Self-Pollinate

COFFEE PLANTATION IN TEOCELO, VERACRUZ

2012-01-31T12:25:00.001-08:00

2011-08-24T14:31:00.000-07:00

2011-08-24T14:08:00.000-07:00

Almost officially back to photography. Almost back to film, back to my somewhat heavy minolta, back to the darkroom, back to introspection and back to recording my surroundings. Peace.

TIANGUIS Y MERCADOS

2011-03-23T10:37:00.000-07:00

My next project will be a simple one but a different one. For the firs time in my life, I will explore the untangled fields of entering images to a "professional" photography contest. I've been dwelling on this for a while now and I have a brief idea of what I want to convey. Since the contest has a definite topic I will have to work within the parameters of what they allow and want to show.

2011-01-16T12:58:00.000-08:00

On the way to Puerto Escondido, a ten hour trip that lets you realize about the vastness and diversity of Mexico's landscape. From the valleys in Puebla to the arid regions of Oaxaca. Later on you find a cold forest, followed by a tropical one and then our destiny....the beautiful "hidden port" or Puerto Escondido.

2010-12-16T07:45:00.000-08:00

Images are coming soon. I'll be making a short but much needed trip to the beach in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca. That place is magic and so I'm hoping some of the images I produce over there are magic as well, haha. Stay tuned and please leave your comments. A good critique is always appreciated people of Earth.

2010-12-09T07:50:00.001-08:00

TEXTS OF NATURE

2010-12-04T10:39:00.000-08:00

As I walked through the stoned street, I could hear the music of the Black Sands whispering to me its most intimate secrets. I belonged to the cosmos more than any other day, I wasn't human. I was a beast just like everyone else. I was an effortless, unadorned creature without horns and without pretentious fangs. My strength resided in my new understanding of life.

YOU SEE THE SKY

2010-12-01T09:39:00.001-08:00

"THIS IS A delicious evening, when the whole body is one sense, and imbibes delight through every pore. I go and come with a strange liberty in Nature, a part of herself. As I walk along the stony shore of the pond in my shirt-sleeves, though it is cool as well as cloudy and windy, and I see nothing special to attract me, all the elements are unusually congenial to me. The bullfrogs trump to usher in the night, and the note of the whip-poor-will is borne on the rippling wind from over the water. Sympathy with the fluttering alder and poplar leaves almost takes away my breath; yet, like the lake, my serenity is rippled but not ruffled. These small waves raised by the evening wind are as remote from storm as the smooth reflecting surface. Though it is now dark, the wind still blows and roars in the wood, the waves still dash, and some creatures lull the rest with their notes. The repose is never complete. The wildest animals do not repose, but seek their prey now; the fox, and skunk, and rabbit, now roam the fields and woods without fear. They are Nature's watchmen — links which connect the days of animated life." (Walden. Solitude)

WITCHCRAFT AT PICHI'S LAND

2010-11-12T07:40:00.000-08:00

2010-11-04T11:36:00.000-07:00

SLIDES

2010-10-24T17:30:00.000-07:00

Pink Toenails

2010-10-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

That day the music was playing...the light was not very bright, actually it was a bit dim. The room was full of silhouettes and monotone objects. She was naked, only wearing her bracelets and her blue new ring. The day outside seemed unknown, felt like something divided from this moment. Oh ! did I forget to mention that she was wearing pink toenails ?

2010-10-07T18:31:00.000-07:00

TUNED

2010-10-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

I don't remember the last time I posted something. After all, this was not a space created to impose something. The essence of Self-Pollinate since the very beginning was to create a platform so that any given day on any given hour I could share something; a photograph, some text or something that in my egocentric consciousness I thought was relevant. I know I'll be posting something soon. I feel the urge to go back to my partial documentation of what I consider relevant of this world; of my journey. I know I need to go back to document the inherent nature of something or someone.
Love and stay tuned.

