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Oaxaca Street & Documentary Photography Workshop | December 2026

December 8-14, 2026

Dates: December 8-14, 2026
Group Size: Limited to 8 Attendees
Duration: 7 Days
Workshop Type: Cultural and Travel Photography
Arrival & Departure: Oaxaca International Airport (OAX)

Oaxaca is one of Mexico’s most compelling destinations for street and documentary photography. The city’s historic centro, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, offers a constant interplay of colonial architecture, indigenous culture, and daily life that rewards photographers at every turn. The markets are a world of their own. Mercado Benito Juárez and Mercado 20 de Noviembre overflow with color, texture, and human stories: vendors in traditional Zapotec dress, handwoven textiles, pyramids of chiles and cacao, and señoras cooking over open fires. Beyond the city, Zapotec weaving villages, ancient ruins, and traditional mezcal distilleries offer a visual range that few places in Latin America can match. Oaxaca is also widely considered the culinary capital of Mexico. Mole negro, tlayudas, chapulines, and the smoky complexity of artisanal mezcal are as much a part of the experience as the photography itself.

This workshop is timed around the celebrations of the Virgen de Guadalupe, one of the most important dates in the Mexican Catholic calendar. Processions, calendas (Oaxaca’s signature street parades with giant papier-mâché figures and brass bands), and deeply felt popular devotion fill the streets and surrounding villages throughout the week, giving photographers access to a level of color, ceremony, and human emotion that simply doesn’t exist at other times of year. The workshop is led by Oaxacan photographer Eva Lépiz as host and co-instructor, alongside Juan José Reyes of the Miami Street Photography Festival. It’s a combination of international street photography instruction and genuine local access.

Eva Lepiz

Workshop at a Glance

Physical Activity

Photographic Intensity

Classroom Instruction

Climate/Weather Severity

Food & Accommodations

Cultural Immersion

Good for Non-Photographers

Price Includes

Double occupancy lodging
All meals except alcoholic beverages & snacks
All transportation except flights & airport transfers
All excursions

Classroom instruction
In the field photography instruction
Adobe Lightroom post processing instruction
1-on-1 critique/review sessions

Price Excludes

Airfare
Medical/Travel/Gear insurance
Airport transfers

Alcoholic drinks
Additional snacks

How to Get There

The airport. Fly in and out of Oaxaca International Airport (OAX), about 9 km south of the city and 20 to 30 minutes from the Centro Histórico. It’s the only airport serving Oaxaca City.

Dates. Arrive Tuesday, December 8, in time for the 7:00 pm welcome dinner. Departures are Monday, December 14. OAX is small and mostly shuts down in the evening, so if your only routing lands late, fly in on December 7 instead. December is peak season in Oaxaca, so book early.

Flights from the US. Nonstop service runs from Dallas/Fort Worth and Phoenix on American, Houston on United, and Los Angeles on Volaris. Everyone else connects through Mexico City or another Mexican hub. If you connect, remember that you clear customs at your first point of entry, which means collecting and re-checking your bags in Mexico City. Allow at least three hours, and make sure your onward flight departs from the same airport you land at.

Airport transfers. Transfers are not included, but the trip into town is simple. Skip Uber and DiDi. Ride-hailing apps are blocked in Oaxaca and don’t work reliably here. Use the official transportation booth inside the terminal, just past baggage claim: pay by cash or card, take your receipt, and hand it to the driver outside. A shared colectivo van runs about 135 to 150 pesos per person to the centro. A private taxi especial is roughly 300 to 500 pesos for the car and leaves immediately. Your hotel can also arrange a private pickup if you’d rather be met with a name sign.

On the ground. The Centro Histórico is easy to walk, and all workshop travel outside the city is covered by our group transport. Carry pesos. The markets and villages we photograph are largely cash only.

Eva Lepiz

Itinerary

Tuesday, December 8Arrival in Oaxaca and Welcome Dinner

Arrive at Oaxaca International Airport (OAX) on or before Tuesday, December 8th. The airport is about 9 km south of the city and 20 to 30 minutes from the Centro Histórico. Use the official transportation booth inside the terminal, just past baggage claim: pay by cash or card, take your receipt, and hand it to the driver outside. A private taxi especial is roughly 300 to 500 pesos for the car and leaves immediately. Our hotel can also arrange a paid airport shuttle if you prefer.

We’ll gather at 7:00pm in the lobby of the La Catrina de Alcala Hotel for a meet and greet and then we’ll head to our welcome dinner. We’ll get to know each other, go over the workshop itinerary and talk about photography.

Wednesday, December 9Classroom Session and Shooting in Lienzo Charro

9:00 am Classroom Session: The Five Levels of Street Photography and the Three Styles of Street Photography

Location: Classroom (TBD)

We open with Juan José’s core curriculum: the Five Levels of Street Photography, a framework that traces the photographer’s development from instinctive shooter to deliberate visual storyteller, and the Three Styles of Street Photography, which helps you identify the visual language that suits you and how to work within it. Eva joins as co-instructor, adding her perspective on photographing within your own culture: access, trust, and the ethics of working close to home.

12:00 pm Lunch

Location: Centro Histórico

Time to eat, explore, and let the morning settle.

3:00 pm Departure to Lienzo Charro

We head out in the afternoon. The light will be working in our favor by the time we arrive.

