Street photography in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro...

These are images of a one day shoot in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I went to accompany Clara to a baptism, and squeezed a day to drive around, walk and shoot. It was an unusual day for Rio, rainy and with a dark and sort of mysterious light. I was actually happy to be able to witness the city under a very different type of mood. I chose to shoot rather dark black and white images to convey the feeling in the streets that day.


Brazil (South America), Rio de Janeiro, Street - Images by Martin Herrera

You can fin more images in my documentary and travel photography archive.

Fishermen in Cabo Polonio, Uruguay

It’s 6.00am in Cabo Polonio, Rocha, a small beach town in the Atlantic coast of Uruguay. I witness 3 men performing their daily routine. No easy task I have to say.The first lights of dawn are breaking through the doubtful skies, which at times looks hesitant, like wanting to go back to sleep. The wind is blowing hard, harassing the sea into sets of spike white crests.

As I approach them in the vast beach, they actively perform the task of precariously sliding the two tons boat through the sand and into the defying ocean. My presence does not seem to alter in any noticeable way their daily routine, neither the intensity of the task at hand. Two of them, one in each side of the ‘Machipe’ manage the ship as it slides over two metal tubes rolling over a set of flat woods used as rails. The third one controls the pace at which the process evolves by lifting or dropping the anchor into the sand.

The only witness of his role the long line carved in the sand by the heavy weight of the anchor. Getting ‘Machipe’ into the sand is only the beginning of what will for sure be a long day of work.

Martin Herrera Soler | www.MartinHSphoto.com



http://galleries.martinhsphoto.com/c/martinhsphoto/gallery/Fishermen-in-Cabo-Polonio-Uruguay/G0000NcEp7ZYwVPU

I just submitted and image to JPG Magazine. I would love your vote if you care...

SEO and the business of photography...

I've come across what I consider a jewel of photography and business in the modern age. The people from Photoshelter have but together and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) cookbook, that walks you through pretty much everything you need to know about how to drive traffic and business to your site.

Many people think that being optimized for search it's about typing your name in google and having your site show up in the first page of the google search results. Yet, what SEO is really all about, is to get unsolicited traffic to your site of qualified potential customers that are interested in what ever is you are trying to offer (perhaps it's fine art, or documentary assignments, etc.).

Having a business background, I found this to be very well developed, accessible and incredibly valuable. You DO NOT need to be subscribed to Photoshelter's service to have access to this information, and it's as valuable for your current site.

The SEO Cookbook for Photographers and additional resources it's available here. Hope this helps and have fun...

Martin Herrera | www.MartinHSphoto.com
Documentary, editorial and travel photography assignments in South America

While my eyes are still fresh... bay watch!

I guess this post will make more sense for those of you Californians that have had the chance to witness the blazing yellow trucks through the sandy beaches of Santa Monica and along the coast. For those of you who while surfing or resting in the beach, have seen the ever muscular, sculpted and perfectly tanned bodies of the life guards, wearing their red bathing-suits... Or perhaps it will make sense for those of you, who like me, grew watching Bay Watch, and just like Chandler and Joey (Friends!) were mesmerized by the voluptuous body of Pamela Anderson as she diligently ran to save somebody's life in the shore.

Well, if you are venturing to surf (when ever there are waves) or simply bathed in the Montevideo waters, you are to be advised that your life will be protected, but by our much less 'sophisticated' - should I say? - lifeguard.


Lifeguard in playa Carrasco in Montevideo.

There is something about living in a beach town...

It's summer down here... and the past few weeks have gotten me thinking about the social implications of living in a beach town. Every day as I head out to work, or on my way back, I drive along the coast, and get to see the beaches full of people. The kids are playing and parents are simply relaxing and having a great time. It's quite a privilege that 'regular' cities simply don't have.

In Uruguay, during the first month of summer (January), most high and middle class families tend to leave town and go further east to summer towns. As they do, lower income class families take the busses down to the most affluent neighborhoods along the coast and make good use of the beaches. All along the coast, from Ramirez to Carrasco, people crawl out of overflowing busses to spend a day in the beach. It's great to live in a place that offers let's say a more 'democratic' access to entertainment!

