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El Salvador 2013

04-15-13

Where do I begin?

Conventional wisdom would have us believe that times are tough, that the world is “going to pot” as my grandfather might say. We like to throw around terms like “fiscal cliff” or “post-truth era” and allow the consensus to be that no one cares, that the world is on a downslide and there’s nothing to be done about it. Doom sells, so we’re inundated by it.

But it’s simply not true.

I’m making a bold statement here, but in my opinion, the world has never been better. It isn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination and there is an incredible amount of work to be done everywhere before we can claim a just, peaceful, and abundant world. But we are able to connect to the human condition in ways never before known and technology has allowed us to reach out in ways unheard of a mere decade ago. Micro loans allow a single individual to reach across oceans and national borders to lend a bit of money to an entrepreneur who just needs a place to begin. Classrooms in the United States can learn side by side with students across the globe and form bonds that last a lifetime. Through digital media and the wonders of the internet, we can view the triumphs and tragedies of people everywhere within moments of their occurrence.

Some would argue that this access has made us numb to tragedy and suffering. I disagree. Wholeheartedly.

I was lucky enough to go back to El Salvador a few weeks ago. Like last year, I went with a group of motivated and dedicated high school students from the Keene, New Hampshire, Interact Club. These kids have spent the last year raising money- a LOT of money- in order to work with the mountain village of Talnique to build homes for the families of this community. They have worked with the members of that community to lay out a vision to build 100 homes over ten years. Last year they built eight complete homes and outfitted them with bunk beds. This year they completed ten more.

To see both the residents of Talnique and these students working so hard, side by side, to create safe and stable homes for those lacking them lifts my heart right up and reminds me that there are people the world over who simply won’t accept that there are those without proper food or shelter. And then they endeavor to correct it. Weekends that could have been filled with friends and fun instead fill with fundraisers and roadside clean-ups. Dollars that could have been spent on “stuff” instead get squirreled away for a service trip to another country. Work that could have simply been toil is done with smiles and grace and heart.

I believe everything begins with empathy. With the ability to see ourselves reflected in the eyes of others and know that we are, at our most essential, the same. Your children are my children. Your hunger is my hunger. My plenty should be your plenty and my hands, your hands.



With so many hands at the ready, sometimes work got finished ahead of schedule (awesome, right?)! So while waiting for additional supplies and things like mortar to dry, the kids got the opportunity to explore the tremendous beauty of El Salvador! The country has many volcanos, both active and dormant, so we went to check one out!


Waterfalls! The waterfalls! It was truly amazing to hike and hike and then turn a corner and have an oasis appear!




It requires special skill and nerves of steel to drive a bus through the mountains of El Salvador! To say that our drivers were serious professionals is a gigantic understatement!

Talnique! The brightly painted homes are those that were built last year! Amazing to see how they’ve transformed from houses into homes!!


The children of Talnique worked side by side with the adults…they took an enormous amount of pride in their contributions to their community and were serious workhorses!










There’s no rule that hard work can’t be fun!









This little guy must have walked up and down that hill hauling his little pitcher of water and sand at least 30 times. He will live in the house that he was helping to build and even at 2 1/2 years old, he wanted to take part.








Arrival back at the hotel each night began by shaking out as much of the dust as possible…

The kids bring a huge amount of clothing, shoes, toys, and household items with them to donate to the families as well. The residents of Talnique open the day care center and families are able to come in one at a time to pick out items that they need or want. The children gather at the window and shout requests at their family members, usually “pelota! pelota!” as soccer balls are a hot commodity! Shoes are the most in-demand item and by the end of the trip, most of the kids left Talnique on their last day in just their socks.



Their parents may opt for the sensible items, but the children know where the goodies are to be found!

Each year, one of the Rotarians from San Salvador arranges for the students to spend an afternoon at a private beach club. Black sand beaches, gorgeous sunsets, and some serious waves make for an amazing day!



Evenings back at the hotel continue the adventure!
With a limited amount of work left on the worksite the last day, the students were able to explore the rest of the village of Talnique. Through a huge community effort, the residents of this town have organized themselves and built the quality roads and infrastructure that allowed our project to happen here. Our escorts were excited to show off their town to us!


We were invited to hike to another waterfall. The hike wound through a coffee plantation and gave us a tremendous view of the mountains…absolutely stunning!









The students have worked with an orphanage for physically and developmentally disabled children in San Salvador over the past several years. They invited the kids to the hotel for pizza, pinatas, and a rousing game of duck-duck-goose!
On the final day in El Salvador, we hit Mayan ruins as well as a windy precipice known as Devil’s Window (or was it Devil’s Door?). The opportunity to see some of the rich cultural history of the country was awesome!





