Congratulations to Ruby and Leo

Werebear!

Had the pleasure of photographing the guys from Werebear recently. Officially the originators of melt-your-face Vato Rock. Breaking Bad meets central valley minus all the killing and the meth.

The falls, Veracruz and Coffee plantations

It seems like I've always wanted to visit coffee plantations. I manufactured an allure not only of the the beans on the plant, but of the whole area around the plantations. Humid environments filled with strange plants, insects and animals covering vast distances seem haunting. A few days a go I got the chance. I was already in coffee country staying in Xalapa Veracruz. Yes, the city offers dozens of places to zip the elixir, but it does not give you much of an insight as to how it is grown or harvested. Luckily the area surrounding the city is filled with plantations. Xico Veracruz is 14 miles away and not only is it covered with plantations, it also houses beautiful Texolo Falls (below)

(Please click on image to view larger)

The trip there required a local bus. The bus drove through pave roads, dirt pathways and a few small towns. From the information we had gathered (me and my friend Javie) we would have to get off the bus at the entrance of Xico and walk a few miles more to get to the falls.

The allure of the walk there was the coffee plantations along the way. Plantations that along with bananas trees seem to live together like perfectly behaved relatives. Ohh but who can forget views of the hills and valleys as we immediately walked away from civilization.

Harvesting season seem at its peak. Coffee beans blushed in the shade while a myriad of banana and other trees others provided cover from the sun.

(Phone picture of the beans as they come from the plant and what they look like if you remove the outer layer. Before toasting of course.)
A long and desolate cobblestone road led the way. Bordered by coffee plants it was host to the occasional machete-carrying worker returning from a laborious day.
The road seem long, but never one bit less haunting or fascinating as I once had imagined.
After about an hour of walking, the cobblestone road ended at the top of a beautiful view of Texolo falls. While walking around however we found a small almost unmarked path. A path carved and put together by one man who wanted to give the daring a better view of the lower falls. It was getting late, but ofcourse we took it. The view is the first you saw on this post and of the video below.
The way back revealed more of the roads charm. Small time farmers cut old banana tree trunks from with in the plantations and loaded them in to a truck. These dying but not dried trunks serve as cow feed.
He'd disappear in to the greenery machete in hand. Moments later he'd come out only recognized by the sound of branches moving until he was clearly outside the brush.
The day ended with a long walk back, the sun hitting the horizon, more banana trunks and a couple more machete-men utilizing the last glance of sun to light their way back home.

(short video of the last few steps leading to the lower falls section)

Better version of the video HERE

Ohh Puebla

Puebla is a bastion of tradition permanently stuck in Mexico's colonial era. Famous for its Mole Poblano which by all accounts should be a denomination of origin and its Chiles en Nogada. Even more famous than its rich culinary history is the battle of Cinco De Mayo. I know you've had more than a few drinks celebrating this festivity every 5th of May. Only to curse it unceremoniously while the '6th of May hangover' reminds you that you did have to work that morning. Cinco de Mayo gets commonly confused for Mexican independence day, mainly due to the uprise in corporate sponsorship similar to St.Patrick's day. The truth is that it was a battle where Mexican general Ignacio Zaragoza successfully defended the fort of Guadalupe in Puebla in 1862. Roughly 2000 Mexican soldiers defeated and retreated 6000 Frenchmen. Many people seem to forget that a year later a reinforced French army took the city of Puebla until 1867. Go figure!

Saying its simply a city rich with culture would not do justice to all Puebla has to offer.

Here are some images of Puebla, its surrounding areas and its people:

The tallest church towers in Mexico raise from the center of Puebla's culturaly rich Zocalo. While famous active volcano Popocatépetl belches smokestacks in the distance.

The people are as interesting and intriguing as the city itself.


A traditionally dressed "Huehue" dancer rests after his typical carnaval performance.

At night the Zocalo area fills with even more people, artist, performers and street musicians.

