30-AUG-2011
Street scene, Cuenca, Ecuador, 2011
Vivid colors bring Cuenca’s neighborhoods to life. This blue building, adjacent to our Spanish school, always drew my eye. Along with its blue façade, one of its doors was always framed in brilliantly colored children’s products. I used this building as a backdrop, and photographed many people approaching and passing it over the month I was in Cuenca. This particular woman proved to be one of the most striking pedestrians. She carries her baby in her arms, bundled in a bright pink blanket. She strides with self-confidence, head held high and baby held firmly. (It should not be too long before her child will be carrying a backpack such as those decorating the doorway she approaches here.)
30-AUG-2011
Preoccupied, Cuenca, Ecuador, 2011
I regularly photographed these old doors on a 19th century yellow building only a block from my apartment in Cuenca. I was fascinated by how they evoked the past yet served the present. They made a perfect background for street photography, because they provided a rhythmic backdrop for pedestrians as they moved past them. I was fortunate to catch this particular man walking past them, obviously preoccupied at the moment. He seems to be holding his head with one hand as he walks, as if he was trying to think, or in despair. In any event, he never notices the array of doors that speak of the city he lives in.
28-AUG-2011
Cuenca brass band, playing on the equator, Quito, Ecuador, 2011
I made this image in Quito, Ecuador’s capital, during brief layover prior to our connecting flight to Cuenca. Ironically, after I had shot it, our tour leader told me that this brass band was from Cuenca, and was in Quito for a special performance. I shot many images of their performance in the covered courtyard located directly on the equator, just outside of Quito. This one caught the spirit of the players, a group ranging in age from teenagers to seniors. It expresses the energy, effort, and concentration it takes to make music together as a cohesive unit.
13-SEP-2011
Neighborhood monument, Cuenca, Ecuador, 2011
This column, commemorating the anniversary of one of Ecuador’s military victories in its 19th century war of independence with Spain, stands in the middle of an intersection in a busy Cuenca neighborhood. The religious statue on top of the column seems to be blessing those standing below. I used a 24mm wideangle lens to make this photograph, while standing very close to the base of the column and shooting straight up at the statue overhead. My perspective lends great thrust to the outstretched arms of the statue as they extend outwards -- a threatening sky of churning clouds fills the frame behind them. Two narrow celebratory banners are attached to the column as well, and I place one of them emerging from the upper left corner of the frame to complement the base of the column, which enters the picture at the lower left corner of the frame. I get the feeling that the statue is doing its best to hold back an oncoming storm.
15-SEP-2011
Shattered hand, Cuenca cemetery, Cuenca, Ecuador, 2011
The detail tells the story here – one of the hands on this marble tomb monument been broken by either time or vandals, yet what remains of it is still locked in a grieving embrace with its counterpart. One of its fingers has been broken in half. Another finger has been re-attached. The softly focused face of the figure reflects the sad tone of the image in the background.
18-SEP-2011
Cathedral, Cuenca, Ecuador, 2011
As in any South American city, the primary cathedral is at the heart of it spiritual life. Cuenca is no different. Its huge “new” cathedral, built in the 19th century, dominates the skyline and stands at the center of the town. I photographed it inside and outside over my month long stay, and this image proved to be my favorite interior. I was struck primarily by the cathedral’s sheer scale, and how light played within its vast archways. When the cathedral opens its doors, daylight flows in and adds luminous arches of its own. I made many images from this spot, catching worshippers as they walked towards me – I wanted to find a row of them, gradually decreasing in terms of size and spacing, and this is the image that worked most expressively.
04-SEP-2011
Worshippers, Cuenca, Ecuador, 2011
The five men were standing in the back of San Alfonso Church during a Sunday mass. I found their facial expressions and body language nicely expressed how they felt about this moment in time. It was a somber, reflective scene, and I converted the image from color to black and white in order to intensify the mood.
16-SEP-2011
Layers, Cuenca, Ecuador, 2011
Cuenca, Ecuador’s third largest city, is not on its tourism circuit. Visitors to Ecuador generally go to places like Quito, the lovely colonial capital, its nearby Avenue of the Volcanoes, the offshore wildlife sanctuary in the Galapagos Islands, or its exotic Amazon River rainforest. Yet Cuenca is probably Ecuador’s best-kept secret. Its ambiance is seductive, often shrouded in implied mysteries. I layer this image in such mysteries – framing the Calle Francisco Borrero in the overhanging tile roofs of its colonial buildings. Two churches punctuate the massive array of rainclouds overhead. I liked the way small splashes of sunlight penetrate the cloud layers, illuminating the red tile roofs, as well as the blue steeple of the San Alfonso church, and backlighting the venerable bells of the Monasterio de las Conceptas, founded here in 1599.
18-SEP-2011
Market woman, Paute, Ecuador, 2011
Paute is known for its vast Sunday market, serving an Andean valley about an hour out of Cuenca. This woman, wearing a traditional Ecuadorian Panama hat, is giving me a critical eye. Her red scarf charges the picture with energy. She brings baskets of fresh vegetables to sell at this market and probably has been doing it for a very long time.
08-SEP-2011
Mercado 9 de Octobre, Cuenca, Ecuador, 2011
Between 8 and 9 in the morning, this market is maelstrom of activity. I stood on a stair landing just over its central court, where a line of entrenched women in traditional costume was selling fresh vegetables and other foods to buyers. They have earned the best location in the entire market. I was struck by the body language of the women sitting just below the religious icon within a glass case. Their arms suggest great patience, while the saintly figure in the case incongruously uses an energetic gesture to rally support for the sellers.
22-SEP-2011
Student chef, Cuenca, Ecuador, 2011
I made this portrait of a young university student, who most likely is studying the culinary arts, at a Cuenca pastry festival held in the city’s central square She is surrounded by her fellow students, garbed in a pristine white uniform and hat. She folds her arms, and looks expectantly at her colleagues as I made this photograph. It is a portrait of vulnerability -- a youthful talent learning a trade, slowly gaining the self-confidence that comes with knowledge and experience.
01-SEP-2011
Mercado Feria Libre, Cuenca, Ecuador, 2011
This woman is selling potatoes at Cuenca’s largest wholesale market. I liked the glowing blue tarp that defines her working space, the straw fedora, and the heavy scarf at the neck. She was saying something to me as I photographed her – I think she must have been asking me to buy some potatoes or to take my camera elsewhere. I made this shot and moved on, delighted to capture the gruff, no-nonsense approach to business indelibly defined here.