Wanderlust

I just got back from an amazing weekend at the IPPA photo conference in St. Louis. I am feeling more inspired, excited and enthusiastic than I have felt in awhile and I can’t wait to get back to work and start on some new projects. I just want to personally thank everyone who came and supported the organization and to everyone for all of their hard work. Speaker Erik Lunsford made us all laugh with his stories and taught us the importance of learning to “verticalize” our pictures, Liz Baylen touched and inspired us with her amazing multimedia work, David Eulitt shared some amazing portrait and personal work and made us all want to run out and buy a Diana camera and Josh Meltzer showed us how to be “content aware” and shared his work from Guadalajara, Mexico. If you missed anything, the contest and speaker presentations are all online on the IPPA website.

It was a fantastic experience and I don’t think anyone could possibly forget Chris Sweda’s hilarious photo of a monkey riding a dog…

I didn’t take many photos over the weekend but here’s one I really like of John L. White mimicking Lewis Hine’s iconic powerhouse mechanic photograph at the City Museum yesterday. Keep in Flight!

On my last day in Mexico, my roommate, comrade and partner in mischief Ana Manzano and I headed to the pre-Hispanic city of Teotihuacan to see the pyramids. We had a fantastic bus ride due to our drivers insatiable love of 80′s/90′s pop ballads and we sung our way in and out of the city.

The ruins are a stunning sight, even at a distance, and we walked along the Street of the Dead towards the massive Sun pyramid. [Apparently I was having a "minimalist day", so I apologize in advance if the negative space gets overwhelming.]

After an extraordinarily long and hot trek, we made it to the base of the Sun pyramid. As we looked at it looming above us, Ana joked, “I’m not trying to do the second one [pyramid].” Glancing over at the moon pyramid which looked about another mile away, and then looking at the massive structure next to me, I just laughed in agreement.

As we neared the top, massive rain drops started to fall and Ana looked back at me wildly grinning. Tourists pulled out their umbrellas and ponchos, but having neither, I just let myself get drenched and took in the view.

After the pyramids, we did a bit of wandering and found a little side street lined with shops, restaurants and endless picture possibilities.

We decided on a little cantina and instantly fell in love. While sipping Manzana Lift [an apple flavored soda], I suddenly heard, “Béseme, Béseme mucho”, in my ear and I turned to find two charming men with guitars singing their hearts out.

After finishing our enchiladas, Ana ran over to talk to the women who ran the place and found out that three generations of women were all cooking together. They taught her how to make tortillas and shared some stories.

Back in Chicago, I’m still processing the trip and everything that has happened. My only coherent thought at the moment is that I need to figure out a way to get back to D.F. as soon as possible.

a.