Clara, KC and I have done just that... every afternoon that I can I just go down and play in the water. It also makes for quite unique photo opportunities.

Maldonado - Ruta 12.

As the warm weather comes south, I've been taking more trips around Uruguay. This last time, I drove along many minor routes that I had never traveled before. Ruta 12, heads-up North from Punta Ballenas (very close to Punta del Este) and gets to Minas. About 13 kms north of Ruta 9, there is this magical place called Pueblo Eden. No more than 40 people, that right forty, live in this beautiful place. I'll be going some more soon, so you can expect more images. In the meantime I leave you with some images from right outside the town at sunset. Perhaps I have not mentioned this before, but Uruguay has some of the most amazing skies I have ever seen.



Ruta 12, Maldonado, right outside Pueblo Eden.

Hard life...

Mammoth mountain it's open, and to me, that marks the start of the winter. The moment in time, when I start to look at the weather forecast and snow reports with consistent devotion. Yet, this year, and I am beginning to wonder if I will even use my season pass. I know, this sounds almost like blasphemy. But I am down south now, and the idea of simply heading north for a couple of weeks feel at time a bit out of place. We'll see how the year develops...

In the meantime, summer is here in Uruguay. The flies, the overwhelming heat are a true testament to it. KC sleeps even longer naps during the day, only to resurrect when the sun starts fading in the west (which happens quite late these days) and the temperature becomes more forgiving.



KC lying in the sun in Punta del Este.

Kirtans...

As I said a while ago, kirtans and the yoga community are among the things I miss the most from LA (quite close for the top spot with Trader Joes). In mid September I got the chance to go back and spend a couple of weeks in LA, simply reconnecting and getting back in touch with people. I was fortunate to be there just in time for this year's edition of the Global Mala event. Not only I got to listen to wonderful performers, but also I got to spend time outside in the Loyola campus.



Global Mala Project 2008 in the Loyala Marimount University Campus. Saul David Raye

Interestingly, my prayers got answered in many more ways than I could anticipate. Not long after my original post of what I miss from LA, I got a mail from Krishna Das communicating that he would be perfroming in Buenos Aires (which is just 20 minutes away by plane from Montevideo). It was a great opportunity for Clara and I to spend time vacationing in there, and to nurture our souls with some great performance.



Neem Karoli Baba's picture in the audio console - certainly an inspiration!

If you want to see more images from this event, check them out in here.

Reminders...

Today we had the opportunity to do some socials and we spent the afternoon at a friends house, who was celebrating his birthday. As always I took my camera with me, and through the course of the afternoon just took it out for the 'candle-cake' moment. As I got home and look through the few pictures I took, I was reminded how of how much I love to shoot people. How much I like to get close on them and find those expressions that speak for themselves. Tare care and enjoy... Martin.

What I miss... the LA's yoga community and more...

I have been lately spending some time looking at my photo archive, and processing many images from late last year, as well as early this year, before our move to South America. And as I went through them, I came across a few images I took at a Kirtan last January in Exhale (Santa Monica, CA). It was so sweet to re-connect with the energy and the feelings of being in a Kirtan.



This is something I really miss about LA. Having a kirtan every week, being close to the LA yoga community, nurturing from the wonderful energy of it's members, and taking pictures while I chanted in total trance. I am happy that a lot of my work before leaving LA was very related to the yoga community.

On a perhaps less elevated level, I miss the food like crazy. Who would have said that I would grow such a dependency with Trader Joe's? Before moving to LA, I remember reading a post on the web, of a person who after moving out of state, decided to return to California, because he could not take being apart from Trader Joe's... I dismissed it as just another eccentricity of a 'california dude'. Yet, I have to say that perhaps I am not as close to leaving everything behind here down south, but I sure miss the great food.

On nutrition related topics (or perhaps social), I miss a lot the cool places to eat in west LA. Don't get me wrong. You can eat well in Montevideo (certainly not a great variety on the healthier side, not to mention on the veggie side); but what this place does NOT have, is breakfast places. I miss so much our neighborhood's cafes. For whatever the reason, that I have just not figured out yet, people do not go out for breakfast in here... and the places there are, lack any kind of individuality, charm or creativity in their food offer of feel for the place. Long live Zabbie's and Cafe Bolivar! :)

Well, I'll head down to the kitchen to deal with my need for some nurturing food!

