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Lens-Artists Challenge #261 – Work In Progress

Handmade roofing tiles.

This week, the Lens-Artists team returns with Ann-Christine leading off the August challenges. For this challenge, she writes, “If you think about it, everything is a work in progress, isn’t it? So, this should be a challenge open to endless possibilities – I can’t wait to see what YOU think when you hear this phrase.” You can read her entire challenge post here.

I find it interesting that some challenges I take very abstractly, and some quite literally. Well, this week, I’m being literal. All of these images are of workers in other countries, most demonstrating their tasks to tourists. In my opening photograph, this elderly gentleman, whom we were told has 12 children and many grandchildren, lives near Zihuatanejo and is making curved clay roof tiles by hand. You can see a metal mold of the curved tile in front of him. Once he preps the rectangular shape of the clay in the form, he will wrap the clay around the metal form to shape it to the exact curvature needed.

No hands were harmed in the slicing of this coconut.

This young man, also from Zihuatanejo, took a couple of wacks with that knife to split the coconut. Notice that he’d already hit it once, the coconut water is visible dropping between his fingers. Note the bowl of fresh coconut sitting on the table, the bottom half of a coconut shell.

Handmade glasswork.

In the image above, this artisan in Cabo San Lucas Mexico creates glass objects such as this pitcher from molten glass. He is affixing the handle. He works in front of an audience of tourists and earns tips while he works for the glass company.

Street vendors in Antigua, Guatemala.

Stepping out the door of one of the marketplaces in the city of Antigua, we found a cadre of street vendors who were hoping to make sales of their goods to the people in our tour group. The gentleman in the yellow vest appeared to be on duty to be sure none of the street vendors stepped onto the sidewalk. In the background is another work in progress, an old church going through a complete restoration.

Our dinner is in progress.

A few days after our stop in Guatemala, we were crossing the Panama Canal on the Norwegian Star. We often like to eat at the Teppanyaki restaurant on board one of the evenings to watch the show of making the meal in front of us. Our chef just started frying the eggs for the fried rice. Dinner was a work in progress.

An artisan creating cameo jewelry.

On one of our cruise excursions in Honduras, we visited a facility that creates and markets cameo shells and gems. This gentleman was working to create a base layer for the cameo to be mounted upon. He stopped for a moment with smiling eyes to pose for my photo.

A cadet gets a temporary promotion.

Just a few hours north of our home in Fargo, at Gimli, Manitoba, Canada there is a training camp for Canadian youths from 12 to 19 years of age. The nationwide program helps develop attributes of good citizenship and leadership among many other skills, not the least of which is basic aviation training.

This cadet in the photo above demonstrated exceptional skills in the program and she was given the honor of being named the Camp Commander for the day. The actual camp commander (right) is pinning on her rank. She will take over his job (under his supervision, I’m sure) of running the camp for the day. The pensive look on her face demonstrates that she (like all of us) is truly a work in progress.

Also, this post is demonstrative of a work in progress. All of these photos were published in different forms over the years. For this post, each photo was virtually copied and settings were reset in Adobe Lightroom Classic. Each is reprocessed for sharing here. I have posted the reworked files for your review in my Flickr album featuring 2K versions of these images here in case you’d like to pixel-peep.

Thanks to Janet for last week’s Overlooked challenge, and also thanks to all of our July guest hosts. Next week, Amy takes the lead for our next challenge. If you’d like to participate but aren’t sure how to get started, check here.

John Steiner

45 comments

  5. Like you I veer between literal and more figurative responses to these challenges (and many others!) and like you I chose literal this time. But while I chose art and crafts you’ve ranged wider, with some great examples. The making of the roof tile I found really interesting, while the coconut cutting and street in Antigua both reminded me of similar scenes I’ve seen. A very enjoyable post John!

    Reply

    • Thanks, Sarah! I’ve been restoring my computer after a reformat this week, so I am behind on checking out people’s challenges. A review that will be completed by the end of the week, for sure!

      Reply

  8. A great gallery of work in progress, John! Literally or not, it seems this challenge appealed to people. I love your choices, and especially the young cadet and the expression on her face. The two men on her sides smiling.

    Reply

  18. Even though these performances are rather just that, for the benefit of tourists, they’re still interesting. And you prove that they make for excellent photo-opportunities!

    Reply

  21. It’s special to see artisans at work, doing things the older ways, with dedication to detail. Antigua is beautiful because it seems stuck in another time. And watching people split open coconuts is always a great show.

    Reply

    • That is true, Dan. I have many photos from the U.S. of blacksmiths working as they did a century and a quarter or more ago.
      I also enjoy the steam thresher reunions with the steam powered equipment and horse-powered threshers as well.

      Reply

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