To the east and then North

Continuing with the tales and not leaving you wondering...

The next flight went through without much happening, nobody was sitting next to me, the sits weren't that comfortable and after some reading time I fell asleep, of course that wasn't the best idea for my body but without much to do and that much tiredness, what can I say?...



We landed in Tel Aviv, I got on the train and on my way to Haifa.
I haven't been in Israel in 10 years, so I am practically starting from 0. Even the airport was a completely different story from that time.

I got to my friends house around 2:30am, beat up, tired and wanting to shower, but before we had to catch up at least for a bit. Igal and me have been friends for a really long time, more or less near 10 years; we haven't really seen each other much since he came to live in Israel 8 years ago. I saw him but a song in a wedding a year ago and we got one day to catch up months ago in California. So this trip is going to be a reunion for the last years and the next to come.

So without needing to say much everybody went to work "next" day and the dog woke me up at 1:30pm. It was raining, I went for a walk and then one of my friends, Dani --Igals brother--, came back from work and we went up the hill to have some dinner/lunch/breakfast kind of meal. Food was absolutely delicious, I was still dead-tired/jet-lag. So it all started bit relaxed and then catch up some more.

Next day (and by that I mean today) we --Dani and me-- went walking around and through Haifa. We got up the hill, and the view the beautiful view... (pictures below) It is dreamy, breathtaking and if I can named all other synonyms I will...

Today/Yesterday is Friday, Shabbat, so the last bus was at 4:20pm...


Probably this all didn't make a great story, partially because it is 4:16am and I have been walking up and down the hill all day. So without much more here are a few pieces of my photographic journey...

Enjoy!

Traveling to the far east

Every step is a journey. No journey is complete without learning. Learning about us and the world around us.


I will be traveling for the next weeks around the globe. My first stop (after this layover< which has a story to be told after a paragraph or two!) is going to be Israel.

Last time I was there was in 2001. I haven't been there in 10 years. I was 15 and it was a school trip, I earned it not for being smart --which of course I am ;)-- but for having good grades. We went on a 2 weeks trip around the country. It was fun, exciting and full of emotions. I fell in lo ve! with the people, the landscape and everything else. I have always wanted to come back and finally I am on my way to the Holy Land.

I will be staying with friends; who I haven't seen for a really long time. I will post photographs and stories as soon as I can manage


Now to the layover or better yet the flight here...

Maybe it has to do with me being a Visual Journalist, a Story Teller, or just a Person Willing to Listen and Share. But I was sitting next to a french man, we started the flight without much said, a 'Hola' and a 'Salut' was our exchange, until food got to us, which was almost immediate to take-off. We started talking, he asked about my origins, he was surprised I was from Mexico, he thought I was from somewhere else because I was reading a book in English (this is the moment I tell you about the book, but let's leave it for other paragraph). And I was surprised he was from France, because he was talking with a couple of Argentinians and reading a book in Spanish, so I assumed something else. But having exchanged that we continued talking.

And talking...

And talking...

About what? you might be questioning, considering we were talking for the whole flight except an hour. Well we talked about our lives, about our professions, about different believes, I showed him my photography, we talked about that, about future and past. It was very very interesting, getting to know people always is. And it is part of life. What did I learned from him? I am not exactly sure yet but it will come to me, because people come to our lives for a learning exchange, you take something with you from every interaction and you give something back (we also talked about this). It was an amazing talk, full of perspective, opinions and hand reading. I am sure this is not the last interaction, maybe there won't be more face to face, but words and visions will be exchanged.


The book? Nothing to fancy. A novel 'The man who loved Jane Austen' by Sally Smith O'rourke. A romantic book for dreamers and Jane Austen fans. After having read a lot of Holocaust books for my documentary, this is taking a breath and enjoying my vacations after 2 years of non-stop learning and work.


The layover? Je suis dans l'Aéroport de Paris --Charles de Gaulle--. I will be here for a couple of more hours and then off we go למְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל.



So stay tuned for more stories on this awesome adventure...

Over the last years while living abroad in California, I had the pleasure and privilege to work on several times with the Jewish Federation of Santa Barbara.

I´ve got to photograph events and to make documentaries.

I am so grateful for this amazing opportunity.


Here are some photographs:

Thank you for letting me be part of the community!

9/11 memorials throughout NY

So far NY has been an extraordinary opportunity and out of the world experience.

Here are some photos of the memorials we have visited:
 -Rockaway
-Manhattan
-Staten Island

Almost time to go back to California, but I am completely in lo ve with ny...

Meeting people in NY

Meeting new people is always a fun activity, random people everywhere, and then there are so many not random people in some places.

This is probably the best activity in a City like New York City, where we collide with different being all the time, you are in constant movement and it is always good to take a breath and chat with someone. Whether it is a quick q&a, a medium chit chat talk about the moon, the weather, the place, or a long conversation about you and me, you can always meet new people, some will play a really small part in your journey and others will mark your life, but the thing is we are always in constant interaction.

Where am I going with this, you may be asking yourself and so here goes an anecdote.

 As a member of NPPA I receive information of workshops, guest speakers and other activities related to my profession, they are usually around the USA on places far from where I am or at dates that conflict with other projects, so when I first heard of  “Witness to Tragedy and Recovery” exhibit and symposium I was a little worried it would be one of those times, but fortunately enough for me, it was in NYC, and I would be there without prior-engagements.


It was a truly amazing experience to hear the panelists and after the short q&a, we had the opportunity to talk to some of them.

My first approach was to Todd Maisel who said that after his experience during 9/11 he won't let anything stand in his way for a photograph.

A missed approach was to Aaron Brown, he left quite quickly and I didn't get the chance to talk to him, but hearing him was incredible,  he said “You are not doing a story, you are making history.”

We met some more of the panelists and guests.

One of my friends had previously approached Joe Woolhead and he had invited him and us to the 7WTC to see from above the reconstruction and the memorial. I approached him because he said something that struck me, he said that at some point he just couldn't go back, so he stopped, it was too much. And that got to me, because as much as we can protect ourselves through our cameras, we can only do it for so much until it hits us. And talking to him he  reiterate his invitation. So we got to go 2 times, one during the morning and one during the night, it was truly something the view from NY, and from the site, it was mesmerizing.

Here, have a look:

Faces of the 10th anniversary of 9/11

We grab our equipment, a coffee, a bagel, and off we go. We got to the closest subway station and it was as my friend Hannah Jamille Andersen puts it “a ghost town”, very few people and subways were running slow, it could be due to the 10^th anniversary or that it was Sunday at 7:30 am.

We took the first subway and then we transferred, as we approached the site, there were more people. By the time we got out the subway and to the City it was 9:02am, same time a second plane hit the south tower ten years ago. There was dead silence everywhere, the police froze all the streets surrounding the 9/11-memorial site for the day, and you couldn’t get close. But there were people around, visual journalists, firefighters, policemen and people from around the world, to show respect for the victims. There were some stations with big screens were you could see the ceremony, and you could hear the names, one after the other.

These are some of the faces that we saw:

Every person we encounter was friendly and contemplative. We had a good remembrance day.

New York

As some of you may already know I am in NY City, to make a documentary about the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
I'll be here all this month and you'll be able to see some of my work here. Mostly I'll be shooting video, so you'll have to wait for it to be done, but I'll take stills so you can see what I am seeing.
It has been an amazing trip so far, we've gone around and met different people.

Yesterday we were around ground zero when an art collector named Ron Jagger, invited us to see above the memorial of ground zero from his apartment, in the surrounding area. So the 3 of us, plus British media and Spanish media went up and this is what I saw.