It takes a lot to sidetrack Craig "Cisco" Dietz once he gets a notion in his head. So when the 45-year-old photographer got the idea to open a photo workshop in San Cristobal de Las Casas, a quaint colonial town in southern Mexico, nothing could stop him. It's his favorite place on earth, and, being a charming extrovert, he could think of nothing better than welcoming snap-happy vacationers into his home.

However, there were a few bumps along the way. For instance, New Year's Day, 1994: Having bought a cottage in San Cristobal and sold his old home in New Orleans, Dietz and his wife, Margaret, were packing for the move south when they heard some unsettling news. "CNN was on television," recalls Dietz. "They showed a picture of Mexico. There was a war there. They zoomed in on the map. War in the state of Chiapas. The zoomed in on Chiapas. War in San Cristobal de Las Casas!" The Zapatista rebels had taken over Dietz's new hometown.

Luckily, by mid-January a truce was signed by the rebels and the Mexican government, and Dietz continued with his plans. Unluckily, the conflict didn't exactly help tourism in the Chiapas area at the time. Not until the summer of 1996, with negotiations yielding a peaceful resolution to the uprising, did Dietz have his first client. Slowly the business--called Aper Tours--has been building. "The way I figure it, the Zapatistas turned my five-year business plan into a six-year business plan," says Dietz. "But they also gave me incredible advertising. They put Chiapas on the map. San Cristobal was a sleepy village until the rebels came along. Now tourism is great!"

At the very least, those slow years allowed Dietz to settle into the lifestyle he now shares with his guests--his 100-year-old home is a veritable garden of aesthetic delights--and to learn his way around Chiapas. The area has more to offer than San Cristobal's new-found guerilla chic and the famous Mayan ruins of Palenque six hours to the east. The highlands abound with lesser ruins that benefit from their relative obscurity. There are also nearby Indian villages with a strong traditional identity expressed in brilliant textile finery and elaborate festivals, and a natural bounty of pine forests, waterfalls, and lakes that stretch west to the Pacific, east to Yucatan, and south to the Guatemalan border. "I know the backroads and the hidden villages," Dietz notes.

He also knows a thing or two about photography. After graduating from UCLA film school in 1974, Dietz gravitated toward still photography, attracted at first by the magic he could perform in the darkroom. Working for muscle-magazine mogul Joe Weider gave him valuable experience as a photographer and picture editor.

Later, Dietz began experimenting with Polaroid transfers and moved into fine art--he describes his work as "manipulative, pictorial, and surreal." He moved to New Orleans in the mid-1980s, discovered that there wasn't much of an art scene, and started specializing in corporate photography. (He still retains some north-of-the-border clients). "but I didn't have that New York drive to push farther, and I don't want to be a yes-boy for art directors," says Dietz. " I wanted a more artistic, tranquil life that would allow time for the enjoyment of self, family, and other people." He had enjoyed teaching at UCLA and at the New Orleans Centre for Creative Arts and decided that founding a work shop would bring all his interests together.

From the beginning, Dietz knew that he wanted to run the workshop his own way--that is, laid-back. He mixes 1990s technology with a '70s mind-set. Class size is limited to three so that everyone is comfortable in Dietz's home, while moving around town, and on road trips in the photographer's 1971 VW van. Dietz is as eager to share his perspective with beginners as experts; for him, teaching photography is more than technique. "This is about feeling where you are, then making a statement with your picture," he says. "This is Zen stuff down here--even if it sounds hippie-ish. It's about the art of relaxation."

Dietz retains an eager sense of adventure for the area and for exploring it through photography. The countryside has inspired him to create a series of panoramas of the sky. Riding with Dietz, it's clear why he's inspired. As the van crests a pass on the Pan American Highway, just south of San Cristobal, the road rises to a heavenly place where all is green, gold, blue, and white.

"I'm always amazed by the beauty of this place," Dietz says. "It's always something different. The light is never the same."

--American Photo

        Travel & Leisure Magazine
                  December 1997 Article


ArtBeat

Shoot 'em up