Mexico City Photo Tours

Corn is king at the Mercado Jamaica. Thanks Shehla.

Francisco Vanegas is a salvadoreño, currently residing in Panama. He had been to Mexico City before but never had the opportunity to explore the city and make some photos. He got in touch and we walked through the Centro Histórico in the afternoon of October 25. The majority of participants in Mexico City Photo Tours for one reason or another, like to walk in the morning. But Francisco's time restraints worked to our advantage. A wonderful, warm, angular light was falling in the Centro and Francisco knew what to do. He made this evocative image in the ornate Post Office, as the light illuminated selective spaces of the building. A beautiful image don't you think? Hasta pronto Francisco.

One of my favorite places for photographing on the walks we do is the Mercado de Jamaica. It has movement, color, wonderful people in the vendors and buyers. I like the fact that it is not just a great visual venue, but that it requieres photographing under some variable and somewhat difficult lighting conditions. So it presents a challenge if you want to make a good photo. It is like street photography but not exactly on the street under outdoor light. I thoroughly enjoyed w...alking and talking with Mike Shur in the Jamaica market on one of the days leading up to the Days of the Dead. The place was literally full of the flowers for the dead and the photo possibilities were abundant. Mike stepped up to the plate and hit a few out of the park. I particularly love the one here he sent me. You can see more of his work at images.mikeshur.com Thanks, Mike. See more

Adam DelGiudice is an up-and-coming photojournalist who you will here more of in the future. His web page https://www.delgiudicephoto.com//d5895r6ise23cnng9wqtx8ac5 is chock full of stories that matter with insiteful images. I will let him tell you how it went down. "While I feel fairly confidant and competent photographing on the street, it was great to spend time talking with a photographer with such vast experience and someone who knows the city like the back of his ha...nd with plenty of interesting spots to seek out compelling scenarios to photograph. I would highly recommend this for anyone from a strong photographer who doesn't know the city well who interested in shooting there to a beginner looking for some guidance with their photography in a city ripe with interesting people and places to shoot and everyone in between." One of those interesting places we stopped in to enjoy and make some photos of the patrons was the pulqueria Recreo de Manzanares in the Centro Histórico.Here's a great portrait he made that day. See more

This is a double-shot of iPhonology. I have never said to potential participants in the Mexico City Photo Tours ‘don’t come to me with an iPhone’, but I think I let on that it wasn’t the best way to experience the city and their time with me. Then recently two women on two separate occasions showed up with just an iPhone wanting to walk and photograph. I let them both know that my instruction (if it can be called that) is based on a 35mm camera premise, but if they were game..., I was too. First there was Michelle Biro, from the great state of Michigan. We walked through the colors and movement of the Mercado Merced. I gave her a few compositional ideas, pointed out some possible situations for good images and she responded with some delightful photos of the people, the designs and the colors of the market. Liked best the one here I have included of the guy selling ornamental plants. After watching her use the iPhone, I wasn’t totally convinced but she showed me some more of its possibilities. The this past weekend I was very fortunate to have Malcolm and Peggy Carlaw from Oregon, USA participate in a tour. I corresponded with them before their visit and looked at their work on-line. I was duly impressed. I told Malcolm that he needs to do a book of his landscape photography. I am no expert, but it is really beautiful imagery. Check it out here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lightsamples/ Peggy showed me her work from Cuba that was very impressive. What I didn’t realize was that she had made all those images on an iPhone. When we met and she told me that, I was blown away and ready to learn how she does it. And, by caveat, to accept the iPhone as a viable, fully-functional camera. Peggy has a souped-up iPhone X with various settings and apps that she uses to her creative advantage. I won’t go into all of them, but just to mention one the portrait lens setting on the X. You can see the results of the combination of Peggy’s vision and this setting in the remarkable portrait she did of this caballero when we went to the Danzón festivities at the Ciudadela. It sure works for me. She generously gave me all kinds of tips, suggestions and ideas that convinced me even more that the iPhone could be a feasible system even for a working photojournalist. I’m going to look into it. Thanks Malcolm, Peggy and Michelle. It was fun. See more