Cholula is a town just a few minutes outside of Puebla. It is rumored to have 365 churches and the largest pyramid ever built. This church stands atop the pyramid which from a distance looks more like a hill than an actual pyramid. The lower part tells a different story. Excavations of tunnels and courtyards reveal a glance in to the past.

Overall Puebla is a great place to visit. Its relative short distance to Mexico City makes it accessible and even with is growing influx of tourists it keeps its charm and small city feel.

Blank

No explanation for this photograph (on purpose). What do you get from it?

Inside the car (Yes this is HDR)

Mexico City streets

Little boy waiting (40 years later)

Street Photography

"Photojournalism" Sort of...

Moments

You ever get a little too caught up in technical details? Sometimes we all do. In those moments it helps to step back and visualize the whole concept. Maybe take a break. That tends to bring us back down to earth and realize that ultimately the settings in a camera often matter very little.

Take a look at the first image below. It was NOT taken by me, but by one of Fresno California's favorite "foodies" and all around interesting fella. James Collier who becomes our first ever guest via one of his images [original post].
Now this image caught my attention because of the caption that James posted with it initially. He pointed out that this technically bad photo ended up being the favorite of his recent trip. When I saw the photo I thought "this is a great shot!". Maybe he was right maybe not, but it really didn't matter. My eyes saw right through that and focused on the moment, and what a great moment it was. One single frame told me a story too hard to convey in a short paragraph. What was James referring to? Maybe it was the slight blur on grandmas face or the fact that the gentleman in the backs face is only partially visible. I really didn't ask. I can tell you that the slight motion blur in grandmas face only adds to the picture because I can almost see her moving. The gentleman standing... what a smile! If you wanted to only catch one single part of him it would be just that, and James did it.

So I'm shooting FUSE Fest a while back and I wander into the DJ venue. I showed up just in time to catch DJ Bradley start his set. This was my first time seeing him perform, so I did not know exactly what to expect. To my surprise he was very visually entertaining. Not in that "let me put a visual show" kinda way, but more like "I really enjoy doing this and I let it take me". The music was good and the crowd was interacting and absorbing. His moves were swift and calculated all while never loosing sight of the music. Vinyl records went back to cases while others took their place on the turntables. As all this goes on I'm walking around with my camera shooting images. I come back to Bradley and the show is in full force. I change a few camera settings and refocus on him. I snap a couple shots and look at my screen for quick review. The settings at this point were ok for still subjects, but under lower light conditions too slow for a moving subject. All this is going through my head in seconds as I see Bradley grab a record and start lifting it straight toward his face. It almost happened in slow motion. I saw him hold on to it with two hands and I knew a great moment was coming. I had no time to change more settings. I lifted my camera at the same time he did the record and I realized "he's going to kiss it!" There was only enough time to put the camera up to my eye and snap! I took two shots. The second was milliseconds late; the record was already coming down. The first however caught him right in the moment. Even before reviewing the image I knew there would be some blur because of the movement. I looked at it and realized I was right, but guess what I still liked it. It bothered me that I was unable to capture a technically perfect image, but somehow I was actually ok with it. The moment was everything. Nevertheless it became one the images Bradley picked for keeping a print of.

This brings me back to something I realized and told James after I saw his image "great moments = great images" perfect camera settings don't.

Now go capture great moments!

Shoot (through) clichés

I am the first to admit that when it comes to anything artistic the first thing that comes to mind is "how can I be different?" As I tried here. Today I will persuade you to do the exact opposite. That doesn't mean you will stop there though. Here is the deal. You don't want to have an image that looks exactly like what hundreds or thousands of tourist and amateur photographers have right? Well why not? I'm going to ask you to do just that. Reason: because you never know what could happen after you leave. If you are shooting a city scape and god forbid an earthquake hits the day after. Guess what? You could have some of the last images of that particular place as it was. Lets say you are shooting a landscape. Things erode over time and often fall apart. Its part of nature. Something drastic changes there and bam! You have another important image. Ok so you got that done. Now I'm going to ask you to shoot past that. To shoot through clichés. So you showed up to Yosemite and shot the typical Tunnel view. One of the most photographed places on earth. Now you got your bases covered and you can switch your mindset to other images. Maybe a close up or a less typical angle on one of the waterfalls etc. It gives you that sense of "I got some good images already I can move on".
Rembember, don't be affraid to shoot a "cliché" image. Shoot it, make it great, and move on.

