A typical stand up bar in the middle of Mercado Central. One of many!

I have had the opportunity to photograph Belo Horizonte’s Mercado Central more than once, and can assert that not only is the place incredibly detail and color rich, the people that work, shop, and play (yes, beer, foods, etc!) there are very friendly and open to letting you into their routine (except for a select few, although I think everywhere you go you will find these non-players). What’s really interesting about this place is that people from all social classes and parts of the city, find themselves in the Mercado Central, converging their paths during early afternoon weekend outings, all in search of good food, cachaça, and general social fun!

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If you are not focused on something specific, its easy to go on sensory overload. Sources of light are varied, both in quality and intensity, the smells can be overwhelming in certain areas (some good, some bad), colors and noises are intense and saturating. Certainly a place to wonder around for hours on end, during multiple days, and you are guaranteed to see, smell, experience something new every time! There are more photos in my Zenfolio!

Fruit vendors are sometimes positioned a few feet above from their customers!

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You can find an endless amount of different hand crafted products, produce, animals (live and dead)!

Side view of the GF1 "blacked-out"

Head over to the review page if you would like to read a little bit about the equipment I am using!

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This past weekend I went on a tour at a local open air contemporary art museum called Inhotim. Their museum concept is very interesting, making use of great outdoor area sto exhibit large format works of art, both permanent and mobile. The whole museum and its exhibit halls are cleverly designed, and although I was prohibited from photographing indoors, there was plenty to see outside including some very creative uses of space (an interactive roof) as well as excellent natural insertion (you are literally roaming through a rich outdoors environment with bodies of water and plenty of birds and plants (some of them very rare) to be seen throughout. More examples after the break!

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If you are ever in Belo Horizonte, I highly recommend the visit, bring a camera along and you can easily lose track of time shooting away all the interesting shapes, colors, and plants that saturate whichever way you are looking at! More shots from this outing can be seen in my Zenfolio page.

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In my wanderings through these crackled streets I have been exploring a concept in hopes of representing the human form in a more abstract way while still using a conventional digital camera. Though I admit the initial results came accidentally, I’ve eventually sought to replicate this effect which outputs, essentially, an over-exposed and out of focus image. The idea is to portray the naturally recognizable shape of a human being without being so explicit about it. Perhaps, the mere fact of the shape being so universally recognizable negates the possibility of ambiguity.

More after the break!

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In this personal objective I’ve determined that the images in this style should be produced either on the street or during candid moments occurring in familiar environments.

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The whole idea is to be able to tell some sort of story or concept without being upfront about it. Rather I hope the viewer can read the image according to his own personal experiences and visualize his own perceptions, both of time and spacial occupation.

There is no real standardization to the sidewalks, every few meters the terrain changes.

Without getting far into details about Belo Horizonte, I think it’s imperative that I give you a small bit of background information on the city. Belo, or BH as locals affectionately (and sometimes passionately) refer to it, could be best characterized as a HUGE little city. This characterization is due to the fact that, although with a population of massive proportion, the city has been able to retain a personal aspect; locals, no matter how far apart the address or social class, always seem to know someone in common. This leads to ever expanding social circles that make the people of this city seem like one big family, comprised entirely of odd cousins. Aside from the social intricacies, Belo also has a plethora of textures, shapes, colors, dispersed through a rough and irregular field of steep and narrow roads, crossed by wide and flat avenues. Take a look at a road-map, add to it the huge volume of passenger buses on the streets, constantly dodging pedestrians and other vehicles, and you will most certainly see the beautiful urban chaos that seems to be particular to this town. More examples after the break!

A common scene while walking around, there always seems to be water flowing from somewhere!

Poorly cared for roadways (contrasting the modern expressway projects), graffiti-ed walls, and uneven and ever-changing sidewalks give this town its form and overall “texture”. Oh the fun!

Belo Horizonte, MG

I’ve decided that rather on scouting out recognizable landmarks or “stereotypical” Brazilian scenes like carnaval and the Christ Redeemer, my photography should reflect and explore the day to day life of a city that, although accommodates nearly 2.6 million, is very little known outside Brazil’s borders.
I will post photographs, including ones taken in other parts of the country, along with a short blurb to give the image some context. I will also use this blog for sharing some particular views on photographic subjects, tendencies, equipments, etc. Stay tuned and I hope you enjoy this project!