Storefront Return

Three different styles. The first image is rather typical of downtown Buenos Aires, where small, sparsely decorated cafes dominate.

The second image is of another ubiquitous site in this city, the kiosco. What the bodega is to the Bronx, the kiosco is to Buenos Aires.

And the final image is of yet another common city site. Hardware stores, as well as tire and paint shops abound, all helping to support the Argentine do-it-yourself attitude.

While all of these storefronts are of a common type, I think that these three have something special, whether they know it or not.

Brokedown Update

Two more views of some brokedown favorites.

Brokedown and No Way Home

These sort of scenes are incredibly prevalent both in our neighborhood and throughout Buenos Aires. Its not as though these cars are being work on, its as if they were originally set aside for that purpose but were forgotten. This seems to fit right in line with the Argentine reluctance to buy any kind of new automobile, though this sentiment only applies to the older generation. Just fix it up until the wheels fall off.

Two Views (La Boca)

Two views of the port of La Boca in Buenos Aires. The neighborhood is the long neglected former entry point of the city and feels a cross between a backwater port and an elegant shanty town. The stairway plunging into the fetid water seems a sort or analogy for the entire area. When the Europeans were streaming off the boat, this area was vibrant with multiculturalism and was a welcome sight after a long sea journey. Now it has been reduced to a second rate barrio in the city it helped create, where the history has been replaced by innumerable stalls selling Boca Juniors memorabilia.

Proper Celebration

Its the 4th of July and in Argentina that means nothing more than a few happy hour parties at a few expat bars scattered around the city. Certainly no backyard bbqs, days at the beach or coolers full of beer. And I stopped hoping long ago for a chance of fireworks.

This pile of oyster shells represents, in a way, a lot of what we're missing on a day like today. So if you're in the States, enjoy it for me.

Telltale Signs

This is a selection of photographs from my latest album, Telltale Signs. I am going to continue to shoot, but this might be the last full album for a while. This is my last month in Buenos Aires, and I'm going to be spending a good amount of time trying to photograph areas that I have yet to visit. Enjoy.

Signs of the Times

Been away for a bit because its a war of American and Italian stereotypes in the streets.

Searching For The Reason

I think I have been losing focus recently.  I know that this site was supposed to be about the way people move about the city, and the city being like a living organism, but I just can't fill the subject matter.  In a way, maybe I have been sticking to the theme, but it hasn't been all that clear sometimes.  However, I like the way things have been going.

And these three photos are exactly what I have been trying to produce as a theme.  Three different looks at Buenos Aires, though they could be anywhere really.  For me, these images are what the city really is, a picture of progression, of peripheral glances and of the mixture of organic and inorganic.  Those qualities are true and inherent of any urban environment and I have been looking for them in my photographs.