Today a friend and I did a fashion shoot for "Vertigo Boutique".
The model is Pamela, the Queen of the Feria San Marcos 2018.
Sergio did the classic fashion shots and I assisted him.
In between I did my surreal portraits.
The shooting had to be in the middle of the day, a time I would never shoot.
I prefer the time around sunset and even more: night!
It was a challenge to take portraits at a time with strongest sun light coming right from above.
But you have to adapt and i am looking forward to the next challenge!​

Something attracted me to take the picture of the gentleman in the restaurant.

I didn't know first what it was. Later I looked at the photo and realized what fascinated me in that moment:
Everybody was doing something, having headphones in their ears, reading a newspaper, talking or being on the phone.
He was just being present. People always need some distraction.
Can you imagine waiting somewhere and just "being" instead of "doing" (distraction).
Being "in the moment" gives you "presence", which gets you attention from other people.
His presence caught my attention!

Is technology really helping us to make better connections?
I don't think so.

Next time when you are waiting and public: don't pull out your phone.
AND.
Look how many people are not taking part of life.
It's crazy how many! I am guilty of it, too.
That's not being present!
I make a promise to myself:
Only to use the phone to respond to important messages.
No more browsing the internet in public.
You are in line in a coffee shop?
Observe the people - Smile, make connections!

Karla showed me her town Jalostotitlan, Mexico.

My taste! Very surreal.

- People don't say hola (hello) on the streets to greet someone - they say adios (bye). It feels weird at first but if you spend all day there, you get used to it. It's a tiny place and everybody knows everybody. We said "adios" at least 100 times.
But if you leave the place, remember to switch to the regular form of greeting!

- Mannequins are bottomless - both male and female.
- The local food specialty is to eat a kind of Mexican hamburger in a plastic bag. The burger is inside the bag and you bite one corner off and then you eat it through that hole.
- It looks like a war zone. A lot of police walking around with automatic rifles.
- During the day it is very quiet and empty. In the night full of people and music on every corner.
- Very close is an ancient site, where they used to play games. The winner of the game got decapitated.

Surreal.

In Leon there is a bridge where couples who are "in love" or should I rather say: "on love", like they are "on drugs"? (Which they indeed are - technically).

They put a lock as a symbol of love on the bridge.
Really? That's the correct symbol?
Locks represents: you want to keep something secure. Or you want to lock somebody away (prison). Locks are about CONTROL.

People think when they are "in love" that is love.
No, those are chemicals. Beautiful ones, for sure!
But, love is not a feeling. It is an ACTION.
If you really love someone, you let them be free and not try to change or control them. The person you "love" is not your property.

What happens if you grab a soap tight in the shower?
It will slip away.

For me the symbol of love is: a soap.

Grab it to hard, it will slip away.
Try to change its form (demands), it won't be beautiful anymore.

If you love someone, let them go, let them be free, let them BE and accept them as they are.

If you try to control someone, try to change them or put them in a prison:
It is selfish and not love.

"I love you when....."
This is not love. This is manipulation.

What symbol do you think represents best "love" ?

Usually I just take pictures of people on the street without asking them.

Sometimes I ask and the reaction is always positive.

I saw this man blowing bubbles and took photos from a distance.
But I wanted one photo very close.
So I asked him.
He froze for one second and said: 20 Pesos (1 Dollar)!
I told him: "Ok, I pay you if a get a good photo".

First time in my life that I paid someone to take a photo!

Thank you, you are a good blower.

And I always will remember you.

Now I need to make my money back! 

Some surreal moments from a party at the countryside.

Good conversations.
One topic stayed in my mind.
We were talking how fast time goes by.....
It's true!

"It is not the years in your life but the life in your years that counts."

We are wasting time by worrying, being nostalgic and planning.
"I'll be happy when.."
No!
NOW is the time to be happy and to live.
The past and the future doesn't exist.
If we are living in the past or in the future, were are missing the PRESENT!

It's called present because it is a present.

Don't waste this moment with thinking too much about yesterday or tomorrow.

Women look and walk super sexy with high heels.

The only disadvantge is: as a man you have to slow down (a lot) if you accompany a woman with high heels.
But it's totally worth it!
Did you know that the first high heels were worn by men?
Yes, the French royals long time ago wore them, then women.
Am I jealous? No at all! I prefer women wear them.
I could not imagine walking slow, taking care of my balance, having to watch my every step and having pain in the of the day.

Ladies, thank you for sacrificing yourself to look pretty for us!

Alondra and I met for a session of surreal portraits.