2010-07-20T15:41:00.000-07:00

RECOMMENDABLE BOOKS

2010-07-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

For those people who visit this space I've decided to write down a couple of books (mostly photography books) that I don't particularly own, but that maybe I've glanced, heard of, or that I'm simply craving to add to my small, but ever growing collection. I hope you find in them something inspiring, some drops of knowledge or just simple fun.

Roland Barthes - Camera Lucida
Taryn Simon - An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar
Diane Hagaman - How I Learned Not to be a Photojournalist
Keith Charter - A Certain Alchemy
Sally Mann - Immediate Family
Robert Parkeharrison - The Architect's Brother
Jim LoScalzo - Evidence of my Existence
Bryan Moss - Photosynthesis
Alessandra Sanguinetti - On the Sixth Day
Constantine Manos - American Color
Susan Sontag - On Photography
J, Saudek & Daniela Mrazkova - Saudek
Trent Parke - Dream Life
Richard Billingham - Ray's a Laugh
Stefan Ruiz - People
Cartier Bresson - The Mind's Eye: Writings on Photography and Photographers

and, anything by Eugene Richards, Josef Koudelka, Stephen Shore, and Alex Webb.

LITTLE HOUSES

2010-07-13T09:13:00.001-07:00

Casitas, Veracruz. Mexico

2010-07-09T11:15:00.000-07:00

Casitas, Veracruz. Mexico

INDISCRIMINATED IMAGES

2010-06-17T09:07:00.000-07:00

TORTU-GETHER

2010-06-16T08:28:00.000-07:00

Tortugether opens its doors. A combination of tacos, tortas, music, jokes, and harmless eccentricities are now available. Two good friends of mine, after a period of time and after nights of drinking whiskey and beer and smoking cigarettes came up with the idea of opening a small business making tortas (mexican sandwiches). Business is a bit slow right now but I believe they will be doing better as time goes by.
I'll be trying to frequent them not only to consume their food and every once in a while ask for a free meal, but also to semi-document their transition. More images soon to come.

2010-05-03T21:46:00.000-07:00

2010-05-02T18:28:00.000-07:00

Carving my brain deep. Carving it with a drill searching for remembrances. Sinking a borehole in order to find life's juicy pulp; the inherent nature of myself.

2010-04-12T11:51:00.000-07:00

The past few days I've been disconnected from photography. It's not due to a lack of inspiration I believe. It just has to do with the way I've been spending my hours. I know it's time for me to start rethinking about the essence of things in terms of light, space and time. -- Images coming soon.

2010-03-11T11:46:00.000-08:00

MISCELANEOUS MOMENTS

2010-03-05T08:07:00.001-08:00

2010-02-28T18:59:00.000-08:00

Cuadrilla de Huehues.
This last Sunday I walked around the streets of downtown Puebla. It's always so rewarding to take your time and do this since one of Mexico's beauties is that something - always - is happening. I came across clowns installing their nomad circus in the crowded sidewalk, I listened to a guy sing opera, beggars laying and looking up to you, people protesting against the corrupt government that is in power, the man selling balloons, the shoeshiner. What caught my eyes though and made me stop was this Cuadrilla de Huehues. The Huehue, is the protagonist of this carnaval; the one who dances around and the one that walks the streets. The term Huehue is Nahuatl for "the elder", literally "old man", for the wise and experimented. I have to be honest and say I didn't know anything about this mexican tradition, but after talking to them and doing some extra research I think I now understand a bit more of their dances and performance. In religious terms, the Huehue represents Jesus' persecution and for those people holding different or none religious beliefs, it means party, music, joy !

2010-02-25T20:00:00.001-08:00

Some waggish people with comical faces.

ORANGE NIGHT

2010-02-15T08:29:00.001-08:00

A night full of enchantment, of stories and shadows. A dark night with an overwhelming sky invaded us and participated with us. The few colors that were seen that night were bright, intense and saturated. The trees belonged and so as we. Our faces became the ones of characters from a fantastic story.

INTENDED CONSEQUENCE

2010-02-03T08:56:00.000-08:00

As I walked down the tropical forest I found some treasures; from new things to photograph to branches concealing their identity with mold and moss. I brought some of them back with me. At one point I felt I should leave them in their native place; in their most honest and essential environment. I walked back and forth staring at the ground, waiting for something to call my name and trying to decide what was the best to do. All this time, however, I was just lying to myself. My gut and my senses knew I was going to be driving back with those treasures laying on the seat beside me.

A FAMILY VACATION

2010-02-01T08:09:00.000-08:00

METAL FACTORY

2010-01-26T11:15:00.001-08:00

ANCESTORS

2010-01-19T07:26:00.001-08:00

2009 - FROM THE ARCHIVES

2009-12-31T17:50:00.001-08:00

This past year was maybe the year that I've felt the strongest and most honest connection with photography. 2009 was a year full of new understandings; a year that helped me solve many of the insecurities and questions about my craft, but it also was a year that provoked many new questions. I am ready to start working on new projects that I feel transcend into new contexts and realms. Also, I want to keep on learning about being a visual story-teller. I want my photography to experience the social nature of this world. The new projects I develop and experience have to involve an intrinsic motive and reasoning and are to be considered as creative quests with natural and involuntary changes, rather than just as finished objects or substances.

2009-12-28T23:31:00.000-08:00

DECEMBER

2009-12-18T10:05:00.000-08:00

So, its December they say...and fortunately its been a little bit of a frantic month. I've been doing some freelance jobs and that's the reason for my posting indolence. I've got a couple of graphic design projects that I'm definitely enjoying and I also got a job shooting for a metal company. Both should be fun projects to finish the year. I guess I wanted to write briefly why I haven't posted images lately....it's definitely not an unwillingness to work on photography and it's also not that I don't feel inspired. I do feel animated; creatively energized.

So for the few friends who check this space I wanted to thank you for keeping up with me and for taking the time to look at some of my visual documentary story-telling. Without a doubt you make a difference.
Happy Year.

"Trying to be witty leads to lying, more or less. What I just told you about the lamplighters isn't completely true, and I risk giving a false idea of our planet to those who don't know it. Men occupy very little space on Earth. If the two billion inhabitants of the globe were to stand close together, as they might for some big public event, they would easily fit into a city block that was twenty miles long and twenty miles wide. You could crowd all humanity onto the smallest Pacific islet. Grown-ups of course won't believe you. They're convinced they take up much more room. They consider themselves as important as the baobabs. So you should advise them to make their own calculations- they love numbers and they'll enjoy it. But don't waste your time on this extra task. It's unnecessary. Trust me."
(from the Little Prince)

2009-12-07T13:40:00.000-08:00

Hotel room in Cuetzalan, Puebla.

2009-12-01T12:58:00.000-08:00

I had to take pictures of a tiny restaurant located in the heart of Cholula. It's a very small place but with a lot of character. The owner, Federico Martinez, wants to keep the place small because of the intimate feeling it provokes, as well as he wants to maintain the folklore of traditional spanish cooking. Fado y Tenderete serves delicious spanish food and beers from around the globe. Worth checking the place out.

2009-11-30T08:29:00.000-08:00

GROWTH

2009-11-28T17:46:00.000-08:00

I am very interested in the processes that any particular thing experiences through time. The process through which I create my work is what evokes the seductiveness; I need to touch, I need to make, I need to be there when things are appearing and happening. I want to keep on creating more and more work that people can relate to and that besides its visual complexities people can understand in a certain level. Work that people can see, lay on, touch and participate with. I want to engage in the actual doing of things.

NOVEMBER 28TH

2009-11-28T17:24:00.000-08:00

2009-11-27T09:21:00.000-08:00

SPIRITS OF THE EAST AND THE WEST

2009-11-27T07:40:00.000-08:00

SPIRITS OF THE EAST AND THE WEST

2009-11-24T08:11:00.000-08:00

SPIRITS OF THE EAST AND THE WEST

2009-11-06T07:34:00.000-08:00

I didn't get many good shots yesterday but here's one I liked. Thanks for looking.