If you have a spare moment and are interested, I invite you to view the video to get the essence of the trip!

El Salvador Interact Trip 2013 from Cindy Giovagnoli on Vimeo.

Amazing job, Interactors! Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your journey!

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Clark JohnsonApril 16, 2013 - 6:55 pm

I love your photography and your writing about your work and life. Great job capturing the Interact El Salv experience! My daughter Carly was very fortunate to have such a great opportunity. Thank you for you part and the voice you are in the world.

The Artist’s Date

04-05-13

I recently have been overcome by what, to me, was an astounding revelation: creativity is something that can be learned and practiced.

Maybe that is obvious to some of you, but somewhere in my life I succumbed to the notion that you were either a creative person or you weren’t. That you were either talented in creativity or you weren’t. That some people were born knowing, inherently, how to draw. Or paint. Or write. It never occurred to me that, to great extent, those things could be taught or learned!

I’m not saying that some people aren’t more gifted in certain areas. There’s a difference between being able to play the piano well and being Mozart. But the revelation for me was that you don’t have to be Mozart in order to play the piano!!

There is something intensely exciting to me at the prospect of being able to tap into creativity via hard work. I may not know how to draw, but I DO know how to work. So the idea of that translating into drawing, or writing, or creating more beautiful photographs is totally blowing my mind lately!

I’m taking a class called “Drawing for the Complete and Utter Beginner” at the Maine College of Art right now. It’s the first art class I’ve ever taken! I think it’s safe to say that I was definitely NOT born with an inherent ability to draw. But it’s been an amazing experience to see my skills improve week by week and watch the work begin to pay off. I’m loving every minute of it.

I’m not sure who first mentioned it to me, but the book The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron was repeatedly suggested as a place to begin actively practicing creativity. While I admit to a part of me that cringes at using the term “artist” in reference to myself {I have this image in my head of needing to own a beret and be emotionally melodramatic and unreliable…weird baggage, but there it is}, I feel like it’s time to take help and inspiration from every available source and embrace those things that have the potential to enrich my life! In her book, Julia Cameron outlines a twelve week course to unblock your creative potential and at the core of the program are her “morning pages” and “artist’s dates.” Without going into it (the book has a lot to offer and I don’t want to weaken it by paraphrasing!), an “artist’s date” is a commitment that you make to yourself to spend a few hours alone each week doing something/visiting a space/etc that inspires you. It can be a hike in the woods, taking in a museum exhibit, whatever…you just have to feel like it inspires your creative side.

I never feel more capable or more inspired or more motivated than when I’m in the woods. I have been staggered over and over at how often solutions to my problems become clear midway through a trail run or the clarity I seek for my life comes through as I watch the sunlight pour through the trees.

So this week I took myself out on my very first “artist’s date.” I headed over to Wolfe’s Neck State Park with Tessie and my camera and just wandered around for a couple of hours. It wasn’t revolutionary. I didn’t have a major creative breakthrough. But I felt deeply at peace and pausing to take in the beauty and the big-ness of that slice of the natural world was, indeed, extremely inspiring. And it filled me with the sense that I CAN create something meaningful far more effectively than looking at other people’s work or comparing myself to others ever has.

In the quest to be more productive, I often find myself quick to shortchange these types of moments in my life. I cut out yoga or that run in the woods or a few hours of sleep in order to get more done, forgetting that those are precisely the things that make my work GOOD. So I see a second (and third and fourth!) date in my future!



Is anyone else doing anything to stimulate their creative side? Any tips or advice?

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JustinApril 7, 2013 - 9:19 pm

Thanks to my lovely wife, I woke up 20 minutes earlier all week to write my “morning pages.” By the fourth day I didn’t even lose any sleep as my body would shut down 20 minutes earlier in the evening. Yes, I went to bed before 9 on Thursday night, but it was worth the satisfaction of following through on a goal. My wife rocks!

ErinApril 12, 2013 - 2:08 pm

These photos make me want to BE outside!! I vow to be creative this weekend:)

BethApril 15, 2013 - 9:54 am

How you ever get anything else done with all that beauty waiting for you outside is amazing in itself!

Jim RappApril 16, 2013 - 1:00 pm

I read Justin’s comment and I have to agree that his wife rocks! It’s great to know that she has a rockin’ husband too. Even though he goes to bed before the sun sets! Ha!

