Author: Fiamma

While on assignment shooting for the book La Milpa, one of our stops was a farm directly in the middle of Xochimilco. I couldn’t have asked for better, I love this place so much and any excuse to go back is a good one. It’s so peaceful and beautiful, and now part of it has been designated as an ecological reserve. There are so many species of beautiful birds and clear peaceful waters. One of my absolute favorite places on earth. Everything just kind of moves slower there.

This here is our Trajinero,and his job is not easy, he must have rowed for no less than 4 hours without a break. But he was really friendly and when it started to get dark he was nice enough to creep us out with some serious Xochimilco scary stories.

A beautiful day with just the right puffy clouds for some great photographs….

Stephanie and Lisa, excursion buddies.

A couple of the locals. This man was very drunk and yelled funny things at us as we passed in the boat. I hope he didn’t fall in! He could barely stand but nonetheless he was working hard.

The book I shot the photos for is a cookbook with recipes that are based on traditional Mexican farming, so our main goal on this ride was to photograph the “milpas.” The first place we went to was an area where they only grow cactus, cactus as far as you can see. It made for some really great shots.

More farming:

Warm sunny skies turned into a cool evening. We rowed back to the docks very slowly, and quite cold.

Yes, it’s been a while, quite a while, for which I will have a lot of catching up to do and a lot of photos to post. First up, a few shots of my honeymoon in Chiapas in October. We spent a few rainy days in San Cristobal, which isn’t your typical honeymoon spot but was none the less awesome. Although it was cold and rainy it was SO relaxing and mucho romantico. We stayed in a hotel that also doubles as a museum and our room had a fireplace, which my husband put to good use.

A rainy view from our hotel room: 

Walking around town, TJ looks into buying a Mexican made guitar….

The cemetery in Chamula, a small town outside San Cristobal with some very interesting religious practices. The locals observe a religion that is a combination between Catholicism and traditional Mayan paganism. There’s chicken sacrifices, there’s burping, there’s superstitions. Very cool, very interesting, very dangerous if you even attempt to photograph inside one of their churches. They will find you, they will kill you.

Some of the locals….

Did I mention Chiapanecos are very religious?

Painted streets: keremos Rock (we want rock)…

Nighttime in San Cristobal:

As per any of our vacations, TJ made a four-legged friend. Here our new friend joins us for dinner at the hotel/museum:

Earlier in the fall I visited Stone and Thistle Farm in upstate New York for a farm stay. Stone and Thistle’s main product is meat (chicken, turkey, rabbit, pigs, goats, lamb) and they raise the animals cage-free and with organic feed. Our stay consisted of a tour, a wonderful dinner cooked by the owner/chef, a cozy room with a library, and early morning farm chores. It was peaceful for me see how these animals live (quite nicely I thought) even if they are scheduled to die. Of course, not all animals live like this, but it is really important that we raise farming standards so that more of them might. I think being concerned with the quality of life of what we eat is really important, specially on a day like Thanksgiving.

And here they are! The Thanksgiving turkeys, raised every year for mass slaughter right before the holiday. Yes sad, but every living thing dies, and look at their surroundings. Not too shabby. They are moved around every few days so they can always have fresh grass.

The newly received baby turkeys (chicks?). They are actually shipped overnight from a hatchery in the midwest.

Our friendly rancher guide. Talking about the life (and death) of the animals. Yes unfortunately the cute bunny will die to become food someday too. Sorry.

The baby goats as well… Although some of them are for milk only.

My farm buddies.

Our lodging:

Early morning chores on the farm: hanging out with the goats (one of them actually nibbled on Ashley’s butt), feeding the pigs, the chickens and the rabbits, and picking some fresh tomatoes…

Finally, after a long day of work, a nice hammock nap with the herding dogs. Like I said before, nice living, for all of those involved.

My new goal is to shoot at least one portrait on every photo related outing, because I have a small phobia of people. One I really should get over quick if I want to keep doing this photography thing. My friend Lisa came to visit while I am in Mexico City working, and I took her down to one of my favorite places in DF, Tlatelolco. While we were there we met this homeless man who claims to be a survivor of the Tlatelolco Massacre of 1968. And not just any survivor, but someone the government claims to be long dead. He claims he has been in jail for the past forty years being tortured and threatened. I smell a conspiracy! Or maybe just a severe case of schizophrenia.

Second installment of Paris in Motion… I think I got better towards the end. The last shots I decided to make look more vintage-y because of the bike…. I don’t usually do many effects on images but I thought in this case it was appropriate. My mother called these postcards that come to life. I like it.