Happy Women's Day everyone! What a better occasion to present a strong, beautiful woman, an amazing human being and MOM who defines the Power Women have! Let's welcome the proud member of @steemsugars ... @gabyoraa from Venezuela !!!!!

@meanmommy33:
So…Gaby! You're a single mom, living in Venezuela - how old his your son?
And you make a living from your amazing photography right? How long have you been working as a photographer?

@gabyorra:
My son is 3 and 8 months old

Yes, I'm currently living of my photography since about October last year. Before that I was into graphic design
I am working as a photographer less than a year now. I used to do some wedding photography and family photo shoots but it was once in a while.
After the protests we had last year, I decided to use my camera to inform about what was happening, because we had a really strong censorship. And from there on, I started to take more serious my passion for photography.
I even got a camera tattoo!
I always loved photography but I saw it more as a hobby. I really didn't take it so seriously. I graduated as an architect on 2010. I studied in Mexico. I realized it was not my thing when I only had a year left to graduate. So I decided to finish my career. But I never worked as an architect. I came back to Venezuela for a short time, then moved to Colombia where I worked as a Graphic designer. In Venezuela I worked as a graphic designer and marketing agent for an international insurance company.
But, I've been taking photos since I was around 14 and when my son was born, obviously he was my excuse to learn to actually use my camera the right way.
But everything changed during the protests.
Gaby traveled a lot - at some point she needed a break so she went back packing in Europe:
I stayed in Italy first. Rome, Grottamare, Ascoli Piceno, Florence, Verona, Padova, Torino, Milano and Venice. Then I went to Switzerland, in Basel. And after that, to Budapest, in Hungary. I also lived in India for 2 years as a kid, and this is where I met my son’s Dad - when I was 10 years old, and then I saw him again in Budapest where we played at a live concert together as we’re both musicians.
Multi-talented Gaby, also a musician!
I sing, and play guitar. My mom was a musician. She was a music teacher and sang opera in Italy. She even got to sing with Pavarotti. She was really awesome. She passed away 3 years ago and I miss her every single day of my life. I have to confess, I haven't been able to sing or use my guitar since she left.
It's been really hard for me. I made a series of photos about this feeling, I'll probably post sometime this week.
I really hope you’ll get your guitar up and running again soon Gaby… and waiting for that post…

BUT NOW ABOUT THE PROTESTS, and the situation in Venezuela…

Taken from Gaby’s intro post: https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@gabyoraa/a-photo-that-changed-two-lives-or-my-life-as-a-photographer-or

‘Everything changed on April 1st 2017, after the Supreme Court of Justice in Venezuela deprived the National Assembly of its power, being seen internationally as a serious violation of democracy, which provoked a lengthy series of demonstrations in Venezuela. At the beginning, I took part in the protests only as a demonstrator. I would march for hours under the scorching sun of Caracas and call out the slogans of freedom from the top of my lungs. At the same time

I observed with admiration the photojournalists taking account of the movement that was fast escalating in severity as police forces started introducing rubber bullets, teargas grenades and water cannons into the conflict
There where days where I thought about taking my camera, only to convince myself otherwise with the sadly typical Venezuelan notion "you're crazy, it'll be stolen". However, one day I finally said, “no more!” I knew there was a way I could make a bigger contribution to the protests, a way to put my talent and passion to service for my country: I chose the censorship that we live in Venezuela as my personal battlefield. I grabbed my camera and went out to document the historical days we were living—days I would never forget; days when my camera served as inspiration and hope.

I must confess that in the beginning it felt somehow wrong to take pictures of others struggling their way through clouds of teargas; I even thought what I was doing was useless, until the day one of the demonstrating students that I photographed earlier was imprisoned. Thanks to my photo and those of my colleagues, we made his story go viral, and the pressure that was thus generated eventually led to him being set free. When this student made it out of prison, he contacted me on Instagram to express his gratitude and to tell me that he owed his freedom to the pressure generated by our photos. I never would have imagined the impact a set of photos could possibly have.
In that moment I learnt that photography is a powerful tool. I started to understand it, respect it, and embrace it fully. I realized that for me photography was more than just a passion, that it was a way of living.’

@meanmommy33: You described to us at @steemsugars discord a completely tragic situation, a complete financial destruction of the country with problems that go as far as not proper access to water!

@gabyoraa
Well, we have a strong inflation and shortage chaos here. This year has been the worst. You go to the supermarkets and you can see an entire aisle of water or just empty.
Gladly we have a weather good enough to grow crops. Or else this would be worst.
There are no diapers here (I had a friend shipping me diapers from the us for my kid). The deodorant is a luxury. The body soap too. The hard part thought is mostly medicine. You can't find antibiotics, insulin (my nephew is diabetic), cancer patients are having a hard time because there are no medicines for chemotherapy. And basic medical supply even on private hospitals is missing or non-affordable. You really can't afford to get sick here. A medical exam can cost you around 50.000.000 Bolivares (yeah that's a lot of zeros) when the minimun wage is 392.646. So then, you have to go to the public hospitals that obviously don't have the supplies, not even injections, nor medicines. Not even alcohol or band-aids. Yeah there is public healthcare but they don't have anything to treat their patients with. My sister is a doctor, my cousin is a nurse, and my aunt is a doctor too. They all stopped working. They get more income by selling basic products people need. My sister is living in Chile. Same as all of the other doctors that she graduated with.
So there is a massive amount of professionals leaving the country. Who is going to be left for the patients then?

@meanmommu33: Seriously, in Europe we all knew about Argentina, but I think very few people know about this...and it sounds awful…Is there any hope in the horizon for now or....just waiting?!

@gabyoraa:
Well the funny thing is, Venezuelans are fleeing to Argentina now. It's hard to predict what’s going to happen. Because we trusted the politicians but they betrayed us. Just so you have an Idea.... about our voting system…My Mom that is no longer alive...but she is voting….

@meanmommy33:
hahaha ............. you trusted the politicians.....that's a joke. Same in Greece. SAME…Seeing people getting blind benefits…dead people vote…all that…
@gabyoraa: yeah we never learn do we?

@meanmommy33: nope…never, like ever…

@gabyoraa:
Why?! It's history repeating itself over and over again…
Honestly I don't understand…But I'm hoping something will happen before the elections
It really depends on how much people are willing to deal with this. Last year we had a massive amount of protestors but it was still not enough. Almost all Venezuela is against this government but not all are willing to rise or do something about it. A lot of them are scared too.

Then again … No place is perfect! I've also realized that if you are a shitty person, even if you move to a Paradise you'll have a shitty life. "karma" For me, it's the people who make it a better place.

Happy Women's Day everyone and don't forget to smile ;)

Yours

Banner by: @bembelmaniac

*All photos by @gabyoraa

https://www.gabyoraa.com/

(https://discord.gg/D2V8nq9)
Banner by: @thekittygirl

Gif by: @traciyork