click on this one for a better view. stitch just is not very good for viewing on a screen, but the city is lovely nonetheless.
Monday, December 31, 2007
guanajuato
click on this one for a better view. stitch just is not very good for viewing on a screen, but the city is lovely nonetheless.
view from el pipila
guanajuato is a designated world heritage site. the views of the city are very important. when satellites came out citizens began putting them on their rooftops, thus marring an otherwise pristine view of the city; they were made to take them down.
cupulas y jardin
another church. this one faces the gardens, the main common area of guanajuato. the trees of the garden can be seen here. they are planted in a sort of triangular formation, and the trees are trimmed and squared. inside the triangle are benches and a gazebo where bands play. the light green building to the right of the church is the theatre (teatro juarez). beginning in the afternoon, the steps of the theatre become populated with people hanging out, oftentimes a performer is putting on shows on the sidewalk facing the theatre.
tarde en guanajuato
this is the view from my friend's house, i am facing towards my house. it is at the top of the most distant hill. every afternoon looked liked this, with the beautiful thick clouds rolling in, later it would rain for a little while. the thunder there was incredible.
iglesia y universidad
the yellow building is the church; the white building with the circles in the parapet and the adjacent gray building are the university.
legoland
the look of this city fascinates me. one of my teachers said that 'in guanajuato neighbors don't live side to side, but top to bottom'.
niveles
i really like this shot because it shows how the levels of the city are constructed, and how the the buildings have
the effect of looking stacked.
mi casa esta muy lejos
okay, so this is hard to explain, but i'll try. if you look at the left side of the picture about halfway up, there is a smallish white dome. now look up to the top of the hill line directly above it, there is a white building. that is my neighbor's house, mine is directly to the right, but it is covered by a tree.
domes
all those domes are churches. every single time a catholic mexican (a little redundant, i know) passes a church, they cross themselves, that's a lot of crossing.
plaza
because i arrived at night, i couldn't see the city. the next morning i walked to school with my roommate. to get to school we walked down tiny alleys that were all under construction, when we got to the center, where the streets were paved with cobblestone, this was the first thing i saw, i cannot remember the name--maybe the plaza del sol.
the movie set
seeing a barren street in guanajuato was rare... at the moment this picture was taken, the street felt as artificial as it looks
buildings over tunnels
this is another nice display of how the different levels of the city are constructed, at the bottom you can see a car driving in the tunnel
luz y sombra
these are some of the buildings that are built over and around the tunnels; these were difficult to take because the light is at such extremes; walking in an out out of these shadows was also difficult
facade
this is a church facade under construction; i really love when a building is simply it's facade and all that exists behind it is empty space
kitchen
i had no idea what to expect when i got to guanajuato, especially regarding my living arrangements. i arrived at night, so when i got out of the car, all i saw was a wall and a locked gate. i rang the bell (literally a rope attached to a bell), beto (mi hermano) answered and let me in the house. had someone asked me before arriving what i would expect as an ideal house, i would have said 'a brightly-colored multi-level home with tiled floors and a terrace'...i did not epect to actually get that, but that is what i got. it was beautiful, and my family was even better...i love them and miss them.
escuela
this is the outside of my school. the two pictures that follow are the inside. this is the only series i have that represents the surprises that lie behind facades in guanajuato. most of the streets are so narrow, it's too hard to capture whole facades. although they do have colorful exteriors, the building exteriors are relatively simple, the real treat is when you open the doors and walk inside
escuela!
this is what i saw when the doors opened on that dreary first morning. all schools should look like this.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
tienda
in my neighborhood, cerro del cuarto, all of the stores looked like this, just an opening in a wall, a small space with a counter and some some shelves, and people sitting around, the people in this store were watching tv
dulces
this is the candy section at the market. it all looks sort of brownish because most of this candy was made from cooked sugar and not dyed--ranging from super-soft caramels to hard candies. however, my favorite candy was the stuff that was sweet and salty and spicy all at once.
carne
i took this in the market right when i entered so i hadn't changed my settings for the lighting, but what you're looking at is a man (butcher, i assume) carrying a side of raw meat on his back, no plastic, no nothing just a side of raw meat on his back
blowing bubbles
i love seeing people doing somewhat random things, like standing around blowing bubbles on a sunday afternoon
Saturday, December 29, 2007
jugos
the juice stand. unfortunately i am more visually curious than gastronomically curious, so i never tried these juices. but here is how they are served: the juice is ladled into a baggy, a straw is inserted then the bag is fastened shut around the straw with a rubber band. it's like mexican capri sun.
la momia mas pequena del mundo
the smallest mummy in the world...
the mummy museum was fun to shoot in because everything was lit by blue lights, and all the mummies are behind glass so i couldn't use a flash, therefore all the pictures came out somewhat creepy--especially this one
Friday, December 28, 2007
nada mejor puede pasar que la muerte
"nothing better can happen than death" the mexican obsession with death and the dead is fascinating. at the mummy museum everyone got their pictures taken standing next to mummies. and these mummies don't look like your standard issue egyptian mummies; they look like dried-out people dressed in suits.
marmol
this was a hippie that i saw all the time, he was stunning, he looks like he was carved from marble, his skin really looked like it does in this picture
innocence and avoidance
this woman sat down on the curb right in front of my table at a cafe, i became obsessed with her outstretched hand, so i just kept shooting, then this happened. i don't have to get all deep about this, but i think the picture says a lot.
the beggar's hand
i couldn't stop looking at her hand. sorry the chair is in the way. it was the only way i could get her without her really knowing. i don't really like people to know i'm taking pictures of them unless i absolutley have to tell them. when i left, i did give her money.
fully dressed
here she is in full dress, i had other versions of this, but i love this one becasue you can see the baby in the gap between her arm and torso
detail
she was in a hurry in all of these shots so i just shot as quickly as i could, she's a little fuzzy
Thursday, December 27, 2007
change
this is a vendor outside the museo de las momias (mummy museum), i asked her if i could take her picture, she said yes, and then just kept handing me my change, she didn't bother posing or anything; i didn't want her to, but feared she might because i asked if i could take her picture. look at those blue eyes.
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