photo-eye: First Wednesday December Salon

First Wednesday Photography Salon

Artists presenting: Luis Sanchez Saturno and Ray A. Valdez

December 1st, 2010, 6:30 meet the artists, 6:45-9 salon

photo-eye Gallery, 376-A Garcia Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501

Contact: Anne Kelly

505.988.5152 x 121

anne@photoeye.com

First Wednesday’s December Salon will be held on December 1st, 2010, with the opening

reception starting at 6:30pm and the salon running from 6:45pm to 9pm. Photographers Luis

Sanchez Saturno and Ray A. Valdez will be presenting work. Saturno will be discussing a series

of photographs created with a photographic technique commonly known as “Painting with Light.”

Head producer of Zozobra, Valdez will discuss photographing Zozobra over the years, also displaying images from his photographic archive of the event dating back to the first burning of Zozobra in 1924.

December 2010 First Wednesday Salon Artists’ Bios:

Luis Sanchez Saturno, originally from Caracas, Venezuela, creates work that combines long exposures, sometimes as long as 90 seconds, with studio photography creating a mixture seldom seen in the photographic community. The technique allows him to use sparklers to draw objects and shapes that the subjects appear to be interacting with. The sparklers, leaving behind a fiery outline, become a ballerina's tutu or an angel's wings. For some even larger objects are created like a motorcycle or even an entire person. The work is a series of portraits inspired by his everyday experiences as a photojournalist. Saturno has been working as a photojournalist since 1996 and has collected many national awards in the process. In 2004 he was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for his work documenting heroin addicts in Rio Arriba County. His work

has appeared in national publications such as The New York Times and Sports Illustrated. His work also appears daily in the Santa Fe New Mexican.

Ray A. Valdez was born and raised in Santa Fe and has loved both photography and Zozobra since he can remember. Valdez started collecting photographs and Zozobra memorabilia in 3rd grade and began photographing the event himself in 9th grade. In 1990 Valdez joined the Zozobra building crew, 1994 he co-produced the event, and by 1995 Valdez was the head producer and has been since. Producing Zozobra has given Valdez the opportunity to expand his boyhood collection, which has grown to an extensive archive of this historic event.

*images shown from left to right: Luis Sanchez Saturno, Ray A. Valdez,