Mexico City
I’m going to be honest, personally I’m not a fan of writing about artwork or photography. As an artist I prefer to let the viewer of the work interpret the image for themselves. Instead of holding the viewers hand like much of the modern world which appear to guide and dictate the story, I’m more of a traditionalist.
Alas after a lot of conversation with my wife, she insisted to break my old ways. Instead of writing about the images themselves I’ll talk about the story and feel behind the lens.
So….. Mexico city, a spawling metropolis in central America was my street and travel photography trip this time. As a desperate attempt to get out of the over Christmassyfied, grey, misery pit of London in December. I hate Christmas, yep I said it. We chose two weeks of packed in travel across Mexico including Mexico city- Oaxaca – St Cristóbal – Merida and every Pyramid/Museum and Tequila bar we could find on route.
After a 12 hour red eye flight from London we touched down at Mexico city airport. Fresh from the customary viewing of disappointing Hollywood blockbusters, a few red wines and very little sleep my wife and myself were greeted with the fine aroma of a broken sewer system and the lovely passport control.
Mexico has a bit of a bad reputation with Cartels and street crime, I was intrigued to find out the reality of the situation. After travelling to 80 odd counties, I’m not really bothered about reputations and have a real interest to find out the truth for myself. Anyhow I digress. After grabbing the cases we left the sewage smelling airport for the first glances of Mexico city via the taxi window. Heading for the centre of town our hotel was located in the near the Zocalo. Mexico is a big old mistress, I always find it fascination looking out the window driving into a new cities. The architecture, types of car and social make up are all on show for getting the first vibes of a place.
We arrived in Mexico city and unable to check into the hotel, dumping the bags. I grabbed my Sony A7r IVA, lenses and drone (ps.. this was a mistake to bring, as it is illegal for non-Mexican people to fly drones in Mexico, just another extra weight on my back as we walked around for the next two weeks) with a slight hangover, very tired and in need of a cigarette the trip began.
The now familiar smell of sewage in the air and a heavily armed police force near the Zocalo. Which we later found out was due to a Christmas concerts put on for the inhabitants of Mexico city. Anna and myself cracked on exploring what turned out to be a bloody brilliant city.
Enjoy.
