Gaston's Graffiti

It’s one of the most famous necropoles in the world, and certainly one of the most grandiose.  This is Argentina’s cemetery for its rich, its powerful, and its famous.  Most notoriously, Eva Peron was laid to rest here, and that is what most people come to see.  Although her tomb is extremely simple compared to the giant statues and massive chapels build for other lesser known residents of La Recoleta.  One ubiquitous resident is the spider, weaving webs over all the statues, moldings and decorations, making it Halloween all year long here.

Those who know my photography well (all 3 of you! yay! ) will know that I have been gathering pictures of animals in their “unnatural” environment for a while now.  My “Captive” series has received quite a bit of attention and has received awards, but, it doesn’t mean it is finished.  I’m still working on it.  So, Buenos Aires – new city, new zoo, more animal pictures.  With this, I will now have pictures in this collection from four continents.  So here are a few captives from Argentina:

I discovered this very interesting market today in Buenos Aires, but before I tell you about it, let me get my usual spiel about markets off my chest…

The more I travel the more I tend to avoid markets.  Let me share a secret with you; nearly anywhere you go in the world, they are all the same.  If it’s a food market, yeah, fruit, veggies and dead animals.  And they often stink.  If it’s the ever popular “artisanal” market, or “traditional arts” market, trust me, they sell the same things all around the world.  This was made abundantly clear to Lars and I a few years ago when, in a market in Edmundson, New Brunswick, Canada, we found the exact same things as in artisanal markets in Latvia.  And I mean exact, down to identical stitches and matching woodwork. I lived in Latvia for a long time, and they are SO proud of their artisanal markets there, but really, nothing is original anymore.  So, for me, my reaction to makets is usually, oh hum, nothing special here.

BUT, today in the San Telmo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, I came upon what is probably the most unique, quirky and fun market I have ever visited.  It was mostly an antiques market, but all sorts of fun stuff was mixed in there.  There seems to be an unusual obsession with soda bottles here, for example.  Glasswear in one stand sparkled in the sun, along with the random chandelier pieces in the next stand.   I ended up nearly buying a complete collection of bound Tintin magazines from decades ago, but how would I ever have carried that back?  So Tintin stays in Argentina. Coin dealers, map experts, brass knob gatherers and tin soldier enthusiasts all packed tightly in Plaza Dorrego, but still left some space for a few tango dancers to drag their feet on the cobbled stones.  I would have wanted to buy so many things, odd trinkets that caught my eye, but I contented myself with a few commemorative coins with Evita Peron’s face on them.  That is easy enough to carry.

Remember when Madonna played a lady who did this:

From the balcony of this house:

Well that is where I am now.

What’s new? Buenos Aires!

I’m new! Stand back you oughta know what you’re gonna get in me,

Just a little touch of star quality. (sing along!)

Those of you from New Brunswick might say: “Argh more pictures from Hopewell Rocks!”, since they are so ubiquitous in imagery about the province.  But I am sure most of you are not at all aware of Hopewell Rocks.  In southern New Brunswick, the highest tides in the world combined with some soft rock cliffs has created some unusual sculptures, the Flower Pots.  I went to visit them on a very foggy day at low tide.  At high-tide they are halfway under water.

I spent yesterday walking around Fundy National Park, on the southern coast of my native province of New Brunswick.  Not much people photography going on there, I barely saw another living soul all day, unless it was a rabbit, a squirrel or a partridge.  I was all alone with nature, so that is what I took pictures of.  The Bay of Fundy is the site of the highest tides in the world.  While I could go to the seashore in the morning, I had to escape to the mountains in the afternoon, as the beaches were drowned under many many meters of water.  And after I got tired of the trees, animals, waterfalls and babbling brooks of the forests, I returned to the same beaches, wide and opened again… but just for a few hours before the tides return.

I’m in New Brunswick, Canada, right now, working some more on my project  about my Grandmother’s quilts.  This will be my last information gathering trip before I start working on the exhibit for this project which will take place in my hometown, Edmundston, New Brunswick, from February 4, 2012 to May 9, 2012.  The dates have changed a bit from what I originally posted.

I just spend a few days in Edmundston where I took pictures of my newest little cousin, Clement, and of my cousin Pierre-Luc too.  Then I spent a great weekend in Moncton, NB, with my aunt Jacqui and her husband Georges.  Jacqui is the only one who has continued to quilt, like my grandmother did, and she creates wonderful pieces of textile work.  She also owns a lot of interesting paraphernalia from my grandmother, and a collection of antique sewing machines, which will make a great addition to the Grandma’s Quilts exhibit.  Thank you Jacqui for a great weekend!  While in Moncton I also visited my cousin Mylene, who posed for me with her cute daughter Emilie.

I will be back in Edmundston by the end of this week trying to catch all of the relatives I am still missing for this project.  So if you read this and you want to make a appointment, let me know!

And if you would like to help me fund this very large exhibit project, please visit my fundraising site at:

http://www.indiegogo.com/Grandmas-Quilts?a=215713&i=addr

Thank you for your help!

Here is a list of things I saw today around the town of Osoyoos in British Columbia, that I never thought I would see occurring naturally on Canadian soil:  cactus – actually, cacti, lot’s of them growing wild in the fields; a desert area – no sand dunes, but very arid land, similar to what you would expect to see in Arizona, or Mexico; a spotted lake; and rattlesnakes – real live poisonous rattlesnakes, living in the wild.  See below for proof of my findings.  For the rattlesnake, there is no picture, you’ll just have to believe me.

Sunsets are beautiful, I know, but there are many billions of pictures of sunsets out there, all featuring bright colors and nicely silhouetted forms.  Consequently, many photographers tend to stay away from sunsets – too kitsch, overdone.  But I went walking along the ocean front on a beautiful evening in Cape Town, South Africa, last week.  The wind was blowing me off my feet and the sun’s ebbing glow reflected off the water and blinded me.  I felt compelled to take my camera out.  I tried to make more imaginative pictures of a sunset, and here are some of the results.  Hope it’s not too kitschy!

Yesterday, the folks at Momenta Workshops, in which I am participating right now, gave us a photo challenge.  The theme was “Red”, and we had until 7pm to create pictures on this theme in Cape Town, South Africa.  I decided to find a red house, and there so happens to be a very colorful Malay/Muslim neighborhood in the center of the city, so I went there.  I parked my butt in front of that house, and stopped all passer-bys and asked if I could take their pictures.  So here are my best pics from that little experiment – a portrait of Cape Town: