photography

Photo Essay: The Streets of Mexico City’s Colonia Condesa

by Ekua on January 31, 2012 · 8 comments in captured on memory card,Mexico,street art

One overcast afternoon in Mexico City, I took to the streets of Colonia Condesa armed with a small camera and backed up by posse of creative people who are as passionate about the D.F. as I am. We did what I love doing independently; we walked all over the neighborhood aimlessly, taking pictures of everything.

I was with the group I’d spent the day with at the art school while they worked on their mural. It was an awesome experience to walk around with people who enjoyed making regular stops to take pictures and we had six sets of eyes to pick up all the details of the neighborhood.

Condesa is one of Mexico City’s more famous colonias. It’s another one of the Barrios Mágicos and it’s known for being a trendy part of town. But like the rest of the D.F., you can always find a bit of grittiness and a few quirks in the mix:

A flower stall at busy intersection.

More flowers for sale.

ECOBICI, Mexico City’s bike sharing program.

Pretty tiles in cracked wall.

A restaurant waiting for its dinnertime crowd.

The “Love Ambulance”.

Creative wheat paste advertisements for a website that provides guides to the city. I identify with the woman in the upper left hand corner who has springs where her feet should be.

Separate bins for compost and regular waste in Parque Mexico. A friend from Mexico tells me that people don’t pay attention to this and throw their trash into any bin, but I like the effort and the potential it has.

The art deco street signs in Condesa are charming.

The Lindberg Theater in Parque Mexico being used for skating and recreation.

A building uniquely decorated with globe shaped light fixtures.

The Condesa branch of a Mexico City bookstore called El Pendulo. The Polanco branch is the most famous, but this one is also wonderful.

Of course once inside El Pendulo, I gravitated towards this.

Really great street art painted onto a piece of paper and attached to a post. Sorry if this scared you as you were scrolling down!

More street art. I like the way whoever did it took advantage of an already deep red wall to make something simple and vivid.

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Photo Essay: Oaxaca’s Ethnobotanical Garden

by Ekua on December 18, 2011 · 0 comments in captured on memory card,Mexico,the natural world

Like a plant photography nerd rebel, I snuck into a botanical garden. Except at the time, I didn’t know that I wasn’t supposed to be there. When I walked up to the entrance, there were two security guards chatting away. I made brief eye contact with them and they didn’t say anything so I kept on walking. I walked pass a few people who looked like they worked in the Santo Domingo complex where the garden is located. They also said nothing. So I took out my camera and started taking pictures of a few of the 1,300+ varieties of plants that are housed there.

Then out of nowhere, a woman came into the garden saying I wasn’t allowed in without a tour and I had to leave. Oops. I knew there were free tours of the garden, but I didn’t know that you were required to be on one to go in. But I made the most of my short visit while it lasted:

So much creativity went into the design of the garden.

Love this shot, only wish that the bird hadn’t decided to leave a present on the cactus that it’s perched upon.

Really great placement of a reflecting pool.

In more rural semi arid parts of Mexico, sometimes you’ll see houses with landscaping that include a fence of of cacti like this.

After the woman kicked me out of the garden, I took one last picture of a huge agave plant before I left.

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Photo Essay: The Abandoned Monastery of Cuilapan

by Ekua on December 10, 2011 · 4 comments in captured on memory card,Mexico

Not far from Oaxaca city, in the town of Cuilapan de Guerrero, is a monastery that bears many similarities to the often lively church and monastery of Santo Domingo. But Cuilapan’s Convento de Santiago Apóstol took on very different fate. Before it was finished being built, it was abandoned.

While Cuilapan is now a quiet pastoral town, before and during the colonial era, it was an important settlement. In colonial times, the Spanish started the construction of the monastery there as a place to convert the indigenous Mixtec and Zapotec people of the region.

