Episodes

  • See images discussed at: https://ourlatinalens.com/podcasts/s1e13-nalani-hernandez-melo-image-tour-annie-gonzalez-mr-cartoon-la-curandera/

    Nalani Hernandez-Melo an LA-based photographer, studio owner, gallery director and healer shares about significant images she has taken during her return to Los Angeles and entry to its photography community. She describes how she came to take what she considers one of her iconic images of Mexican-American actor Annie Gonzalez. She recounts the opportunity she had to photograph one of the artistic icons of her youth on an assignment for one of the biggest brands in LA. And she delves deep into her inner self to share an image from her self-portrait series Las Cuatro Direcciones and why it is a return to a path she started on as an art school student.

    This is the last episode of season one of Our Latina Lens Podcast. Thank you for listening and join us for season two.

    Annie Gonzalez https://www.instagram.com/annieggonzalez

    Mr Cartoon https://www.mistercartoon.com/

    Seen exhibit at Altura LA https://altura.la/exhibitions

    Artist links

    Photography Website | https://nalanihmelo.com/

    Studio Website | https://www.storyandimagestudio.com/

    Personal IG | https://www.instagram.com/nalanihmelo/

    Studio IG | https://www.instagram.com/storyandimage/

    Altura LA | https://www.instagram.com/altura.la/

    Connect to Our Latina Lens
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    Credits
    Produced, edited and hosted by Mónika Aldarondo-Lugo
    logo by Tumpa Mistry
    music by Mattijs Muller

    additonal music from Blue Dot Sessions

  • Nalani Hernandez-Melo is a multi-faceted artist, curator and healer. Her photography journey began at an arts high school and took a winding road through film, the early days of visual curation for social media, and editorial photography and videography. She shares how her love for her culture and community led her to found her own studio, Story and Image Studio, and to join the team as Gallery Director and Marketing Manager at Altura LA.

    Links to Nalani's Work

    Photography Website | https://nalanihmelo.com/

    Studio Website | https://www.storyandimagestudio.com/

    Personal IG | https://www.instagram.com/nalanihmelo/

    Studio IG | https://www.instagram.com/storyandimage/

    Altura LA | https://www.instagram.com/altura.la/

    Connect to Our Latina Lens
    Newsletter | https://bit.ly/ollnewsflo
    Instagram | https://instagram.com/ourlatinalens
    Ourlatinalens.com | https://ourlatinalens.com

    Support OLL’s work:
    Buy Me a Cafecito ☕
    https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ourlatinalens

    Shop our Bookshop affiliate link with books by and about Latina Photographers | https://bookshop.org/shop/ourlatinalens

    Want to sponsor episodes of Our Latina Lens?

    Contact us at [email protected]

    Credits
    Produced, edited and hosted by Mónika Aldarondo-Lugo
    logo by Tumpa Mistry
    music by Mattijs Muller

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  • In this Image Tour Josie Lepe, a photojournalist with 20+ years experience and a specialty in Sports Photography takes us behind the scenes of three of her most significant images. She opens with an image that came through preparation, luck, and her playing her part of the team, no matter what. Her historic image of how the 49ers won their last game at Candlestick Park rightly became one of the 100 memorable images of Candlestick Park. Then Josie takes us to her strength, hockey. First with an image from her first solo travel assignment to photograph the San Jose Sharks in Detroit, and then Tomáš Hertl’s iconic introduction to the NHL.

    You can view the images on our website at ourlatinalens.com/podcast

    Josie Lepe Website: https://www.josielepe.com/index

    Josie’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/josielepe/

    Josie’s work at the San Jose Mercury News: https://www.mercurynews.com/author/josie-lepe/

    Support future journalists through Mosaic. Their focus is on reaching young Latinos, Asian, and Black youth to be inspired to be future journalists. https://www.mosaicjournalism.org

    Support Our Latina Lens
    Patreon | Buy Me a Cafecito |
    Shop our Bookshop affiliate link with a list of books by and about Latina Photographers

    Want to sponsor episodes of Our Latina Lens?
    Contact us at [email protected]

  • Josie Lepe began as a lab tech at the San Jose Mercury News and went on to capture some of the iconic moments in San Francisco Bay Area Sports as a Sports Photographer. She discusses her journey into photojournalism, the challenges she faced as a woman in sports photojournalism, how her culture and background influenced how she approached her work and why she chose to pursue a Master’s in Fine Art photography after a twenty plus year career in photojournalism.