KC's case of insomnia.

I have not had much time to blog about KC since we got to Uruguay. Since the move I have not shot much work, yet I continue to find inspiration (thank God) at home, where I spend a lot of time besides work. As always, a good part of my in house photo work revolves around KC.

Many things have changed for him since we moved. For starters, he has a much bigger garden. Not that he really knows what to do with it; he spends most of his time inside right next to us. Even though in LA we had grown to the point where he was more independent and would go outside on his own, since we got here, he has been very attached. The moment one of us gets up, he does so as well and will follow you to make sure you don't leave him behind.

Another difference for him, has been the fact that we totally changed his diet. Dog food in Uruguay has not come along as much as in the US, where you get kibble that is organic, and with a minimum share of grain, which dogs have a really hard time digesting. The best we found in here, has as the main ingredient corn, which is obviously cheaper than animal based protein. So KC has gone raw! I will post a video some time later about his first uncooked chicken. He was totally puzzled and took quite a while to figure out what to do with it. Now a days he chews and triturates bones like he's eating mash potatoes.

Another thing that has been a big change for him, has been that he is starting to stay alone at home, something I resisted all throughout the year a half that we had him in LA. Clara and I working from home, and having my mom, Bill and their dogs just five minutes away was the perfect excuse for me to not confront leaving him alone. I say 'confront' because I realize that I have a harder time leaving him than he does staying alone, to the point that I have realized what a big learning opportunity it is for me to deal with my abandonment issues...

But one thing has remained constant. As evidenced by the images below, KC continues to have a hard time sleeping. We have not been able to find a way to make him sleep comfortably...

KC is showing clear signs of insomnia!









Oh, by the way. Since he was welcomed-bitten by the doggie gangsters of the neighborhood, in order to compensate for the emotional distress, we allowed him to sleep in the bed for almost 3 weeks. After this period, not only was he feeling much better, but he had also managed to feel comfortable enough to expand his presence from a tiny corner of the bed, to almost half of it, leaving Clara and I in a full size bed curled-up in the top half. You can see him in action below.

Candombe...

Fully dressed comparsa during Las Llamadas de Otoño (the autumn calls).


Banderilleros performing their magic against the setting sun.


It's been close to a month since we got to Uruguay and yet, it seems like every day we are running errands related to our move. Every time we manage to finish one, two show up. Hence, I have not managed to create a lot of time, and even more importantly, space in my head to go out and shoot.

I did however, get out for a couple of hours to shoot las llamadas de otoño (the autumn 'calls'). As if the longest carnival in the world, comprised of 40 days of performances between february and mid-march was not enough, the comparsas manage to squeeze one additional parade before the arrival of the winter.

A full candombe group, or comparsa, is comprised of la cuerda - the group of drummers, las mulatas - a group of female dancers, and some additional characters with their specific dances (La Mama Vieja ("Old Mother"), the matriarch, El Gramillero ("Medicine Man"), Mama Vieja's husband, responsible for health and well-being and El Escobero or Escobillero ("Stick Holder"), who carried a long magical wooden stick that he uses to create new ways and possibilities for the future


La cuerda de tambores de La Gozadera, an open group from Malvin, Montevideo, Uruguay.



Mulatas dancing during the Llamadas de Otoño (autumn calls).

Candombe is what survives of the ancestral bantu roots, brought by the black slaves arriving to el Río de la Plata. Candombe, a drum-based musical style of Uruguay, originated among the Afro-Uruguayan population of Montevideo and is based on Bantu African drumming with some European influence and touches of Tango. The music of candombe is performed by a group of drummers. The barrel-shaped drums, or tamboriles, have specific names according to their size and function: chico (small, high timbre, marks the tempo), repique (medium, syncopation and improvisation) and piano (large, low timbre, melody).

