Through photographing women, I came to better understand myself and the essence of the feminine.

The spirit of Ramoncita, the aunt of my good friend Mae, was full of generosity.

“She laughs a lot, we love her—and she’s ninety,” Mae exclaimed.

My photograph of Ramoncita—crocheting on her meticulous porch in the village of La Madera, hovering over tortillas on the ancient stove in the warmth of her kitchen—tell the story. She represented an old-fashioned belief in hospitality and the notion that everything around her mattered. Her big soul filled the camera frame.

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Excerpted from The Magnolia Code