Portrait of Juarez by Photographer Joel Salcido
Joel Salcido’s photographic assignments have included much of Latin America for USA Today, the border region for Texas Monthly and Texas Highways, and the cities of Juarez and El Paso for the El Paso Times. His devotion to fine art photography took him and his family to La Rioja Spain in 1999 for a personal in-depth study of the region and its people. His photographs from Spain are now in several Texas museums.
Salcido, a native of Ciudad Juarez, the largest Mexican border town in Texas, moved to the United States at the age of seven. He grew up in one of El Paso’s low income barrios and received his secondary and college education in his hometown. While working for the El Paso Times, his employer for ten years,he covered a vast region that included the cities of Ciudad Juarez and El Paso as well as the Rio Grande Valley, and southern New Mexico.
Naranjeros. Joel Salcido.
In 2013 Texas Monthly published a series of his photographs from Jalisco’s tequila region titled “Aliento A Tequila,” which covered the process of growing, harvesting, and producing the popular drink in the most famous tequila producing region of the world. Trinity University Press published his book The Spirit of Tequila in 2017.
Violinista. Joel Salcido.
Salcido describes his artistic passion and motivation as follows:
Juarez Lindo
“I’ve always been a project-driven photographer inspired by an incessant “inquietud” and a love for art. My Juarez Lindo series was one of those early personal projects that I did in February of 1994, soon after I left my 10-year career track at the El Paso Times and joined the uncertain and risky ranks of freelance photographers.
As a self-employed commercial and editorial photographer I would shoot any range of work, from executive portraits to billboard photography and a few unforgettable surgeries. Needless to say, most of this work was not close to my heart. So in pursuit of that higher art calling, I began my commitment to personal projects.
Matachines. Joel Salcido.
As a result, some of my best work to date has emerged from personal projects that I have self-funded and done on my own time. Juarez Lindo came about from several weekends of roaming around the Juarez downtown streets with a painter’s drop cloth and some stands.
Every time I pursued these fine art projects I brought out my bulky 2-1/4 Hasselblad camera. I somehow always believed that 2-1/4 film was invented for the pursuit of fine art. I did several portraits of street people, all representing cultural icons that were dear to me while growing up in the borderlands of El Paso and Juarez.
All photos Copyright 2020 by Joel Salcido.
Musico. Matachines. Joel Salcido.
Somehow, this homage was never published. Life likely got in the way and I set them aside in my files, thinking I would someday finish them. Years passed and my family and I left for Spain dreaming of yet another personal
Project.
Just two years ago, we moved to San Antonio after calling Austin home for 18 years. In the chaos of moving I stumbled into these lost negatives and began to relivethose precious memories. I rediscovered why I love photography so much and why I’m so glad I followed my heart. Every frame is an intimate and precious moment well lived.”
All photos Joel Salcido Copyright 2020.
Great to see matachines in Joel's beautiful photographs!