this way,
the relationship I've built between the "person being photographed" and the "photographer"
feels like it's in the best possible form right now.

I want to keep taking lots of photos to deliver those festival memories to everyone.
I plan to keep taking photos.

A fleeting moment born within the Guelaguetza remains as someone's precious memory. Believing in that, I want to keep taking photos.

If you are interested in these activities or this perspective,
I would be happy if you would continue to watch over me.