We started to take portraits at sunset. The favorite time for photographers.
I love the sunset time, too! But even more I love taking portraits at night.
Once the sun went to sleep, the city calmed down. Everything was slower, almost no people and a cool breeze after the hot day.
At night you have more contrasts, softer light and many light source instead of one (sun). It's cinematic. It's surreal.

Not many photographers take portraits at night. I don't understand! But one of the reasons I like doing it at night, is because it's different.

Guess, who appeared in our surreal photo session! The Mexican Santa Claus. He recognized me and slipped into the photo (again).
I see him a lot in downtown. One day I will make a session just with him and ask about his life and post it here.

"Anything that is kept secret or remains unexplained or unknown"

Of course, if someone wants a portrait, they want to be seen!
But why not have some "mystery" shots as well?
I can't explain why I am so attracted to this type of photos.
Maybe because it lets you more room for imagination? To build a story in your head?

Anyway, it's stimulation for the brain (at least for mine).

A party at the countryside is refreshing for the soul.
BUT.
It's nature! So many flies wanting to get some free food and drinks.
Impressive, how persistent they are!
You can move your hand as much you want, they come back to the exact same spot.
Probably laughing at you!
They have their goal in mind and nothing can stop them (except a newspaper).
At some point I just gave up and shared my drink with the fly.
Inspirational!
A little thing with a small brain has more willpower than a human.
Imagine, what would be possible if we would be persistent like the little fly!

Do you see a face?
It's a very common phenomenon to see faces in ordinary objects.
Our brain is on overdrive interpreting things around us.
Babies process faces long before they recognize other objects.
Incredible moving images of unborn infants before their birth,
show that they turn their heads towards shapes which resemble faces. But when they see a random shape, they ignore it.

We all have this ability built in to see faces where there are none.

Fortunately, all the faces looking at me are friendly ones.

That's what someone could have thought, seeing me there for many minutes taking pictures of the sexy mannequins.

Yes, I love this kind of underwear.
BUT.
Also, I am fascinated of mannequins, shop windows and reflections.
How many people walking by noticed the broken boobies from the mannequins?
The camera makes me feel that I see more than people without the camera!
Why? Because I stay longer with an object, I look closer and from different angles.
That all taught me photography.
Also I learned that there is not only ONE version of what we think or see.
There are many! We have to have the courage to question what we see or believe.
Otherwise we are only robots. Everything is dimensional and not only objects but also humans and situations.
Dare to see the things from different angles!

It was a hot day. So hot that my camera almost melted.

But it didn't hold me back from taking pictures.
The one thing (of many) I like about photography is:
No matter what the circumstances are or the challenges in life I face, photography lets me be in the present and for a few hours I forget "reality".
Why not take a break of reality? It will be there later to return to.
Meanwhile I can take a pause of analyzing yesterday and a pause of planning tomorrow.

Sergio and I met for a surreal portrait session.

While walking around downtown in search of great locations, I came across the bar with the red lights.
Perfect! But..... there was a man sitting on the only seat available.
I asked him if we could have the space one minute to take some pictures.
He agreed, took his stuff AND instead of standing up he moved over.
"OK, whatever" I thought and Sergio sat down.
Once I started taking pictures, the Mexican Santa Claus put his arm around Sergio.

What a surreal moment!

.. do you take? - People have been asking me in my journey as a photographer.

Even though I know that it is a popular question, I don't have an answer.
"A photo says more than 1000 words" - And I show them my photos.
Really, what can I say? What do you see? Surreal? Abstract? Mysterious?

How would you describe it?

Eduardo and I had an appointment to take surreal portraits with the full moon.
There were some challenges!
On the way to him a thunderstorm started.
I realized that I left my memory card for the camera in my computer.
There was no moon. All the time, no moon! It was covered by clouds.
Then it started raining.
Many times I had thoughts of just stopping.
But NO! I said YES to the challenges.
I bought a memory card, used a sun sheet to cover my camera from the rain.
We went to different locations.

We struggle with thoughts of giving up or make comprosmises like "tomorrow".
I had this thoughts many times during the shooting. But I said to myself: YES!

Surrealism. What is that? And why do people call something surreal?

Liz and I were talking about it at an surreal art exhibition.
"That's strange" people say about things which are not ordinary.

But in fact they are not strange. Imagine if there would be more of those strange things, then the ordinary objects would become strange.
All over the world, we have more or less the same style of things.
But imagine a country which almost has nothing from "our world".
People from that country visiting our "ordinary" country, would be totally perplexed about the amount of surrealism.

I'm attraced to surrealism. It is refreshing & stimulating for the mind.

A new project is born: SURREAL PORTRAITS.