    Josie Lepe Website: https://www.josielepe.com/index

    Josie’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/josielepe/

    Josie’s work at the San Jose Mercury News: https://www.mercurynews.com/author/josie-lepe/

    Support future journalists through Mosaic. Their focus is on reaching young Latinos, Asian, and Black youth to be inspired to be future journalists. https://www.mosaicjournalism.org

    Photogrpahers Josie mentions:

    Richard Wisdom
    https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/04/16/richard-wisdom-longtime-mercury-news-photographer-dies-at-81/

    Marcio Sanchez
    https://www.instagram.com/marciojsanchez/?hl=en

    Karen Borchers
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_T._Borchers

    Our Latina Lens

    https://ourlatinalens.com

    Support Our Latina Lens
    Patreon | Buy Me a Cafecito |
    Shop our Bookshop affiliate link with a list of books by and about Latina Photographers |

    Want to sponsor episodes of Our Latina Lens?
    Contact us at [email protected]

  • See Karina's Images here: https://ourlatinalens.com/podcasts/s1e9-karina-mora-image-tour/

    Karina’s Tours to Mexico
    https://karinamora.com/mexico2023

    Karina Mora Photography site
    https://karinamora.com/
    IG: https://www.instagram.com/karinamora_prints/

    Elevating Cultura
    https://www.elevatinglacultura.com/
    IG: https://www.instagram.com/elevatinglacultura/

    All images shared with this episode were created by Karina Mora and used with permission.

    Theme music was composed by Mattijas Muller.
    Logo designed by Tumpa Mistry
    Produced and hosted by Mónika Aldarondo-Lugo.

    Our Latina Lens

    Support Our Latina Lens
    Patreon | Buy Me a Cafecito |
    Shop our Bookshop affiliate link with a list of books by and about Latina Photographers

    Want to sponsor episodes of Our Latina Lens?
    Contact us at [email protected]

  • Karina Mora shares how she built a successful wedding photography business and then pivoted to elevate her culture and communities in Chicago and Mexico through photography and entrepreneurship.

    Karina Mora
    karinamora.com

    IG: @karinamora_prints

    Elevating La Cultura website

    IG: @elevatinglacultura

    Other links mentioned:

    Veronica
    @goldenmeanboudoir

    Jasmine Lopez
    @authenticadventureco

    Our Latina Lens

    ourlatinalens.com

    Support Our Latina Lens

    Patreon | Buy Me a Cafecito |

    Shop our Bookshop affiliate link with a list of books by and about Latina Photographers

    Want to sponsor episodes of Our Latina Lens?

    Contact us at [email protected]

  • Cinthia Jaimes Image Tour S1E7

    You can view the images for this episode at https://ourlatinalens.com/podcasts/s1e7-cinthia-jaimes-image-tour/

    Portrait and boudoir photographer Cinthia Jaimes, known as Cin, shares three of her significant images. These images represent different milestones in Cinthia’s creative journey. The images include a path not taken and how she found genres that allowed her to live her values in a different way than she expected.

    Image tours are an opportunity for photographers to share some of their most significant images and take you behind the scenes. This can include why or how they made the image, its personal significance and/or the social or political context of the image. She is the owner of Cin Photos Studio in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Texas.

    Content Warning: we discuss the following in this episode: Gun violence, Racial Trauma

    Website: https://www.cinphotos.com/

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cinphotos/

    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@cinphotos

    Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cinphotos?lang=en

    Collaborators for Día de los Muertos Campaign
    Cadena Collective https://www.instagram.com/cadenacollective
    Jordan Crenshaw https://www.instagram.com/jcrenshighmaintenance/
    Rosey Pears https://www.instagram.com/roseypears

    Our Latina Lens
    https:ourlatinalens.com

    Support Our Latina Lens
    Patreon | Buy Me a Cafecito |
    Shop our Bookshop affiliate link with a list of books by and about Latina Photographers |

    Want to sponsor episodes of Our Latina Lens?
    Contact us at [email protected]

    Persephone and Aphrodite musical tracks were used from https://www.fiftysounds.com

  • Cinthia Jaimes is a Portrait and Boudoir photographer based in Dallas, Texas. In this conversation Cinthia discusses her journey to Boudoir, her creative process and the effect that photographing women from a perspective of empowerment and body positivity had on her life. She is frank about her own struggles with mental health and how her mom encouraged her to live her life Sin Miedo, changing the trajectory of her journey. We talk about why the photography education world needs more diverse voices and her many collaborations with her local community.

