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Photography Culture

JP Stones Documents Aztec Culture in Mexico Through Stunning Portraiture

Chris Gampat
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03/03/2017
2 Mins read
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Last Updated on 03/05/2017 by Chris Gampat

All images by JP Stones. Used with permission.

“Mexico has a deep and fascinating history,” explains photographer JP Stones in his email to us. “None more fascinating than the Aztecs meteoric rise to empire, and equally spectacular fall. Many Aztec traditions and ceremonies held such a vital place within Mexican culture that they have survived over 600 years through to today.” In the hippie Mexican beach town of Sayulita, a partnership has been forged between the local Azteca community and photographers JP Stones and Brei Barron. JP describes the result as a series of cinematic photos depicting a cultural movement thriving beneath the surface of Mexico’s everyday life.

Despite how deep, ancient, and rich Aztec culture is, it’s feeling the burdens of an increasingly urbanized Mexico. In fact, it’s downright almost killing the culture. “Apart from dancers that can be found performing during festivals, this incredible culture remains hidden to most visitors,” said JP Stones. “We wanted to showcase this rich cultural heritage in historically fitting locations. Away from the cities and its modern distractions, and into the wild expanses of nature that still cover much of Mexico.”

Lots of these images are shot in the jungle and along the Pacific coastline. JP’s intentions are to create a reminder of the power and wisdom these ancient cultures maintain generation after generation. And believe it or not, folks love the photos so much that they’re now hosting photography workshops where travellers can meet members of the local Aztec community and take part in a professional photo shoot.

The images in the series depict a few people from the culture and put them in very cinematic scenes in an effort to educate folks about that culture. Of course, the images are also quite beautiful.

“We hope these unique workshops will overcome cultural and linguistic barriers. Its an opportunity to see some of the true essence and spirit of Mexico,” says Brei Barron.

More of the images be seen at JP Stones’ website or his Facebook page.

aztec Brei Barron culture JP Stones Mexico people portraits portraiture workshops
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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