While black culture was quickly repressed, to a big extent by the Montevideo establishment who considered the music and danced immoral, banning and harshly punishing those who performed it, the need of expression and liberation continued through the tambor. From this period of original celebrations in Uruguay, only the musical gathering is retained today, and find their principal manifestation in the "llamadas" of Barrio Sur and Palermo [+]. In Uruguay, people of African descent accounted for about half the population two centuries ago; they now number about 189,000 in a nation of 3.2 million [!].

Today, Candombe is performed regularly in the streets of Montevideo's central neighbourhoods on Sunday evenings as well as on many other occasions, and massively on January 6, December 25 and January 1. During Uruguay's Carnival period, all the comparsas, of which there are 80 or 90 in existence, participate in a massive Carnival parade called Las Llamadas ("calls") and vie against each other in official competitions in the Teatro de Verano theatre. During Las Llamadas, members of the comparsa often wear costumes that reflect the music's historical roots in the slave trade, such as sun hats and black face-paint. The monetary prizes are modest; more important aspects include enjoyment, the fostering of a sense of pride and the winning of respect from peers.


Groups of drum players light fires to heat-tune their drumskins, then march to the sound of the drums along the streets of the city to a meeting point.

To see more of my Uruguay work, click here.

Sources:
-Candombe.
-Wikipedia.
-El Toque de Camdombe.
-Rey Tambor.
[+] Excerpts of the paper presented in August 1994, in Salvador, Bahia, at the Second International Congress of Afro-American Cultures by Aglimira "La Negra" Villalba
[!] Excerpts from L.A. Times article by Sebastian Rotella

While my eyes are still fresh...

I am still enjoying this honeymoon of coming to a new place, and being able to be surprised and amazed by all the things different before they become the norm. As much as I would love to be able to have this ability innate no matter where I am (which at times I do), I realize that this happens a lot more gracefully when I am in a new place...

Among the many errands I have been running since we got to Uruguay, one of the more interesting was opening my business. You must understand that opening a business in Uruguay involves three main organizations (DGI - the equivalent of IRS, BPS - similar to the social security, and the ministry of work). Thankfully, at least they all have offices in the same building. It used to be that you would have to go from one office in one part of town, to the other in another part of town, just to find out that you had missed a signature or a stamp.

But integration, at least in some form has gotten to these institutions, that unable to link their systems together, now seat to reps, one from each company in the same desk, so once one has gotten all the information into the system, the other can go ahead to replicate the process in the systems of the other entity. Not fancy, yet more streamlined that in the past... :)

The final step in this process is to print your invoices in an 'official' print shop. There are only a limited number of print shops that are registered and authorized to print invoices, and the government keeps a tight control on such documents, like the numbers and series that have been printed. In order to finalize the process, you must know the name and the RUT (which is a 12 digit number) of the printshop. Since I did not know this information of any of the authorized print shops, I went with one that had given me a little hand made flyer on my way in, which wisely included precisely the required information to complete this process.

Feeling incredibly wise and smart for having accepted such flyer (and thus avoiding having to go back and make the line again), I decided to call the print shop to take the form and request the invoices. I was surprised by the phone number area code. Totally unfamiliar. Once I found out where this was, quite far and in a part of town I had never visited before, I requested to fax the form to avoid having to go twice, only to find out that the print shop did not have one of such hight tech devices available. So there I went... I had to ask several of the people at work to kind of get a sense of how to get there.

The print shop was quite amazing. You can see it by yourself in the image below. I have to say though, the service was outstanding. Incredibly manual and all, but the rep was well informed, was very detailed oriented, and the process - which existed - included a step by step form that was handed out to minimize problems. I chose the fast delivery option (there was also regular and super fast - 2 day turn around).


The print shop I was required to use to print the official invoices required by law to operate a business in Uruguay.


As I looked at awe through the bars of the precarious window, I asked the person on the other side if they printed there. Cordially he explained that this was the issue and reception office, extending his hand through the window and pointing down to the hand painted sign on the wall. He further explained that this job would go to one of the many printing facilities the company has... All I can say is that they did deliver on time and did a great job!

To see more of my Uruguay work, click here.

In the search of the elusive 'project'...

It's been a long time since I las posted in the Projects section of my site. Partly, because I have not been doing much work lately; at least not in the form of a 'project'. To a certain extent I continue to struggle with the whole notion of conceptualizing and defining a 'project'.

