Metro Zócalo
Woman selling on the steps of the Zócalo Metro exit/entrance.
An elderly woman vending on the steps of the Zocalo Metro station in Mexico City.
Bacon Street
Entertainiment for the masses along Av. Francisco I. Madero, Centro Historico - Mexico City.
Street performers or street laborers --take your pick-- are said to be a too-easy target for street photography. My concern with these so-called rules of what not to photograph --or does not count as a worthy photograph-- is that it sort of robs of the joy of simply capturing what one finds interesting. Photography, for me at least, is not so much what you photograph as much as how it is photographed and timing, of course.
An Oligarchal Tyranny?
Street labor in Mexico City.
Street labor in Mexico City. A literal illustration of what some are forced to make a living in Mexico.
I've been re-reading Robert D. Kaplan's Empire Wilderness in which the author describes what he believes the United States is transforming into: an interconnected globalised network of city states united and governed by concerns of economy and growth in which the poor are left behind while the better able move to suburban gaited communities isolating themselves from the "threatening and unsightly poor" while at the same time avoiding the moral obligation to be their brother's keeper. A picture that better outlines the socioeconomic divide in places like Brazil, Teheran, or even Mexico which the author describes as an oligarchal tyranny --a depiction I find hard to disagree with after having lived here for near 20 years. Be it the U.S.A., Brazil, or Mexico, what can be said of democracies that not only fail to provide for their most deprived citizens but simply don't care to?
Saying hello to a friend...
While on one of my usual Saturday walks in downtown, Mexico City.
An Organillero friend along Madero Av. where you'll be sure to find him almost on any given day of the week.
No...
He was not confrontational, but the incident illustrates the nature of street performers in Mexico City where most insist on not being photographed unless you pay money in return.
Some togs out there will insist these folks are not fair game as street photography goes because they are easy subject matter. My experience has proven otherwise. Some even point lasers at cameras to destroy the digital sensor.
Moments before he gestured photos were not allowed. He caught me as the camera was being lowered.
Setting Up Shop
Making ends meet. The cliche is true for all folk all around the world. What differentiates this experience is by how much dint of blood, sweat, and pain this fleeting goal is achieved, even how it is defined.