The Truth

03-29-13

Bear with me here today…I have a few thoughts to share, some of them complicated. I will do my best to articulate them in the best possible way, but it’s likely I will make a hash of it. Here goes..

I’ve been told, repeatedly, that my blog and my website and my social media should be “fit for public consumption,” that I am in the business of selling wedding photography and, as such, I should confine my posts to all things happy and light and love related. And whether it seems like it or not, I’ve actually tried. I’ve gritted my teeth and tried to come up with clever, witty, smarmy things to say in 140 characters or less on Twitter. I’ve limited my Facebook posts to links back to my blog posts with only the occasional slip into my outrage at social injustice. I’ve refrained from blogging many posts that weren’t “on brand.” I was informed by three separate people last year that writing my post about losing Pickle was a huge mistake {“Cindy! It’s booking season! Brides don’t want to hear about your dead dog!”) and have heard more than once from “experts” that my posts sometimes get “too personal” or personal “in the wrong way.”

I’m officially announcing that I no longer care.

I turned 35 this month. Not a huge milestone birthday and not particularly old. But I keep being visited by the thought that, given my health history, I’m likely hovering somewhere around the halfway point in my life. And that gives me pause.

I know that it’s not true for everyone, but I’ve begun to realize that by filtering my life through what I think is “good for business,” by editing my social media and my blog to be “on brand,” I’ve diluted it. Not merely how it looks to the outside world, but for myself. I’ve caught myself one too many times lately thinking about how I can use something that is happening for a tweet or how I can spin it on facebook. I’m filtering myself TO myself sometimes, editing my life in my head before it even makes it to the page, and I don’t like it.

I’ve made some mistakes in my life, some big ones. But I’ve never been dishonest. And I’ve never been static. My greatest fear has always been, even as a child, not that I would die, but that I would fail to live a full and dynamic life. I ingest books with a voracious appetite in an attempt to live many lives at once, to learn the lessons of others because I simply won’t have time in one measly lifetime to learn them all for myself. I resent my body’s need for sleep because it feels like a waste of precious time, not to be “productive” but to learn and experience and soak up. And sometimes I resent my business for “requiring” a filter and turning my life vanilla.

So I’m removing it. I’m the one that put it there anyway, right?

I amaze myself at how I have to learn the hard way, over and over, that doing things the way I think they are “supposed” to be done is rarely the best path for me. I don’t know if more honesty will hurt my business. Hell, I don’t even know what more honesty will look like. I haven’t been hiding any big secrets that I plan to now reveal to the world. I haven’t been lying on Twitter or faking it on Facebook. I AM happy! I AM grateful for the amazing life I have! I DO love trail running and farmer’s markets and snuggling with my fluffy dog and am immeasurably grateful for the incredible man I married! I’ve just sometimes omitted bits here or there.

Sometimes I want to write about some aspect of my experience with cancer and don’t. Sometimes I’ve wanted to write about my “interest ADD” and my fear that it keeps me from being successful. Sometimes I want to talk about my yearning for more…more travel, more adventure, more quiet, more time, more engagement. I scribble all of these thoughts away in my journals and then tuck them away as being too personal or too raw or too too.

I feel a transition coming on. I don’t know yet what it will look like or what form it will take. But I’ve been dogged lately by the thought that I have more to offer. And that somehow more honesty in my public life has something to do with it.

So be prepared…here I come!

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Monica SchwehrMarch 29, 2013 - 10:11 am

Cindy,
I love that you share yourself on social media and in your blogposts. Your personality, your warmth and your openness are what make you so genuine, and that is ultimately why Kurt and I pretty much knew 5 minutes into our first meeting that we wanted to book you. Yes, the amazing photos you take were obviously a significant part of it, but we also loved that we connected with you.

I met other photographers who took nice photos, were extremely by-the-book professional, but for all intensive purposes, had the personality of a skillet. I did not want that. I wanted someone whom the wedding guests would adore and feel comfortable in front of.

The fact that you are so open and caring is the reason your photos are so spectacular. Every single person my folks have shown their album to (they basically have it in hand when they answer the door) has said that it is some of the best wedding photography that have ever seen.

You are an amazing person. The more you share and talk about your experiences the more I think what an amazing role model you are. You have overcome the type of adversity that no one should ever have to face. You have built a business for yourself that you are truly passionate about and that lets people be passionate about it with you. You continually strive to make the world a better place by working with charities and educating people on these causes via your blog. There is a reason so many of your clients now call themselves your friend. If other people cannot see that about you, or feel threatened by it somehow, that is their loss, not yours.

