Portraits, Tables and Flowers,
All Within the Circle.

In La Buitrera, on the mountain edge of Cali in southwestern Colombia, the programme for the fourth Festival La Guatina listed music, exhibitions, clay and paper workshops, children's Go, and walks along local trails for August 29 and 30. Among them was a quieter attraction: artists drawing their neighbors live.

The festival page describes it as a reason to stop, talk and laugh while a drawing takes shape. We do not know whether every finished face looked like its model, or what anyone said while sitting there. Still, there is something appealing about using a portrait as an excuse to spend a few minutes facing someone who might usually pass by. The artist adds another line; the model probably adjusts their posture. That last part is my imagination. By the time the picture is finished, however, perhaps the neighborhood has gained a small new memory: this is how that person laughs.

Beneath a white tent, long tables have become an evening dining room. Some people have plates in front of them, some appear to be halfway through a conversation, and others are still finding their seats. This photograph comes from Festi’Terroir, held in Geneva from August 28 to 30. More than ninety stalls brought regional and organic producers together in Parc des Bastions.

A market story usually invites a list of vegetables, cheeses and jars. What caught me here, however, was not a product but the tables. If everyone had come only to buy what they needed and leave, so many people would not be sitting side by side. We cannot know what they were saying. We can see that a short errand grew a little longer through food and conversation. I suspect I would circle the stalls, pretend to look for an empty seat, and take another lap. Perhaps the most local thing at a direct-sales market is the extra time people decide to spend there.

Two people in costumes covered with flowers and beads stand shoulder to shoulder. The older-looking participant has one hand near their own floral headpiece and the other arm around the child beside them. The photograph was taken in Davao on August 16, during the Kadayawan Festival's day of floral floats and street dancing.

Pictures of a large festival usually send us looking for the whole parade or the biggest float. In this one, the distance between two people held my attention. We do not know their relationship or roles, and the photograph cannot tell us whether they were about to perform. Still, a hand adjusting festival dress and an arm resting on another person's shoulder occupy the same small frame. It makes the celebration seem supported not only by the people being watched, but by whoever stands beside them. Before counting the flowers, someone checks that the next person is there. It is an ordinary detail in an elaborate day, and that is exactly why I like it.