On a sunny September day, I climbed onto a Primera Plus bus and traveled to the small city of Guanajuato. A four-hundred-year-old Spanish mining town, Guanajuato was the center of the Mexican war of independence. Built into a steep valley, colorful houses are terraced along tiny staircases that thread down to the valley floor. The city is generally known for two things, its tunnels and its mummies. The tunnels came about after the main river flooded in 1907, and almost wiped out the town. The locals decided to divert the river, leaving empty subterranean tunnels that had funneled water under the city. The tunnels were re-appropriated for transportation and expanded through out the area, minimizing traffic and leaving a lovely walking street that winds through downtown. The mummies are due to the hot dry climate and the practice of interring the dead in mausoleums. When the families of the dead could no longer afford to pay a yearly fee in order keep their dead loved ones in graves, the bodies were pulled out and kept in a museum adjacent to the graveyard. The museum is open today, but no longer practices disinterment.
Another remarkable historical site in Guanajuato is the Ex-Hacienda San Gabriel de Barrera. Built in the late 1600’s it was home to Captain Gabriel de Barrera who’s family were descendants of the Conde de Rul of the local Valenciana mine. This mine, though still active, was once one of the largest silver producing mines in the world. The old hacienda still stands, although it was heavily damaged in the war of independence. The hacienda grounds used to be a working refinery for silver oar extracted from the Valenciana mine, but now have been converted into seventeen incredible gardens. A week before, I came to Guanajuato on a scouting mission to see whether this place was appropriate for photography. What I found was a huge space that I would love to return to again and again, day or night, to create images.
I arrived midday at the bus station and was greeted by my old friend Nico. Nico and I met about three years back when he was working as a barista in a coffee shop and I used to ask him for help with my Spanish homework. Nico kindly volunteered to help me for the day as a photo assistant. Thank goodness he did, because I could not have done it with out him. We spent the day goofing around in the gardens taking all kinds of photographs. Having done the image on the Brooklyn Bridge as a Shiva, I though it would be fun to take some photos as Mary and the Virgin Guadalupe. I brought several yards of blue and red fabric with me and draped it over myself like a shroud. The imagery is probably too kitschy and obvious to actually work, but I had fun doing it.
This location screams for my sometimes photography collaborator Aloyse Blair, as it is full of beautiful fountains and I am not nearly as capable as she at imitating Greek goddess statues. I did my best, and looking at the images I would like to do some research on Greek goddess art and try again. At this point, I am finally starting to get the hang of my neutral density filter, and taking images with it is getting much more predictable. Ideally, I show up best in full sunlight with a dark shadowy background. Knowing this, I think making daylight images will start to become far more successful. Next time, I would really love to see if I can come back and shoot at night.