It's been my intention all along to use this section of my site, as an open space where I 'let you peak into the insights of my creative process'. Why? Because I would love to be able to do the same with other artists and photographers. Because as much as I have been able to learn in these past few years, I still urge access to this dimension of the creative work, and find it very difficult to find other colleagues to openly share this with me... so hopefully this will to a certain extend help others in the same process I am... and perhaps, in openly acknowledging it and writing about it, I will find a way through.

If you have been in any way following my work and this site, you probably know we (Clara, KC and I) have moved to Uruguay (more on this by clicking here). Even though the decision to do so goes well beyond my photographic work, and has a profound base in our family life project, there has been all along for me, the idea to re-connect to Uruguay. For the past 8 years I have lived abroad, and in the process I realized that I hardly know my country; that I really have a very limited understanding of this wonderful place and it's people.

So I have this idea (and illusion) that perhaps this elusive project notion will come together this time around. But I am almost certain it will not manifest as all my 'other projects' have in the past. It will most certainly not be the result of thinking, of conceptualizing and writing it down in a piece of paper.

Perhaps I am being naive, but lately I have this feeling that I just have to go out and shoot, and that one day, as I browse through my ever growing collection of images, just like one of those magical drawings that become 3D and pop-out at you when you look at them in a certain way, or from a certain angle, just like that the project will raise and become clear in my mind.

So for the time being, I continue the journey of practicing patience and trust (what I coincidence!) as I start heading out to discover not the place where I was born, but the place where I feel most connected to. I intend to take frequent short trips through different parts of the country with my motorcycle, and in this process get to know and connect with the place and the people.

Uruguay is a magical place to do photography... I leave you with a recent image from the 'Llamadas de Otoño' (autumn street festival where the carnival comparsas go out and perform fully dressed one last time before they retreat until the carnival next March). To see more of my Uruguay work, click here.



Llamadas de Otoño. Banderilleros displaying their magic against the setting sun.

Don't be fooled by the 95...

As many if you know, we are moving back to Uruguay. From a photographic perspective, it is my intention to dedicate the next few years to document many aspects of Uruguay that really stand out to me as I go back an immerse again in society. This is something that I feel I have to do while I am still 'fresh' and while my eye it's compelled to look for this aspects in daily life that in so many ways differ from what my life has looked like in the past years. Uruguay has many amazing and beautiful aspects of life as it used to be.

These to images are from my recent attempt to renew my Uruguayan documents. In all fairness, renewing the ID it's a much more sophisticated process that it actually involves a computer. But in my case there seems to be an anomaly with my birth certificate. This meant that I had to go back to the Archive to retrieve it.

Don't be fooled by the '95'... it was about the only thing in this whole place that actually used electricity to operate. Yes, there was a computer in the desk, but as far as I was able to observe, it's not used for any activity in any way related to the archival of such precious documents as your birth certificate.



The gentlemen asked me in which year I had registered it (not being my year of birth since I was actually born in Venezuela). He also asked if I remembered the 'book number' and 'Acta' (have no clue what this is in English) used to registered it. As you can imagine, I had no clue... I must have done this sometime in 1985.

After a dedicated search procedure involving all the files with my last name, and those similar to account for possible human filing error, it was determined that my birth certificate was not available. Options... well, not many. Perhaps registered it again? I'll let you know when I am back...



To see more of my Uruguay work, click here.

C'mon mom...

I continue to find inspiration within the small quarters of my home. A great photographer that I met not long ago, inspired when I realized that a high percentage of his portfolio images were taken either at home or with friends as his models. So there I went, and within the close space that surrounds the garage where we live in, KC is a predominant part of it.

Here he is waiting for Clara to finish her morning rituals to take him on his own and preferred rituals... or did you think that he likes to ohm more than he likes his morning walk?


C'mon mom... The meditation is the only thing between KC and his monring walk...

My America at home...

I came across this great idea, 'My America at Home', a nationwide photo project, September 17 to 23, 2007. For seven days, everyone in America is invited to join 100 of the nation's leading photojournalists to capture "the emotions of home." The goal of the project is to capture the extraordinary diversity that makes up American family life, representing a broad range of economic, geographic, racial, political, and socially diverse lifestyles.