ZOMBIE

2009-11-03T10:56:00.001-08:00

BROWNS IN WONDERLAND

2009-10-31T19:06:00.000-07:00

I shot this image on a rainy Friday night while I was hanging out in my friend's house. Browns, that's his nickname, had a lot to say about his trip to Canada. I know he had a good time, specially since I know he's a laid back person, good at adjusting to new things. However, this trip sounded like a work of fiction........he came across junkies, mad employers who didn't pay him, bad humored Iranians, prostitutes, mexican refugees and other things. It was very entertaining to sit down and listen to what he had to say. Later that night we went out for a drink and kept on telling stories.

LOS "STONERS"

2009-10-31T19:02:00.000-07:00

2009-10-28T10:23:00.000-07:00

The manifestations of the passing of time within Nature are always full of vigor and fertility.

AN ATTEMPT TO WRITE MORE

2009-10-20T14:26:00.001-07:00

I find I keep on avoiding writing. I know it's only because sometimes I have a hard time putting my thoughts all together coherently. I am good-ly jealous of the people that can express themselves beautifully with text. I know I'm a better story-teller and I certainly like to tell stories through my photographs. Maybe I'm just being a little too hard on myself. From now on I will try to flow with my writing and I will try to be effortless about it as well.

2009-10-19T09:58:00.000-07:00

THERE IS A NUMBER OF SMALL THINGS

2009-10-14T12:03:00.000-07:00

"Granny's Land". Virginia Countryside.

2009-10-04T17:50:00.000-07:00

"Granny's Land". Virginia Countryside.

"Through fire below, and fire above, and fire within
Sleeped through the things that couldn't have been if you hadn't have been" (J.Newsom)

2009-09-26T17:26:00.000-07:00

"The Spot". Goochland, VA.

2009-09-21T16:24:00.000-07:00

2009-09-16T18:42:00.000-07:00

Shamrock Pub. Midlothian, VA

BACK TO MY ROOTS

2009-09-14T10:29:00.001-07:00

I wasn't born in the country. I was born in a large hospital very close to Mexico City. The Greater Mexico City or as we call it, the Zona Metropolitana, is the third largest agglomeration in the world right now ! ... and I was born right there. Fortunately I lived there only for six years and then my parents decided to relocate their life and home to the adjacent city, Puebla. I feel I'm from Puebla and every time somebody asks me where I'm from I say from Puebla. I lived there for almost thirteen years and then I moved to the mountains in Bristol, Virginia, US. Moving there was one of the most compelling and challenging experiences of my life. I'm so grateful about having to move there. Thanks to that small town, to it's people, customs, music, pace of life, etcetera, I experienced a very close connection with Nature. I found Nature and fell in love with all of its wonders.
After living there for some years, after meeting some incredible people, after processing my first rolls of black and white film and after discovering bluegrass, I moved back to Mexico. Mexico is an amazing country and I know life has so many surprises and wonders for me there as well. Now I'm back in the mountains and it feels so good.
I feel like I'm back to my roots.

2009-09-13T18:14:00.000-07:00

Light-painting with Rebecca.

2009-09-12T17:11:00.000-07:00

Friday 11. Day three.

2009-09-11T09:41:00.001-07:00

Thursday 10. Day two.

THE PERKS OF BEING A TOURIST

2009-09-11T08:29:00.000-07:00

Wednesday nine. Day one.

2009-09-06T10:02:00.000-07:00

NIGHT CRAWL

2009-09-04T08:45:00.000-07:00

SEPTEMBER 1ST

2009-09-01T18:10:00.000-07:00

Today I rediscovered the moon, simplicity, my muses and unconditional love. As a celebration to this, tomorrow I'll be posting some images that I will purposefully shoot being very conscious about what's within me and within other people. Love and peace.

(Sorry for not posting the images yet but shooting film these days feels right. The scanned film is coming soon and I'll post the images as soon as that happens.)