It became an elaborate, expensive, and of course, exploitative endeavor. The construction of it was halted in the 1570s. No one is fully sure why, but common ideas are because it violated the Spanish mandate for modesty and authorities stopped it, not enough funds were available to complete it, there were disputes over who should pay for it, or a decline in the indigenous population resulted in fewer hands to build the church. Or maybe some combination of two or more of the above.

What was built of the the formidable Convento de Santiago complex still stands, but time has taken its toll:

Fading murals.

Mexico had a president of African descent almost two hundred years before the United States did. Vincente Guerrero, a man of mixed races, helped liberate Mexico from the Spanish. When he became the second president of Mexico in 1829, he abolished slavery in the country. He was essentially assassinated at the Convento de Santiago less than two years into his presidency. This is a memorial to him.

The stairs have become warped. It’s really easy to trip on them if you’re not paying attention.

The courtyard of the monastery looked almost exactly like Santo Domingo’s, but without upkeep.

A small outdoor section has been turned into a garden.

I’m glad I found my way to the roof where there were beautiful views of Oaxaca’s Valles Central region.

The bucolic surroundings of the church were a nice change of scenery for a day. Here, a barefoot man is herding goats.

The row of arches in the forefront stops abruptly on the left side.

In some parts of the complex, you can see some Mixtec elements incorporated into the design.

A row of arches contrasts with a line of unfinished column bases and creates unintended asymmetry in the roofless basilica.

The entry way to the basilica.

The complex.

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A Walk Along the Ruins of an Aqueduct in Oaxaca

by Ekua on November 14, 2011 · 2 comments in captured on memory card,Mexico

On the quiet continuation of a Centro street in Oaxaca, I come across the ruins of an old aqueduct. Weeds spring out of the top of worn brick and stone arches that once carried water from the mountains to the city. Houses are built right up against the aqueduct. I’m not sure how there is room left for it in Oaxaca, but there is even more charm and quaintness in this part of town.

Walking along the aqueduct, for a brief moment I feel like I’m in a previous era. It’s more than the structure’s relic status. There’s the rustic nature of the materials used and the roundness of the arches. These are elements that are often forgone in more modern creations but constitute a kind of beauty that is simple and timeless. The structure is of a period where function and beauty were allowed to intermingle more regularly.

As I continue, I think about the ongoing water shortage in Oaxaca. I wonder what it might have been like to walk along the aqueduct when it was in use, beginning in the mid-1700s and almost 200 years thereafter. I wonder if such visibility of the flow of water makes you think more about its source, how it’s used, and how much of it there is.

I wonder about the people who currently live their lives up against this beautiful relic. Those who walk and drive through the arches daily. I wonder if it’s just a bunch of stone and brick to them or if it’s as gorgeous to them as it is to my unfamiliar eyes. I wonder if everyday they are enchanted by Los Arquitos and tickled when they duck to walk through doors behind arches.

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Photo Essay: A Day Trip to Hierve el Agua

by Ekua on November 4, 2011 · 3 comments in captured on memory card,Mexico,the natural world

Hierve el Agua is a set of rock formations that look like petrified waterfalls. It looks deceptively close to Oaxaca on a tourist map of attractions nearby the city. We quickly learned that the map didn’t account for slow bus rides and winding roads.

After a local bus to Mitla, we hired a camioneta (a pickup truck with two rows of seats added to the cargo area so it can hold several more passengers) to take us to Hierve el Agua. I opted to sit in the front part of the truck rather than the makeshift seats in the back. It was a good choice.

It turned out to be one of the most terrifying drives I’ve ever taken. We set off on a road through a hilly valley that led to the mountains. Ominous looking clouds hovered over those mountains.

Sure enough, as we climbed up, we entered a raging storm. Very little visibility, unpaved roads, cliffs. My heart eventually stopped pounding when the storm eased up and we reached lower ground.

It was a rough route, but like every other crazy drive I’ve been on, what awaited us at the end was something spectacular:

There is a combination of artificial and natural pools at Hierve el Agua. The rain stopped long enough for us to have a good chunk of time to enjoy this place.