An Interview with Myself
As silly as it sounds here is a brief interview with myself. What’s the purpose you ask? Well, this interview covers some questions people ask me frequently, from why do people call you Nacho, to what do I think should be the political status of Puerto Rico. There are also plenty of questions we could add here. As you would expect there is nothing sensational here. No revelations of a secret liaison with Tammy Faye Baker, Pamela Lee, or Paris Hilton (who would want to, really!). I started this page many years ago as a way to provide some clues for a trivia contest I developed for my Summer swim team (Montpelier Marlins, Laurel, MD). The page served its purpose and, and after some modifications it’s still around. I figured I’d keep it.
Q: Why do people call you Nacho?
Nacho has been my nickname ever since I can remember. My parents started calling me Nacho when I was born. Usually those named Ignacio are nicknamed Nacho, but my name is Nathaniel not Ignacio, so go figure. I’ve heard the “Hey! That’s Nacho (Not Your) Cheese” joke, as well as the “Nacho, Nacho, Man” jingle quite often though. I still smile a bit when I hear those, I guess as a face-saving device for those who figure they’ll give it a shot.
Q: Why Foto-Rhetoric?
Good question. Primarily because I am a Rhetoric teacher and I like to think about visual rhetoric. The primary type of photography I do is photojournalism and that work is centered on storytelling, on a powerful narrative disposition.
Q: Uhu, but what is Rhetoric?
Yikes! From Aristotle: The art of finding the available means of persuasion in a particular case. We can start from there, but definitions of Rhetoric have gotten more complicated. For me, Rhetoric is “symbolic inducement.” My alma matter calls it the analysis of “the strategic use of discourse in the public sphere.” In short, Rhetoric is the study of how human beings construct (and share) symbolic frameworks to shape attitude, belief, and behavior — hence the study of meaning making practices in the public sphere.
Q: What’s the deal with the Mindfulness stuff?
I enjoy and practice zen buddhism. I sat regularly at the Stillwater Mindfulness Practice Center in Takoma Park, MD (now in Silver Spring, MD), and less regularly with the Washington Mindfulness Community in Washington, DC. Now I live in Salem, Oregon where I am a practice leader with the River Sangha, a mindfulness meditation sangha (Community of Mindful Living) in the Zen tradition represented by Thich Nhat Hahn. I’m a proponent of cultivating mindfulness in all our activities, and thus spend a considerable amount of time thinking about, and practicing, mindful photography.
My fairly eclectic ethical beliefs point toward helping others and creating the kind of world we want our children and our grandchildren to inherit, working for peace and mindfulness, compassion and lovingkindness towards all living beings. I believe we are here to care each other into wellbeing. Six years ago I was ordained into Thich Nhat Hanh’s Order of Interbeing (Tiep Hien, – a Zen Buddhist order), with the dharma name True Mountain of Compassion.
Q: Do you have any formal training regarding traditional photography?
Not really. I had a brief workshop when I was first starting in High School, informal mentoring by a photojournalist friend when I was young, and a class/workshop here and there when I was an undergraduate. I’ve attended training about lighting with flash units (specifically the Nikon system), I’ve attended lectures by photojournalists, and I have some art training, but primarily it has been self-taught over the years.
Q: Who or what are your sources of creative inspiration?
Who: hmmmmm, everything is an inspiration… in the sense that I get ideas and drive out of almost all work I see. Primarily a bunch of folks working early in the documentary tradition and in particular in black and white: Walker Evans, Elliot Erwitt, Diane Arbus, Harry Callahan, Lee Friedlander, Emmett Gowin, Paul Strand, Minor White, Garry Winogrand, Lewis Hine, Dorothea Lange, Helen Levitt, Alfred Stieglitz, Eugene Smith… Sebastião Salgado, and many more.
What: Zen, mindfulness, the influences of artistic moments that tried to open our eyes to something present that we hadn’t seen yet (not moments of new medium, or technique, but rather, moments when new approaches are meant to disrupt the placidity and sedimentation, the calcifications that no longer let us see anew.
Q: What have been some of the challenges of using the iPhone as a camera?
Size, fixed small lens, no dynamic range, lens placement…
Q: What has been the most surprising or most predictable reaction from people to your iPhone work?
That was taken with an iPhone!? No Way!
Q: What’s in your iPhone camera bag ? What app(s) do you currently use the most often?
See this entry here
Q: What’s the WoodMoor Village thing?
WoodMoor Village was a very popular blog I wrote from about 2004 to 2008. Its focus was mindfulness, ethics, politics, etc, and it even made it to Blog Heaven in Beliefnet.com (even though I am not a religious believer). Why WoodMoor? Because I find peace and solace in woods, in glens, in lakes, in nature. Walking through a grove of trees, giant witnesses to life, serves as a mindfulness bell and soothes me. WoodMoor Village is my ancestral home, my mythic homeland, my ideal and idyllic place, the far country, and the virtual space from which I come and that I try to inhabit. For a while I was tempted by the idea of re-animating WoodMoor Village as a collective blog that would host folks posting about photography and other tasks from a mindful perspective. I’m still considering that. If you’d like that, let me know.
Q: How many village fools does it take to change a light bulb?
A: A tree in a golden forest.
Q: What gives you a sense of value in your life? What legacy would you like to leave?
A sense of value…? What is that? : ) My extended family, my kids, a firm commitment to doing everything I can to make the world a better place for my children and all other children. Being of service to others adds value to my life. Teaching definitely adds a strong sense of value. No particular legacy. Any legacy I leave I would like to be in the sense of making the world a better place, even if in minute ways, for all sentient beings. I want to fill my children’s heart with so much love that they can offer the same to those around them, and not suffer when I’m gone (assuming they would!).
Q: What kind of music do you listen to?
All kinds, although I don’t enjoy violent and/or misogynistic Rap, or any other type of music that perpetuates hatred. I love vocal jazz, bossa nova, Irish Trad., and folk/indie music.
Q; Any favorite books?
Lots, but not really one favorite. Any list would have to include Don Quijote. I read broadly, and find many books quite compelling and good.
Q: What are your political inclinations?
Neither Republican or Democrat. I’m an independent, very progressive, and yes, what folks would call liberal. I dislike political chicanery and stupidity in anybody, by any party. Plenty of that going around.
Q: Where are you from originally?
I was born and raised in Santurce, Puerto Rico.