ARIZONA LANDSCAPE

2009-08-30T13:24:00.000-07:00

CONCERT

2009-08-21T19:06:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago I had to cover a concert for a band that I hadn't heard before and that I assumed I wouldn't like. Their music is a bizarre combination of 80's tacky rock with a modern touch of pop......I have to say that even though I was not very inspired at the beginning of the night, I ended up really enjoying myself...jumping and dancing to the music. It was a lot of fun ! I'm sure all these was able to happen with just a simple but solid mixture of elements: live music, photography, rum and coke.

VISIONS 2

2009-08-13T15:15:00.000-07:00

VISIONS 1

2009-08-10T07:12:00.000-07:00

CORTELYOU RD

2009-08-10T06:11:00.000-07:00

COCKFIGHTING

2009-07-28T18:13:00.000-07:00

Today was the first time I was able to see a real cock fight. It happened as an unfortunate stroke of serendipities. Not really knowing, I had to cover an event where they were having as the main event cockfighting. I was in a bit of a shock while watching......the people's unexplainable crudeness, the colors of blood slowly being more and more obvious on the victim, kids and adults shouting and betting for their bird, it was all a bit surreal. While I was there though, standing outside the cockpit, I came to realize that I didn't have to be there. However, as a photographer this was a moment I wanted to participate in and record. I didn't come up with many images from the fights....one more thing that I learned today is that cock fights last only about a minute.....at least from my experience.Were those minutes worth ?......to me, for obvious reasons, it was definitely not.
In this image, the "red team" is preparing their bird for the fight by tying a very sharp blade on each leg. While the two teams get their birds ready, a mediator walks around gathering the money for the upcoming fight's bets. The red team and their cock ended up victorious this time.

PURE

2009-07-20T17:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I find it hard to post images and write something about them. Some images should just be. Be by themselves. We should learn how to leave some things pure....untouched.....sterile. And I think that's exactly what I'm going to do right now....honor this belief by remaining quiet.

SUMMER

2009-07-16T15:04:00.001-07:00

From Walden:
"This is a delicious evening, when the whole body is one sense, and imbibes delight through every pore. I go and come with a strange liberty in Nature, a part of herself. As I walk along the stony shore of the pond in my shirt sleeves, though it is cool as well as cloudy and windy, and I see nothing special to attract me, all the elements are unusually congenial to me."

AM I GOING DOWN

2009-07-13T07:39:00.001-07:00

SPECTATORS

2009-07-10T08:33:00.000-07:00

I went to shoot a fashion-makeup runway yesterday, for some strange reason there were a lot of kids present.

SUNDAY 7:50 PM

2009-07-05T16:00:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time now since my last post. I'm sorry for the laziness I've shown the last couple of days....I think my lack of effort with posting has been a product of being very busy with a slight touch of laziness; which as a friend said.....they make up for a perfect cocktail ! I've been shooting a lot of events lately and even though I'm making some money out of it I can't say I've been producing amazing images, especially since I don't have much experience shooting first communions and weddings....... I'm learning though and I can definitely see a smoother, clearer horizon for me. Something soothing about all this is that I think the clients are very satisfied with what I've been putting together, it's me who has to keep on exploring the tangled fields of shooting this type of photography. I think I should clarify that I haven't been the "first-hired" photographer for the events....I've been working for a couple of magazines and they've been the ones assigning me those jobs. Since the magazines have a particular style of presenting and designing their content I've felt somewhat "chained" to achieve that specific style they're looking for. Other than that life is great, my photography keeps on evolving and my creative processes just keep on getting more and more intimate and genuine........I feel very passionate about the learning experiences I've been having lately.
After these confessions I wanted to share some images I shot back in New York with expired film. I love the uncertainty and unpredictability of working with unknown materials. In this case the images turned out magenta and low saturated. Hope you enjoy !

