Images from PHOTOGRAPHING GUADALUPE were made in and around Mexico City at the shrine of Tepeyac, the ruins of Teotiucan, the Museo Nacional de Antropología, and the Zocolo. All images were made with a toy snapshot Russian Lomo camera and old fashioned film.



Each year, millions of pilgrims pay their reverent, penitent, and ecstatic respects at this, the most visited site of goddess worship in the western hemisphere. In 2002 Juan Diego, the humble Aztec convert who was visited by Guadalupe back in 1535, was declared the first and only indigenous Saint in the history of the Catholic Church by the ailing pope, despite doubts within the church herself of his historical existence.



This 160 page book contains full spread, two page images, along with several short essays about photography and Guadalupe by Michael Rauner. Also included is an English translation of the oldest surviving written account of the original Guadalupe visit, the Huei Tlamahuitzoltica, written in 1649 in Nahuatl by Luis Lasso de la Vega, a canon lawyer and the Vicar of Tepeyac.



(A technical note: the images in Blurb's preview appear to repeat in the gutter of the book / center of the image. That is to account for the page loss due to Blurb's binding process. The images appear to be more seamless as a printed book then they appear here in the preview. You can see more of this portfolio on my website under "projects" at http://www.michaelrauner.com)