Thursday, May 01, 2008

Enjoying a respite

This morning I took a break, escaping for some time to Mexico with the aid of a friend who sent me a link to this website. Another excellent gallery of photos of the people of Oaxaca is here.

I love great photography of interesting places and faces. They inspire me to want to steal away with a camera and shoot up the landscape and the people in it. Of course, mine never come out anything like these. 

I would love to credit these photos to the artist who took them, but I didn't see who that was. Enjoy!

Tlaxiaco, State of Oaxaca, Mexico.

A crumbling plastered wall calls out for
Liberty
on Calle Cinco de Mayo in Oaxaca.

Soccer ball escaping the 16th century cathedral of Yanhuitlan

Día de los Muertos in a cemetary in Apoala

12 comments:

Billie Greenwood said...

These photos are wonderful. Unlike you who is inspired by this good work, I feel more like giving away my camera in embarassment at the "snapshot" quality of most of my offerings. I have to remind myself that for every great photo there are 100's of crappy ones that the artist deleted.

Dada said...

B.E. Yeh, aren't they great. I thought of you (and eProf) especially when posting these.

I also spent some time reading a little about the people, the artisans, featured...many of Mayan descent, and was imagining, if Western Civilization was to collapse, the more likely survivors would people like these, the pueblo folk of the American S/W and other indigenous people who still remember to live from their hands, not cans.

Glad you liked the pics...I know it's my philosophy to take as many photos as possible - for the few that may turn out decent...(as you do also), but when I see such pics as these, I'm thinking the better one gets at it - like these examples, the fewer discards, huh?

Glad you liked 'em. I thought you might.

eProf2 said...

The photos are, indeed, very nicely done, intriguing, as well as beckoning. For whatever reason, photos of doors, especially in Latin America, capture my fascination. What's behind them? Who lives here? Why did they paing their doors with such lively colors? I wish the wife and I had the guts to paint our front door purple or some other bright color. I'm working on the Adirondack chairs in some other color than white but to no avail. Yet!

Enjoy your day of respite from the madness all around us. I'm going swimming later today.

Anonymous said...

I submit the work of one of my friends in the photographic community. His name is Sandy King and is a recently retired PHD from Clemson Univ. He taught Spanish. I thought these images were from Oaxaca, Mx. I know he has spent a lot of time there photographing. He must have changed them out. I do know he went to Istanbul several years ago. These must be from that trip. Read his bio to get a since of the process he uses also. Enjoy.

Adios para ahora, mis amigos,

Yo soy un demócrata amarillo del perro.

Yo soy Hussein Horsedooty!

Anonymous said...

Sorry old age is starting to take its toll on my memory.

here is the link to Sandy's page.

http://www.alternativephotography.com/artists/sandy_king.html

I really liked the photos you posted also Dada. I would like to go to Mexico and photograph.

yo soy Horsedooty!

Dada said...

eprof: Wow, a dip in the pool sounds great. (Are you "enjoying" any of these same winds that we west Texans are getting?)

Anyway, in NM, blue doors seem to be the order of the day. Heard years ago it's a custom that protects those on the other side of the door against bad things (evil, evil spirits, bad beer?, etc.).

Apparently, it's popular in some Amish communities in PA for the same reason: "a blue door is an effective talisman against evil - much like laying a broom across the threshhold, salt on the windowsills or a horseshoe hung above the door."

But one thing is certain, I love the colorful facades employed on the bldgs of Mexico in contrast to some neighborhoods here where you have to adhere to a color code as approved by one's neighborhood assn. before painting.

Dada said...

H.D. Thanks for the link to Sandy's photos. Very impressive! After viewing them, I went into my own archives, so impressed was I with Sandy's architectural shots.

Looking over my own, I realized my mistake about opening those files. I should have followed the old saw, "Don't go there!" so paling in comparison were they to everything on King's site.

Sorry the Oaxaca prints were gone. Would have loved to have seen them.
Also, interesting process.

But viewing these only nurtures the inspiration to go out one day in the near future and take some shots of the local environs. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Dada,

Are the rebels still making noise in Oaxaca? I think Sandy told me once that was why he was gonna quit going. He decided his safety was more important.

Please note Dada that I posted that page not to make any comparison just for you and your readers to enjoy them. I have no reason to make you intimidated. If you were, accept my apologies, please.

Adios para ahora, mis amigos,

Yo soy un demócrata amarillo del perro.

Yo soy Hussein Horsedooty!

Dada said...

H.D. -- Not to feel badly. As an advocate for a high degree of mediocrity in everything I attempt (grin), I am not discouraged much by the likes of the great photos you linked us up with as much as I am far, far more inspired to go forth and try for some more. Hopefully, a little better than the last time out.

So, it's good and looking at great photos, paintings, sculpture, etc. as it always leaves me very appreciative, if not in total awe. So again, thank you!

eProf2 said...

Morning Dada:

Desert winds are almost always present here. The question is how fast are they going. And, are you in the path of a dust devil? The last two days have been relatively calm, so the swimming was enjoyable with the water getting up to about 73-74 degrees -- still plenty cold when you first get in but ok after the initial shock. We had part of a tree on Tuesday get knocked down by a dust devil that went through the yard during the night. I didn't even see the damage until my wife pointed it out to me yesterday afternoon.

HD, that's a very interesting photography web site you sent us to yesterday. Way over my head as someone who points and shoots.

Dada, you need to ask HD where his TExas church photo essays are located online. I went there once, but I can't remember where they're located. Dada, your photos are always a pleasure to see when you post them online. Don't forget the coffee table photo project.

Anonymous said...

I am always glad to point you to the church project eprof2. thanks for mentioning it. I am no longer a part of the group but I do wish them well and continued success. Understand Dada, that this is really an art project and not a religious project. I suppose you make the argument that it could be a religious project but we never purposely set out for it to be one.

http://www.texaschurchproj.com/

I am the little fat fart wearing the cowboy hat.

yo soy Horsedooty!

Dada said...

H.D. Thanks for sharing the Texas Church Project link. I think the preservation of old country churches is a very worthy project. Great photos, BTW. Especially St. Pat's and that St. Olaf's with the wonderful interplay between light and shadow. (I can just hear the floor creaking as one walks across it.)

It took awhile to get thru these photos. That's because Mike Castles' Perry United Methodist Church derailed me, looking so remarkably like the Old Scotch Church of my youth in Oregon where my sister and her husband now "reside" in the cemetery surrounding the church.

And, as with the internet, it was off on a side path of pleasant distraction.

Great idea, excellent photos!