Fire and Negative Space

I'll start with the details of this photo. ISO 400, 27mm focal length, aperture at f7.1, and a 1.3 second exposure on a tripod, no flash.
The camera settings sound very weird right? I'd say yes they do.
I had less than 10 minutes to set up and shoot a series of impromptu images. I ran for my camera and decided that spending the extra couple of minutes to grab and set up my tripod will make a difference.
I was trying to get good exposure with out the preparation time that is sometimes needed for less conventional shoots like this one. The LCD screen preview saved me on this one. I shot a couple aperture priority images and got a generic idea of exposure. I quickly switched to Manual mode and dialed what I thought was something close to a correct exposre for what I wanted to achieve. A relatively long exposure was key to grab the trails of the fire. I tweaked a few more times as I kept shooting images and quickly looking at my LCD. I shot a few more and the mini show was done! I was comfortable enough with the exposure that I was also able to put some thought in to composition. I love negative space, so I used it. Also I tried hard not to show in the image that this was done in a back yard.

Long exposure + negative space + the a sense of anonymity from not showing his eyes makes this picture for me. What does it do for you? Good or bad.

Grandpa Project

My grandpa Victor liked to sit in the same chair outside the house. I made it a project to shoot images of him there whenever I could. In each shot always the cane, the pocket protector, the chair, the watch and yes even the water hose. This shots are all from different days, some even months apart. Sadly he no longer sits in that chair. For the last couple of weeks he has been tied down (not literally) to a hospital bed. I hope this image comes back to passing cars and neighbors in real life again.

You may think "these are not the best technical taken pictures I've seen" and you're probably right. In this case other factors matter more to me.

Perspective

Sometime just changing the prespective of an image changes everything. Change the point of view when you shoot your photos. Don't just put the camera up to your eye and shoot. Get down, go high and yes even get under your subject. It won't hurt to try. It might just be a little uncomfortable.

Dia de los muertos (Day of the death)

An installation put on at the front of the Coyoacan church. The artist is representing "lost souls searching for their final destiny" with manikin-like figures made out of strands of cloth. They have no faces, but they post a very strong presence. They all lean forward a little giving a feeling of direction and movement. I didn't count, but there was definitely more than 50.

The Chapel

Chapel with in "La Cienegilla" hacienda. The hacienda belongs to a private family. Some of the land gets used for farming, some of the actual buildings as well. Most of it however is very much intact. Daniel (a son of the owner) was gracious enough to meet us there and give us a private tour. Among the number of visuals and eerie stories was the chapel. It is no longer used, but it keeps all its relics, benches etc.

Golondrinas: A melody of swallows

The state is Jalisco, the town, Lagos de Moreno. Thousands of Swallows [Golondrinas as the locals call them] migrate and settle there for a few months. Right around sunset they all settle downtown using the electricity wires as a resting/mingling spot. Among may shots and visuals they can provide. The resemblance to sheet music was the most interesting. Not only do they sing, but literally create a visual of music.

Bicentennial at the Cathedral

The movement of the Mexican independence was initiated officialy and prematurely from a church 200 years ago. The Metropolitan Cathedral lays at the heart of Mexico city. An area most commonly known as "El Zocalo". It has been the a mayor central point of Mexico for hundreds of years. Large pyramid ruins lay next to and under the cathedral. This time a year most of the buildings were adorned with the proud flag as the bicentennial of the movement of independence is celebrated.

"El Muro"

Each one of the crosses represents a specific immigrant who died or was killed on the journey. There is a much bigger and newer wall behind this one. Even sadder when some of the bodies go unidentified "No Identificado" and the families never find out the fate of their love one.