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Under the Baja Sun
The crew in the pit making bricks.
Four years ago, my wife and I moved to Baja, California (Mexico). It’s a beautiful and inexpensive place to live but the locals have to eke out a living pretty much anyway they can. The minimum wage here is $5.00 a day. For Americanos, it is cheap living. For Mexicans, just staying on the edge of poverty is an everyday struggle.
A friend of mine who is also a photographer and I decided to shoot what turned into a photo essay.  I was introduced to a group of laborers (Los ladrilleros. The brickmakers) who make bricks for a living. The bricks are handmade in the manner that they have been made for centuries and all by hand. The finished bricks, which take as long as 30 days to complete are sold for as little as 4 pesos a brick. Currently, the peso is at 19 pesos per dollar and that translates into roughly 20 cents per brick. It puts new meaning into “dirt cheap.”
Here the brickmaker (ladrillero) in Rosarito, Mexico molds and...

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Hugh Smith
Hugh Smith
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A Philadelphia native, I have lived in Baja California for the past 3 years.  I make photographs. You can follow me at www.jargonart.com  I started shooting as a stringer for newspapers and in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania.  I opened my commercial studio in Center City, Philadelphia in 1972. I shot catalogs for Spencer Gifts and Lenox China among others.  I shot fashion, runway and headshots until about 5 years ago as my wife and I started slowing to a merciful crawl and traveling and writing.  My work has appeared in magazines from Shutterbug to Sports Illustrated and I am a regular contributor for Trillium Art Magazine. I am a regular editor and contributor to 1X.com Magazine.  I have exhibited in Europe as well as the U.S.  My work hangs in the permanent collection of private collectors as well as corporate venues.  Currently, my work is in the permanent exhibit at Polo’s Gallery in Rosarito, Mexico.  I have published 6 books including Art of the Muse (books 1 and 2) as well as 'Italy, through my lens.' Paris, Through my Lens.' 'Ireland, through my lens.' and others.  You can also follow all of our work at www.jargonart.com 
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