MORE HOLGA

2009-06-04T21:03:00.000-07:00

FUTBOL - SOCCER

2009-05-29T10:18:00.000-07:00

After many years of defeats and struggles the soccer team for Puebla got into the semifinals of the 2009 tournament. Even though Puebla and the opposing team tied on goals, Puebla didn't make it to the finals due to the rankings they had during the preseason. "The Franja" fans gave their team one of the greatest welcomes I've seen.

DEAD INSECTS AND FEATHERS

2009-05-20T09:19:00.000-07:00

So many things in my head. I thought maybe by writing them down or posting them somewhere I could react quicker to them. So here it is a very random list of things I keep on wondering about:
climbing walls, drinking coffee (I just read caffeine boosts leg and brain power, so no more caffeine guilt), trumpets playing along the sounds of traffic, Thoreaus' Walden, Death Proof the movie, long distance friendships, unknown countries, found photography, productivity, attempting and failing innumerable times to keep a written journal, my new huaraches, planting more than one thing from the seed, noticing subtleties, old records with bright colors and weird designs on their covers, Clyde Butcher, found objects such as dead insects and feathers...

SHOOT THE FREAK

2009-05-14T07:59:00.001-07:00

Searching for memories I decided to look in my external hard drive for hints. It was very rewarding to go folder by folder looking at photographs I took days, months or even years ago. This image came from when I was living my New York adventure..I was living on Cortelyou Rd with another mexican friend (also an artist) and with another great character and friend from Colombia (also a photographer). We would spend our days looking for freelance jobs, drinking fresh colombian coffee, listening to Joanna Newsom, listening to salsa music that Juanchito (our colombian friend) of course knew since he was a kid and cooking cheap meals; these usually made with bread, beans, eggs and if we wanted to go fancy we would spend the extra cents on avocados. We lived on the very bottom of Brooklyn, in a super multicultural neighborhood surrounded by mexicans selling their pan dulce and their tamales, by jews, by polish people selling their pierogis, their breads and sausages, and of course by americans. Those ordinary-everyday experiences now seem more important than what they were before...
Ok, so back to the description of the images. Since we lived in Brooklyn's south, Coney Island was just a couple of stops away from us ! We would take the Q train, pass Newkirk Av, Brighton Beach, Oceans Parkway (just to name some I remember) and we were there...in this bizarre land of real and fake tans, of abandonment, of crazy characters and of cotton candy...eventhough I never saw anyone buy it. This is what came out.

TRANSFORMACIONES

2009-05-04T16:52:00.000-07:00

PRESS HERE

2009-04-27T11:36:00.003-07:00

OH POLAROID !

2009-04-24T17:31:00.000-07:00

I've always been such a fan of design. It 's very interesting to me to see how we create and use images (symbols) as modes of representation. I scanned a couple of Polaroids some months ago; all types and sizes. This is one of them. I love the colors, but most of all I love the simplicity of it. Oh polaroid !!

PELEARAN, DE DOS A TRES CAIDAS..

2009-04-15T09:55:00.000-07:00

I shot this in La Arena Puebla which is the ring where lucha libre takes place. I've lived in Puebla on and off for many years now and in all this time I haven't watched any live luchas. Finally, a couple of Mondays ago Carrie and I drove down, ordered some beer and fried chips and watched Mistico annihilate his enemies: the Rudos.

Good times..

THE BEGINNING...

2009-04-14T09:23:00.000-07:00

So, after a long time of failed attempts I decided to start this space; a space which will hopefully help me to understand the world and life itself a little bit better.

This is meant to be a space of visual and written documentation and I'm really hoping that this somewhat online journal will help me share some of the views I have about life and existence...these hopefully accomplished through photography and written thoughts. Also, I have to say that I do not consider myself much of a writer, but again.. I think this space will help me break some of the insecurities I have with it.

Since it's my first post I thought it was critical to post an image as well. I shot this on my way to Cuetzalan. Cuetzalan is located in the state of Puebla, Mexico and it is considered to be one of the thirty-four "Pueblos Magicos" in Mexico. This "magical village" is a place with symbolism, legends, history, important events, day-to-day life – in other words, "magic" in its social and cultural manifestations.

So it Begins...