Oaxaca appears saddened by the pandemic. We arrived yesterday afternoon.

If I think about the last time we were here, in 2019, there is no comparison. To be absent is the energy and, probably, I was also tired, due to the bus trip of over 8 hours.

There is people. There are also the tourists.

But my photography is affected at the moment by this different dimension and I feel that I have to go back to taking the measurements of a city that I feel has changed. As a documentary photographer I have to be sensitive to this change and I have to find a way to make it evident in the photos I will take in these five days.

It seems that in the morning there were clashes between the police and ambulatory vendors who were turned away from the main tourist avenue. Perhaps the somewhat dormant atmosphere is for this reason.

For several months my photography has changed. The lenses I use force me to take a different approach, but I feel I have returned to what is my vision that has characterized so many years of career. The street photography that documents.

With the pantheons closed, or in any case with limited access to those who have family members who rest there, it forces me to rethink the structure of the story. I think this is good because it will allow me to avoid certain cliches that abound in the photos of Oaxaca and more generally about Mexico at this time of year, so I will focus more on the road, based on perception, atmosphere and instinct.

Oaxaca therefore presented itself to me in another way. this makes me think that I don't know how many students would have understood the situation. Because those who take an experience like a photographic expedition constantly expect to experience something full of activity. Instead, in this changed scenario, pragmatism and, above all, the ability to grasp what is coming at the moment are needed.

Is it a challenge? Sure, it is.

My cameras and my lenses will allow me to make the work I think to realize. But i want to reflect about Oaxaca as always has very low light at night : so many would find themselves in difficult.

I have set the Canon Rebel in snapshot. The Fake Leica in total manual. Both hanging from my neck, ready to use one or the other depending by the situation.

My clear will is also to document how under a pandemic emergency Oaxaca is still a livable city with an irresistible charm. While I am in the Zocalo, defined by David Alan Harvey as one of the most beautiful squares in the world, I try to take some shots with the Canon to define this idea.

I believe that I am a photographer of another nature. I am interested in observing and emphasizing even forgettable and apparently simple things. That the simple show of life on the street attracts me a lot and I can grasp its poignant poetry. And therefore even on occasions like this, apparently dead, I can find something to tell.

This year we are housed far from the center, in a peripheral delegation. The way back to our bed and breakfast forces us to go through the neighboring area of the city. And so in the dark, I keep taking pictures.

The Oaxaca Diaries 2021: The arrival

The Oaxaca Diaries 2021: The city of Oaxaca and somewhere in Etla

The Oaxaca Diaries 2021: Introduction