There are several categories of what makes your home really 'home' and how your life is on a daily basis. So one of the images I submitted was this one...

Good morning... where is my walk? For the past few years we have tryed to adopt a 'slow movement' life style where our lives are not ruled by the alarm clock. But since we adopted KC, we have our new 'wet kiss' wake-up call every morning... right on time to start the day!



If you are interested in submitting images, you can check them at http://www.myamericaathome.com/. Hurry! It ends this week!

Take care! Martin.

Publication in FILE magazine...

I wanted to share that one of my images was published in the photography eZine (electronic magazine) FILE (http://www.filemagazine.com/). If you are not familiar with it, I strongly reccomended. It has great images.

Epson R2400 – The cost of Printing (my own analysis)

I have owned the Epson R2400 printer for a while now, and been wondering how much it really costs to print at home. Before buying I researched the topic, but found nothing really definitive on this topic. After running through 25 ink cartridges I thought it was worth to do some math and come closer to estimating the real cost of printing. There are obvious benefits to controlling your workflow end-to-end, but I wanted to know how much this was costing me.


Overview:
With a sample of 137 prints of diverse sizes and a few paper types, my preliminary conclusions are that it takes 0.03 of an ink cartridge to print a 4x6, 0.13 to print an 8.5x11 and 0.34 to print a 13x19. Estimating the prices of each ink cartridge at USDs 15 (I know this might vary slightly, but just as reference), the ink cost (not taking into account paper – more on this later) of a 4x6 would be USDs 0.45, 8.5x11 at USDs 1.95 and a 13x19 at USDs 5.10. [Note. More detail on the methodology I used to calculate this below].


Methodology:
So even though this is not a strict scientific approach, I think it provides a reasonable estimation to the cost of printing.

I used a sample of a 137 prints, distributed in 23 (17%) 4x6; 68 (50%) 8.5x11 and the remaining 46 prints (33%) 13x19. All the 4x6 were printed in Ilford Smooth Pearl Paper, while over 95% of the remaining prints were done in Epson Premium Luster.

In order to understand the cost, I decided to perform an analysis based on the printed area. I calculated the printed area for the 137 prints, totaling 18.272 square inches. Below, you can see a breakdown by print size.




Since I did not want to have to deal with the variances in color balance of the sample prints, and since the cartridges cost all the same price, I eliminated from this first part of the analysis the breakdown between color cartridges.

In order to print this 137 prints, I used a total of 25 ink cartridges. Simple math concludes that if 25 cartridges were required to print 18.272 sq/in, a 4x6 (with an area of 24 sq/in) would require 0.03 of an ink cartridge; 0.13 for an 8.5x11 (93.5 sq/in) and 0.34 for a 13x19 (247 sq/in). At an estimated USDs 15 per cartridge, the ink cost of a 4x6 would be USDs 0.45; 8.5x11 would come up to USDs 1.95 and the 13x19 to USDs 5.10. Note. One of the elements that might have an impact on these measurements, it’s when to replace the ink. The Epson driver advises of low ink, yet I tried to push as much as it seem reasonable before exchanging it. Yet, I did not allow it to get to the point where the printer forces you to replace the cartridge before continuing.

Finally, I added the cost of paper, to get the whole picture. The 4x6 Ilford Smooth Pearl Paper (30 sheets) costs approximately USDs 11 (tax included). The Epson Premium Luster Photo Paper in 8.5x11 (50 sheets) costs approximately USDs 17, and the 13x19 (50 sheets) costs 107.





Just as reference, my local professional lab, prints an 8x10 for USDs 10 (in a direct to printer mode, without any human intervention), or at USDs 0.13 per sq/in. Comparatively, I am printing at 0.02 per sq/in, or 80% less.

Conclusions:
As I said before, even though there are many areas of improvement for this study, it does provide a reasonable basis for comparison and thus for supporting the decision making process of purchasing and owning a printer.

If you have done some sort of analysis yourself, or have gotten access to one, please don’t hesitate to provide me a link to it.

Please send any comments to Martin Herrera | Martin@MartinHSphoto.com | www.MartinHSphoto.com.