3:30 pm Photographing Charros at the Lienzo Charro

Location: Lienzo Charro

The Lienzo Charro is where Oaxacan charros practice charrería, the traditional equestrian discipline. The afternoon sidelight is strong and directional, good for picking up the texture of leather, embroidery, and weathered faces. The horses kick up dust that catches the backlight nicely. This is a training session, not a show, so approach with respect, work patiently, and the portraits will come. We’ll take advantage of the moments between the action: a charro adjusting his saddle, two men in conversation, a horse exhaling steam.

6:30 pm Return to Oaxaca

Thursday, December 10Shooting Sessions in Zaachila and Matatlán

6:30 am Early departure to Zaachila

We leave early. The market is a morning affair, and the best light and activity happen in the first couple of hours.

7:15 am Zaachila Animal Market and Tianguis

Location: Mercado de Zaachila

Street markets are everywhere in Mexico, but if you want to experience the most authentic market in Oaxaca, go to Zaachila, one of the oldest traditional markets in the valley and a tianguis with pre-Hispanic roots.

Every Thursday the small town of Zaachila turns into a classic Zapotec market. People come in from the surrounding colonias to sell their products. The animal market is the visual heart of it, an explosion of colors, smells, and people. The faces here are strong, hands and skin shaped by years of outdoor work, transactions still conducted in Zapotec. The low morning light is beautiful and works well across the textures and colors of the stalls. The surrounding tianguis has produce, handmade goods, and food worth photographing too. We cover two locations within the same village.

10:00 am Return to Oaxaca

10:45 am Rest of the morning free to shoot

Location: Centro Histórico

3:00 pm Departure to Matatlán

Transport: Camioneta

About an hour east through the Tlacolula valley into mezcal country. The landscape, agave fields in every direction, is worth photographing on the way.

4:00 pm Mezcal Distillery: Palenque in Matatlán

Location: Matatlán, “World Capital of Mezcal”

Matatlán produces more mezcal than any other municipality on earth, and a palenque is where it all happens: a traditional distillery, often a multi-generational family operation, where the full alchemy of mezcal unfolds. Agave piñas are roasted in underground earthen pits, crushed by a stone wheel pulled by a mule, fermented in open wooden vats, and distilled in clay or copper pot stills. It’s slow, physical work, and the setting is rich with photographic material: the roasting smoke, the mule circling the tahona, the mezcalero checking the distillate, the warm open-air light of the palenque.

7:00 pm Return to Oaxaca

Transport: Camioneta

Friday, December 11Critique Session and Shooting Session in Teotitlán del Valle

9:00 am Image Critique Session

Location: Classroom (TBD)

We review the week’s work so far, with Juan José and Eva both leading the critique. Each photographer brings their 10 best frames from the first three days. The conversation is honest and specific: what’s working, what’s almost there, what choices you made in the moment and whether they paid off. This is not a show-and-tell. It’s a real working edit session.

Optional: one-on-one portfolio review sessions with Eva or Juan José in the afternoon, with times confirmed individually.

12:00 pm Lunch

Location: Centro Histórico

3:00 pm Departure to Teotitlán del Valle

4:00 pm Calenda in Teotitlán del Valle

Location: Teotitlán del Valle

Teotitlán del Valle is a Zapotec weaving village where families have been hand-dyeing and hand-looming wool rugs and tapestries for centuries. The colors here are saturated and alive, and the palette of the village is something to pay attention to. Tonight they hold a Calenda, Oaxaca’s traditional street procession, with giant papier-mâché figures (monos), brass bands, fireworks, and the whole community in the streets. It’s loud, fast-moving, and visually dense.

7:00 pm Return to Oaxaca

Saturday, December 12Shooting Session in Guadalupe Etla

7:00 am Children dressed as Juan Diego at the Templo de Guadalupe

Location: Templo de Guadalupe, Parque El Llano, Oaxaca

December 12 is the feast day of the Virgen de Guadalupe, one of the most sacred dates in the Mexican Catholic calendar, and nowhere is it celebrated with more feeling than in Oaxaca. Families arrive early with their children dressed as Juan Diego: tilmas, roses, the whole tradition. The morning light is soft and the scene is full of color, with deep reds and blues against the terracotta of the church, copal smoke drifting, proud parents, and small kids taking it all very seriously. It’s a genuinely moving scene to photograph. Approach quietly and work from the edges before moving in. Eva will help us navigate the space respectfully.

3:00 pm Departure to Guadalupe Etla

4:00 pm Calenda in Guadalupe Etla

Location: Guadalupe Etla

Guadalupe Etla is a small village north of the city with a fierce devotion to its patron saint. The December 12 Calenda here has the intimate, unguarded energy of a village that is celebrating for itself and not for an audience. Brass bands navigate winding dirt streets between low adobe walls. Giant puppets cast dramatic moving shadows. Children weave through adult legs. Mezcal passes from hand to hand. The color temperature shifts beautifully as evening approaches, the warm orange of fading daylight giving way to the cooler tones of streetlights and the electric blue of dusk. The scale here is more intimate than in the city.

7:00 pm Return to Oaxaca

Transport: Camioneta

Sunday, December 13Classroom Session and Final Image Review

Location: Classroom (TBD)

The week’s work comes together. Each photographer presents a final edit, a cohesive selection that tells the story of the week rather than a run of individual strong frames. Juan José and Eva lead the critique: the sequencing, the edit decisions, and what the body of work says as a whole. We close with a slideshow of the best selections from the workshop participants.