My Life With a Camera in Mexico City

Some cities whisper. Mexico City doesn’t. It shouts, it sings, it argues with itself. It’s chaos wrapped in poetry, and that’s exactly why I photograph it.

When in 2009, my first time in America, my first time in Mexico, I arrived I was with my camera and some ideas, but the streets here broke all my notions and rebuilt them in their own way. Mexico teaches you, every day, to pay attention or get left behind. I was amazed how different from Europe everything here it was.

There’s no better classroom for a photographer than these streets: Mexico City is like NYC in the 60s or 70s. Why I say this if I could not be there in those years? Because I learned about NYC through the movies, the photos of the masters, and yes, believe me, Mexico City is right now the best city you can be to live the experience of street photography. Or do you think is casual that more and more street photographers are coming here to photograph?

I walk through the Centro Histórico and it feels like time is folding in on itself. Then I am in my hoods, and suddenly the air is thicker, heavier, louder. The light changes. So does my approach.

That’s the thing about photographing Mexico City: I can’t fake it. I have to be present. I have to let go of control. The street doesn’t care about my plans. It gives me what it wants, when it wants.

Street photography here isn’t just about photos. It requires a full commitment. It’s about learning how to look Mexico. By observing. At people. At movement. At contradiction. The contrast. I can remember my first article written for a magazine was titled Mexico City, city of contrasts. Everything matters: and I need to get in that particular flow.

Over time, I’ve started bringing others into this experience: photographers who want more than the usual postcard shots. People who want to go deeper. I don’t take them on tours. I take them into the current. In the flow. We walk, we shoot, we lose ourselves, we find the thread. Because the real city doesn’t reveal itself unless you’re willing to listen.

You find my proposal of workshops in this website. Check it out. And feel you free to contact me: I will be happy to answer all your questions.