Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 03/Sep 07:25

Richard Ramirez turns pictures into thousands of words

Engineer Richard Ramirez’ passion is photography. He has found a way to marry his passion with his desire to preserve Trinidad and Tobago’s culture. That, in its tangible form, are two soon-to-be- released books: Folklore Spirits of Trinidad and Tobago and Vanishing Arts and Traditions of Trinidad and Tobago. However, Ramirez, 57, is the author of four books which all began with pictures. Sharing his journey in a phone interview, Ramirez said he has been doing photography for the past two decades. He had spent a number of years working abroad and would shoot photos to capture memories of those places. When he returned to TT nine years ago, Ramirez began capturing photos of popular structures across the country. “I would take photos of some of the big buildings, our heritage and share them with friends. I recognised I would get the same kind of response all the time. “‘That is Trinidad?’ ‘Where in Trinidad that is?’ And it troubled me a lot because I said, ‘How can you not know this?’ “In some cases, those were buildings where people passed by every day and they never took the time to look at it properly.” This was the see for his first book: Historical Building and Landmarks, Volume one. The 2020 publication captured 50 buildings along with a short article about each one. [caption id="attachment_1175701" align="alignnone" width="683"] Mama d'Leau folklore character. The author used a combination of photography, photographic manipulation and AI to generate these images.-[/caption] Volume two was published in 2021. He kept it minimal as it is targeted toward younger people who, he believes, don’t read as much. “I said, ‘Let me do my research and then try to cut it down to four or five paragraphs, just to give them the stuff that they need to know without losing interest.’ “In doing that, I realised I was way past 50 already and so that part of the project turned into two books. I did volumes one and two.” Printing was done by foreign suppliers as he was unable to find all that he needed in one place, locally, Ramirez said. He wanted it to be a layflat book which makes it easier for viewing/reading. While creating a high-quality product was important to him, his overarching aim is to assist with cultural preservation. Although the books have sold over 5,000 copies, he does not think he has been as successful as initially planned since the books aren’t in national libraries as yet. “That is a large part of my goal,” he added. He hopes to correct this through meetings with the Minister of Culture and Community Development Michelle Benjamin and Minister of Public Administration and AI Dominic Smith. [caption id="attachment_1175700" align="alignnone" width="683"] Lagahoo -[/caption] After completing volume two of the historical buildings, Ramirez came up with a way to discuss TT’s vanishing arts. He gave the example of a snow cone vendor. A lot of the things that make Trinidadians, just that, were disappearing, he said. “When I started the project the title was ‘The Dying Arts.’ As I got deeper into it, I realised, firstly, dying has a very negative connotation so I changed it to vanishing.” He, however, does not take a negative view of it. Ramirez believes those things served their purpose and no longer existed because society evolved. His book is a celebration of things bygone, he added. “I have 60 different arts captured in the book and some of them really don’t exist anymore. It is a good reference point, another punctuation mark in our story…” He hopes this supplements the conversations parents, grandparents and great grandparents should have had with children about their lived experiences. “Many of them have not been having the conversations that we need to have.” [caption id="attachment_1175699" align="alignnone" width="683"] Gang Gang Sara (Tobago) -[/caption] His four books are self-published and he learned how to do so through his first book. Ramirez plans to share that knowledge in a workshop he is expected to address at the Tunapuna Library on September 13. He plans to launch the third book (Vanishing Arts and Traditions of Trinidad and Tobago) in October and the fourth book (Folklore Spirits of Trinidad and Tobago) in November. He always loved folklore and the stories but he never saw a photo of a folklore character. He always saw illustrations and depictions but not photos. In 2001, he took photos of four folklore characters using models dressed as Papa Bois, blue devil, la diablesse and soucouyant. It was costly and so he shelved it for a while. “When I started to share them with friends, it was the first time anybody had seen the characters embodied and looking like a human rather than looking like an illustration and painting.” Over the last two years, he decided to get it done again and began researching. Ramirez found folklore characters he had not even heard about and ended up doing 30 characters for this book. Ramirez used a combination of photography using models, photographic manipulation and AI photo generation to create life-like images of these characters. Ramirez believes that TT abounds with talent but, often, opportunities are lacking. He encouraged all artistes to get involved with the Artist Registry of Trinidad and Tobago (ARTT). His books have been registered as national works of art. “We have a lot of talent locally and we have a lot of people who have a genuine drive to create and to share their history. The challenges come with knowledge and, in some instances, it is a funding challenge,” he said.   The post Richard Ramirez turns pictures into thousands of words appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.