    Content Warning: we discuss the following in this episode

    Gun violence 4:39-6:30

    Thoughts of Suicide 32:47-34:42

    If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide, please contact the national Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988

    Cinthia Jaimes

    Website: https://www.cinphotos.com/

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cinphotos/

    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@cinphotos

    Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cinphotos?lang=en

    Latina Businesses & Photographers Cin loves

    Cadena Collective
    https://www.instagram.com/cadenacollective

    Luz y Tierra Artisanal Cazuelita Candles
    https://www.instagram.com/luzytierra_

    CocoAndré Chocolatier
    https://www.instagram.com/cocoandre_chocolatier

    Pinolo Blue- Tortillas
    https://www.instagram.com/pinoleblue

    Fresa Thrift
    https://www.instagram.com/fresa_thrift

    Photographers

    Stephanie Rodriguez
    https://www.instagram.com/stephsphotographytx

    Ariana Rodriguez
    https://www.instagram.com/arianarodriguezstudio/

    Jude
    https://www.instagram.com/divinebrujeria/

    Our Latina Lens

    https://ourlatinalens.com

    Sign up for newsletter: https://bit.ly/ollnewsflo

    Support Our Latina Lens

    Patreon | Buy Me a Cafecito |

    Shop our Bookshop affiliate link with a list of books by and about Latina Photographers |

    Want to sponsor episodes of Our Latina Lens?

    Contact us at [email protected]

    Credits

    Producer, editor and host: Monika Aldarondo-Lugo

    Logo: Tumpa Mistry

    Theme Song: Mattijs Muller

  • Editorial and Commercial Photographer Amanda López immerses us in the process and context of creating three of her most significant images. She tells us about photographing Mexican actress Kate del Castillo, who she used to watch as a child with her family. Her experience photographing her grandmother and what her grandmother meant to Amanda’s family story, her creative journey and her own personal growth. Finally, a gorgeous image of Mexican actress Yalitza Aparicio Martínez.

    Our Image Tours an opportunity for photographers to share some of their most significant images and take you behind the scenes. This can include why or how they made the image, its personal significance, and/or the personal, social, or political context of the image. I hope you enjoy Amanda’s image tour as much as I did.

    View Images for this episode at our website: https://ourlatinalens.com/podcast

    Amanda López

    Website https://www.amandalopezphoto.com/

    Instagram https://www.instagram.com/snapshotlopes/

    Twitter https://mobile.twitter.com/snapshotlopes

    Kate del Castillo cover on Amanda’s IG

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BT-bhmKDkPi/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

    Article in LA Weeky: https://www.laweekly.com/actress-kate-del-castillo-was-royalty-in-mexico-then-she-crossed-paths-with-el-chapo/

    Image of Yalitza Aparicio on Amanda’s IG

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BuRRCcrBb3t/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

    Article on Yalitza Aparicio https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/roma-made-yalitza-aparicio-a-star-now-shes-giving-a-voice-to-her-indigenous-fans/2019/02/21/d003f3da-2ef8-11e9-813a-0ab2f17e305b_story.html

  • Editorial and Commercial photographer Amanda López shares how she finds joy in her craft, how her 2nd and 3rd generation Mexican-American upbringing influences her subject matter and the role that mentors and creative community play in her artistic and professional growth.

  • In this episode, photojournalist Mabel Jiménez takes us into the circumstances when she created two of her images. The first is an image documenting a farewell ceremony for a mural in the Mission District of San Francisco. A ceremony that she shares encompasses so much more than just a mural. In her second images, a “Pinky Kiss” is a gesture of connection across the U.S.-Mexico border that is both a sign of intimacy between separated loved ones and symbolic of thousands of interactions that have happened at Friendship Park. A park whose closure is imminent, ending the possibility of even this tiny amount of physical contact.

    Image Tours are opportunities for a photographer to share some of their most significant images and take the listener behind the scenes of the images. This may include why or how they made the image, its personal significance, and/or the personal, social, or political context of the image.

