Mexico? Or Spain? Italy?

Don't worry, I won't keep you in suspense. It's a rooftop panorama of Valle de Bravo, one of the favorite weekend destinations for well-heeled residents of Mexico City. As the name suggests, it sits in a valley by the shores of a man-made lake. This is the view over the center of the town, which of course is characterized by the spires of a colonial-era church alongside the plaza.

The buildings in this part of town mainly have sloping red clay tile roofs, giving the impression almost of an Italian or Spanish village. Of course, the mega-houses and villas arranged along the shoreline suggest, well, any wealthy weekend retreat town in any part of the world. Valle is a wonderful place for sailing and a few of the "extreme sports" involving wheels, mud, and the thrill of potential bone fractures. I prefer the sailing myself. You can always bang your head on the boom if scars and contusions are an essential part of a weekend. 

I stitched six photos together in Photoshop, did a little curves adjustment, and took the result back to Lightroom for final retouching. Taken with my 40D - sadly without a tripod - at 24mm, f/9 and 1/160 sec.

 

em ustang!

Poker has been one of my favorite, if occasionally expensive, recreational activities since I went on assignment to South Africa in 1996 and came across some truly serious players, including my continuing poker mentor, Tom Cohen.

There is a tacit etiquette to social poker that is absorbed rather than learned, I guess, and it is particular to each game's host, and the circus of players. It adds that unique feel to every poker night that feeds your appetite and keeps you coming back no matter how many tragic hands you've dropped or how much of your own hard-earned currency walks out with a new owner.

I'm lucky enough to have been adopted into a ring of poker maniacs, all locals, here in Mexico City and our weekly games have become a highlight for me. I brought my little Leica to one of the first games I was invited to and did some tabletop shooting that yielded some really atmospheric pics. I revisited them this week just to practice some Photoshop techniques and thought this one came up well. The title, "em ustang!"is how one of our crew has taken to calling a Hold 'Em variation I imported from my Washington DC games, called Mustang Sally. It's become a favorite with the crew as it gives you the chance to play either the five cards you're dealt or just two with the table cards, as in regular Hold 'Em. I think the cartoon treatment goes well with the outsized behavior during our games.

La Bandida de Tequila

Three years on in Mexico City and I still never hesitate when invited to even the most obvious tourist destinations, as you can never know what potential rewards await. A group of us were having brunch at El Bazaar Sabado in San Angel this past weekend, looking for hangover relief in the desayuno buffet in the market's interior courtyard. On offer was cheap and cheerful breakfast food, accompanied by surprisingly good mariachis on a little raised stage. It takes a moment but you come to realize it's quite the little oasis amid the tide of humanity that courses through the market's narrow passages in search of souvenirs and traditional trinkets. What caught my eye however wasn't the mariachis or the happy bustle of tourists and locals, but a slight figure darting among the tables in the courtyard with a bandolier slung around her hips that contained a clutch of tall shot glasses and a bottle of tequila secured in a holster by a rubber band. Hair of the dog and a picture opportunity in one. I was soon sipping a Tradicional and reviewing a few frames I took of the wonderful tequila bandida. Canon 40D with a 24mm-105mm f/4 at 1/60 sec and f5/6.

Para Llevar

For those who haven't asked for a doggie bag in Spanish, "para llevar" means to carry or take away. Sylvie, my brother and I had just emerged from a gallery in Guanajuato and I literally did a double-take when I caught a glimpse of this scene. A more obvious photo op I've never seen. Guanajuato is a photographer's delight given the architecture and the colors, and I thought the green in the painting was accentuated nicely by the paler green in the wall beyond it. But mostly the Sunday stroll pace of the gent, the jaunty angle of his Panama, and the casual perching of the painting really got me. Canon 40D with 24-105mm f/4, shot at f/6.3 and 1/200 sec.

 

The Bedside Musketeer

Just sifting through the scads of photographs from recent trips, and of course I was drawn toward the selections from our recent trip to France. Having lurched from news assignments in a besieged Mexico City to sunsets and surf in peaceful Punta de Mita, it's a little odd to look back at the Paris pictures and think of this sort of calm-before-the-storm sojourn. 

Sylvie had booked our first night in Paris at L'Hotel on the Left Bank, a ruddy jewel of a place that saw a guest named Byron draw his last breath. The hotel is designed around a narrow, circular atrium and accordingly the rooms have bowed walls and doors, a surreal touch enhanced by the plush decor, all in red, gold and leathery browns. 

Of course it's nearly impossible to capture the feel of the room in a single image but I thought this shot of the bedside lamp might be a good try. That the lamp features the figure of a dashing musketeer examining his rapier is wonderfully representative of the panache of the place, and the leather-bound books bathed in the soft light make for a perfect backdrop. Not to sound like a broken record, but taken handheld with a 50mm on my 40D, at f/2.2 and 1/100 sec.