Kari OsborneMarch 29, 2013 - 10:15 am

Cindy, I’ve known you for over 18 years now? And I must honestly say that you, exactly who you are, and your honesty with the world is what always made me look up to you and admire your love for life. I know over the years we haven’t kept in touch but reading your blogs make me feel like you’re still the exact same girl we all love. Screw what’s publicly acceptable…if you want to be REAL then do it….I think that is what’s wrong with these sites we’ve all become so much a part of. Post what the people want to see and live up to social media expectations. Even though I haven’t visited with you in many, many years, I have been amazed by your photography and what you’ve made of your life. I couldn’t be happier for you and hope you continue doing everything that makes you happy! Love ya to pieces!!

JenMarch 29, 2013 - 10:21 am

Congratulations to you for standing up for your convictions. I, for one, always enjoy your posts, blogs, photos for who you ARE. You bring a smile to my face every time I see your posts. I have not had the opportunity to utilize your amazing talents, but enjoy following you along your path..but not in a stalker kind of way.

Keep doing what you do that makes you happy and fulfills your life. Let go of the ones who twist negativity into it for their own purposes or agenda. Opinions are just opinions. You do not need to heed their advice. Go with your gut, your intuition and live life in accordance with your happiness.

Bravo!!

EmmaMarch 29, 2013 - 10:35 am

Cindy, I love that your posts don’t restrict themselves to weddings. Your photos speak for themselves; your posts help clients feel more connected to you and are what keep them coming back.

Your brand isn’t just your photography and the Cuppa name and mission. You are a huge part of what your brand is. I mean you’re selling your photography, but you’re selling yourself as a photographer as well. As one of the other posters said here, you are the reason people decide to book. Someone may be able to imitate your style, but your personality is what differentiates you in this business. Your life drives your photography. Leaving that out would be leaving out would leave out a core aspect of your message. Your struggles and beliefs are what shape the amazing person that you are and that is what sets the tone for your stunning imagery.

I wholly support your choice to remove the filter! More Cindy please!

AmandaMarch 29, 2013 - 12:52 pm

Clearly based on our wedding choices you knew Matt and I are the type of people that try to do what we really want as opposed to limiting ourselves based on everyone’s opinions. I make a point to surround myself with people that do the same. Your posts are gorgeous and honest! Your poignant and heartbreaking essay when you lost Pickle was so relatable to anyone that has gone through something like that. I doubt many brides want to choose a fluff filled photographer who can’t have a conversation beyond tulle and make-up. I also doubt many photographers would have come with us to foamhenge and enjoyed it haha. Keep doing what you’re doing and being you!!

aliMarch 29, 2013 - 1:42 pm

Congrats for the courage to put it all out there! Excited for you and the transition! When you put it out there, the universe (and blog followers) will respond in amazing ways!

DadMarch 29, 2013 - 5:12 pm

You never cease to amaze me. I WISH I had written something so perceptive of myself. Honesty in this life is mostly elusive to the great majority of people. Myself included. Our ego often gets in the way of honestly presenting ourselves to others. I know it happens to me. Over the past dozen years I’ve done my best to change that in a very personal way. I think you’ve done a crazy good job with your business and I wouldn’t want to see you change because of branding issues. If a good, honest business person can’t make it, customers have only themselves to blame and we are all a little (or a lot) poorer for it. My love and affection are always with you and Justin.
Dad

Trina BlantonMarch 29, 2013 - 5:52 pm

Yay Cindy!!! you rock and I love hearing about your life. Your spirit and lust of for life is contagious and I love it. You can write whatever you want, whenever you want.
Love from the Blantons and Happy Happy Easter.

Lisa IrvinMarch 29, 2013 - 5:57 pm

I think you are amazing and I love you for being YOU! Do not change a thing. Behappy, be comfortable and be true to yourself. You inspire me with every blog you write! Conforming is so boring!!!

KimMarch 29, 2013 - 8:56 pm

God bless you for coming to this realization at the young age of 35!
Now, don’t ever go back!
Live your way and your way only! It has and always will be the best way!We women need to be more honest with and about ourselves! WE ARE WORTH IT!
Thanks Cindy!

SuzMarch 29, 2013 - 9:38 pm

You go sista!!!

ErinApril 12, 2013 - 2:06 pm

Woohoo, bring it!!! I LOVE CINDY UNEDITED IN FULL COLOR and real life and real times!!!! You are truly one of the BEST people I know in the WORLD and am constantly inspired by you. Live it, love it baby, whoop!!!

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