    Shownotes

    View Images at our website: https://ourlatinalens.com/podcast

    Mabel Jiménez

    Website https://www.mabeljimenez.com/

    LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/mabel-jimenez-0a926b16/

    IG https://www.instagram.com/mabeljmnz/

    Article by Mabel for Tecolote about the Mission District mural

    https://eltecolote.org/content/en/community-bids-farewell-to-iconic-mural/

    Links about Friendship Park and to efforts to re-open and complete the vision for Friendship Park

    https://www.friendshippark.org/

    https://www.buildthatpark.org/

    Video about Friendship Park

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhdUD3gORWI&t=2s

    Our Latina Lens

    https:ourlatinalens.com

    Sign up for newsletter: https://bit.ly/ollnewsflo

    Support Our Latina Lens

    Patreon | https://patreon.com/ourlatinalens

    Buy Me a Cafecito | https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ourlatinalens

    Shop our Bookshop affiliate link with a list of books by and about Latina Photographers | https://bookshop.org/shop/ourlatinalens

    Want to sponsor episodes of Our Latina Lens?

    Contact us at ourlatinalens [at] gmail.com

  • What happens when you push back against journalistic objectivity? What role do community papers play? How does connection to community affect how you can tell a story? Photographer, photo editor and CatchLight Mentor Mabel Jiménez and host Monika Aldarondo discuss these questions and much more. Mabel shares her experience photographing asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border, her art residency documenting the COVID response in San Francisco and her family’s reaction to her choosing photojournalism as a career.

    Show notes

    Mabel Jiménez
    https://www.instagram.com/mabeljmnz

    El Tecolote
    https://eltecolote.org/content/en/

    https://www.instagram.com/eltecolotesf/

    CatchLight
    https://www.catchlight.io/

    https://www.instagram.com/catchlight.io/

    San Francisco Arts Commission Covid Command Center Artist Residency (includes video presentation by Mabel)
    https://sfpl.org/events/2021/07/15/panel-artists-embedded-sf-covid-command-center

    San Francisco Library History Center- Covid-19 Time Capsule
    https://sfpl.org/locations/main-library/sf-history-center/digital-collections/covid19-time-capsule

    Josué Rivas
    https://www.instagram.com/josue_foto/

    _____

    Our Latina Lens

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    Support Our Latina Lens

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    Contact us at ourlatinalens [at] gmail.com

  • In this episode, curator and author Elizabeth Ferrer discusses her research, book and advice for aspiring photographers and curators.

    transcript and full shownotes at ourlatinalens.com/podcast

    Elizabethferrer.net

    IG @evferrer

    Get Latinx Photography in the United States: A Visual History

    Info on Luis Carlos Bernal show curated by Elizabeth

    Epiphania "Fanny" de Guadalupe Vallejo

    Laura Aguilar

    Laura Aguilar Vincent Price Exhibition

    Karen Miranda Rivadeneira

    Maria Varela

    80s

    Isabel Castro

    Kathy Vargas in San Antonio

    Deliliah Montoya

    Maria Magdelena de Campos

    1990s

    Christina Fernandez - LA (Maria’s great expedition)

    Elsa Flores (70s Chicano history)

    Perla de Leon (En Foco) 80s-90s Bronx Street Photography

    Susana Leval, director of Museo del Barrio

    F stop gallery

    Aperture Latinx issue

    aperture webinars

    Inside the "Latinx" issue with Pilar Tompkins Rivas and Elizabeth Ferrer

    "Latinx" Conversation Series: Genesis Báez, Joiri Minaya, and Steven Molina Contreras

    The Narrative Arc of Latinx Photography

    Aperture Conversations: Celebrating Thalía Gochez and Las Fotos Project

    Latinx Art Forum

    Veterana y Rucas, Guadalupe Rosales

    Nuevorkinos

    Laura Aquilar image- Three Eagles Flying

    Delilah Montoya

    Casta Paintings

    Maria Martinez Cañas

    Martine Gutierrez

    Our Latina Lens

    Sign up for newsletter | IG @ourlatinalens

    Patreon | Buy Me a Cafecito

    Want to sponsor episodes of Our Latina Lens?

    Contact us at ourlatinalens [at] gmail.com

  • Who is your favorite Latina or Latine photographer? Latina/e photographers have been contributing to the visual narrative of the United States for over a hundred years. These stories are rarely known. Our Latina Lens Podcast, hosted by Monika Aldarondo, elevates the work and stories of accomplished US-based Latina/e photographers across genres.

    Each photographer will be featured in two episodes. The first episode will explore their creative process and journey with photography. In a second episode, photographers delve deep into their most significant images. They share the political, historical, and/or personal context of the creation of their images and why, out of their archive of thousands of photos, they chose these photographs as their most significant.

    One photographer, two podcast episodes, an infinitely curious host and creative journeys that are often ignored by traditional media and the art world.