Good friends

Good friends, Santiago, Chile, September 5, 2008

I have been friends with Pepi since as long as I can remember, and I really mean that I cannot remember a time when I did not know her. My mom says that we met when we were two months old.

I took about a dozen photographs just before lunch on a beautiful September afternoon as we talked together with her husband. I think that the photographs tell a story, a story of love and happiness, but also a story of a life with difficult lessons and great trials and sadness. She is normally very difficult to photograph, glaring at the camera, but for some reason that afternoon she was relaxed and open.

I would rather say no more about her life or the photographs. I will let them tell their own story.

Enjoy!
Radzfoto

Intersections, Albuquerque, New Mexico, November 2007

Intersections, Albuquerque, New Mexico, November 2007

I am primarily a landscape photographer with a portrait here and there. I rarely photograph textures or geometric patterns for their own sake since I like stories. This photograph, however, really captured my imagination.

During the late fall in Albuquerque, you can see hundreds of geese each day migrating to their wintering grounds. Some of the more enterprising, or perhaps lazier, geese stop at Bosque del Apache just 2 hours south of Albuquerque where you can find a congregation of up to 20,000 snow geese and similar numbers of Canadian geese.

I was walking along the Rio Grande river with my wife and spotted this typical flight formation of geese overhead. At the time I was upset that the contrails disrupted this particular frame. It is only months later that I realized the beautiful overlay of angles of flight at two levels. There is the intersection of the contrails which in turn intersect with with the V of the geese formation. But there is another intersection, between two very different kinds of flying objects. The natural world is intersecting the mechanical world created by humans.

I think there is a story here; maybe even a bit of poetry.

Enjoy!
Radzfoto

Accidental Portraits, July 12, 2008

I was sick with a really bad flu. The night before, a terrific windstorm shook the trees and the house all night. That morning the heavy rain started to come down in sheets blown almost horizontally by the wind.

We put on waterproof rain gear and headed up a gravel and dirt road to take some photographs to document an agricultural land survey. The heavy rain and the strong wind seemed to mock our waterproof garments and proceeded to drench us in the cold, winter rain (July is winter in the southern hemisphere where these photographs were taken). As I hurriedly shot a couple of 360 degree panoramas, I trembled with fever and exhaustion from the climb, and my lens was sprayed with the rain that blew against it.

I had insisted on this particular venture, and, as you can see from the hasty portraits that I took of my companions, they thoroughly enjoyed every wet minute of it. I call these "accidental portraits" because, quite honestly, my fevered brain does not remember how I captured these brooding moments. I thank my brother, who knows much more about photography than I do, for the confidence to post these images. He liked the emotions on the faces combined with the sullen weather.

Radzfoto

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 2008

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 2008

As some you may have realized, I travel a great deal for my work. However, this is the first year in my life that I got to travel to Brazil. I was in Rio de Janeiro for two days and I had a chance to tourist briefly. Here are some of the pictures that I took on this short trip.

This city certainly lives up to its reputation as a beautiful tourist destination. It has wonderful beaches, great night life and amazing views of its harbor.

Enjoy!
Radzfoto

Architecture, Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 2008

During a business trip in Argentina, I had the opportunity to stroll through the famous Calle Florida in Buenos Aires which is a pedestrian street lined with shops. You can get great deals on leather goods there. It was late in the day on a grey, winter day. The weather was fairly warm, however, and great numbers of people were out and about.

I wound my way to a nearby park that has one of the oldest Ombú trees in the city. These trees have spectular roots and branches that curve and coil in all directions.

Finally, I went to some other neighborhoods including the posh Puerto Madero.

Enjoy the photo travelog!

Radzfoto

Almuerzo con Tita y familia Ernst, 13 Julio 2008

Cuando estuve en Chile en viaje de trabajo a mediados de julio, me toco almorzar con la Tita en casa de la familia Ernst. Todavía no habia llegado Daniel de los Estados Unidos pues hubo tormentas que le cancelaron el vuelo. Robert Ernst y yo habiamos manejado todo el día desde el fundo en Villarrica donde estuvimos para el fin de semana y llegamos directamente a la casa de la Tita a buscarla. La encontré increiblemente mejor que como había estado cuando la ví en mayo. En esa visita, la encontré en cama y con pocas energías. Esta vez, caminó sola al auto. Se sentó sola y cuando llegamos a la casa de los Ernst ella pudo pararse sola y caminar hasta adentro conversando todo el rato y riendose.

Estuvimos juntos desde las 14:00 hasta las 16:00 durante el cual comimos un muy rico chancho con piña que preparó Piedad. Estabamos Robert, Piedad, Valentina, Max y yo con la Tita y conversamos sin parar.

¡Gozé!

Para ver la fotos grandes pueden verlas haciendo "click" en el slideshow de arriba o en la foto aquí:

2008-07-13 Almuerzo con Tita y familia Ernst Santiago Chile

Grandes saludos y cariños a todos.
Raúl Antonio

Berlin Holocaust Memorial

The Berlin Holocaust Memorial, March 2008

The Berlin Holocaust Memorial is a quadriculated geometric environment devoid of any markings. Yet each stone cube is unique and slightly asymmetric. It is a good place to meditate. It does not remind me of death, but it feels like a very cold and lonely place.

At first I was shocked at the sterile and, well, inhuman, structure that was the memorial. I wanted to feel a more personal, human connection to those people who suffered and died in that terrible time. But on that cold, grey day, as I photographed the very abstractness of the location, I began to notice the subtle differences in each stone slab, some very small, almost flat to the ground, others rising much taller than a human being. The slabs were not uniform cubes. Each one seemed to possess some asymmetry, some individuality.

It was an unusually effective place to meditate and ponder. I heard, but never saw, the sounds of children playing amongst the blocks of stone. Those sounds reminded me of life against the coldly indifferent, unchanging, unique slabs that spread out in all directions.

I normally end my photo blogs with the word "Enjoy!", but that does not seem appropriate for this entry. I prefer to leave you with thoughts of shape, substance, time, connection, life, eternity.

In these times of war, torture, corruption and abuse of power, let us remember so that we may never forget.

Radzfoto