Soy Puto, Soy de Racing

The appearance of the word puto [faggot] on walls around the city is completely ubiquitous. What I love about this particular inscription, which I photographed last year, is the phrasing, "Soy Puto, Soy de Racing" [I'm a faggot, I'm a Racing fan. They're a local soccer club]. I assume this was written by a fan of the rival team, Independientes. It seems a much more clever way to put down Racing fans than just scrawling puto over some pro-Racing graffiti. I'm also fascinated by the interior state of mind of the graffitista. There was a certain moment, probably very brief, when only the words "Soy Puto" were written. What passed through his mind at that moment? Was there any self-reflection about what he had just written? [I don't doubt it was a he].

See also puto graffiti and All Boys puto.

Jungle House

Cloudy days in spring have this weird feel. It's not too hot yet but its very, very humid. The gray sky reflects off all the incredibly green shoots of spring giving everything this dreamy look. The house above is normally totally passed over, surrounded by buildings and totally covered with plants and ivy. On this day I stopped with my camera to record its peculiar light.





FYI, the Sigma 30mm F1.4 lens, which I used for these pictures, is pricey but a really nice fixed lens for digital SLRs.

Jacaranda in Plaza San Martin

It's spring again and the Jacaranda are in full bloom.


See also my Jacaranda pics from last year.

Contrafrente in Belgrano

From the 1st floor balcony of a friend's apartment in Belgrano looking into the manzana's pulmon. My recent discovery of the long exposure mode on my SD1000 [after a mere two years of ownership] explains the recent profusion of night photography. I'm sure I'll get tired of the look soon :)

See also Contrafrente [taken with a much better camera and tripod].

Tranqui Yanqui Formal Portrait

I brought out my lightstands and umbrellas and took these pictures of Tranqui Yanqui, an American performance artist based in Buenos Aires. I've been tagging along to Tranqui's shows recently [see photos at part one and part two]. I wanted something a little more staged and formal. I tried to get a feeling a bit of a Renaissance portrait.

German Vaisman - Palermo PH

Here's another interior designed by German Vaisman. It's a PH in Palermo [PH stands for propiedad horizontal].

German Vaisman - Interior Design - Microcentro Departamento

I posted these images last year on my personal blog, right before I started this blog. I'm reposting these images that my friend German Vaisman, a very talented architect and interior designer, asked me to take of an apartment he'd recently been in charge of renovating.

Flats in Argentina - Palermo Loft

My friend Marcos runs an apartment rental service called Flats in Argentina. The other day he called me over to photograph this lovely 8th floor loft in Palermo that he's now renting out. This blog isn't directly commercial but I do like to help my friends out where I can.




The apartment faces away from the street and has a nice view, being on the 8th floor. The building is unusual in that it goes all the way thru to the other side of the black. The middle portion contains a pool and a garden. I used an off-camera flash in this photo to allow you to see both the living room and the view at the same time. Usually it's difficult to show both as the contrast between inside and outside light is too much for the camera.

Buenos Aires Gay Pride 2009

Quilmes cans & rainbow jello shots.

That about sums up my experience at this year's gay pride parade in Buenos Aires. People told me it was bigger than last year and I saw a couple of friends who'd never been before. Still, it's way too small for a city of this size. I wrote about this phenomenon for my post on gay pride 2008 [when I also took much better pictures of the event].

Long Exposure over Belgrano

Bored on a quiet Saturday afternoon, I dug out some filters I almost never use. The photograph above was taken with two neutral density filters which just block out light forcing you [or allowing, depending on your point of view] to make longer exposures. The photo above, for instance, was 4 minutes. I like the effect. I'll have to think of uses for it.


And this photo was with an R72 infrared filter which I bought long ago for reasons now forgotten. The filter cuts out visible light and mimics the look you used to be able to get with infrared film. This photo strikes me as more gimmicky altho it's impressive if you haven't seen this type of picture before. Naturally, there are whole groups on Flickr dedicated to this sort of thing.

Tranqui Yanqui Fashion Show - 2nd Edition

I'm working on a project following the performance artist known as Tranqui Yanqui. The night before Halloween he put on the second of his amazing fashion shows. See my post on the first fashion show for more background on the artist.

Ultimo Tren a Londres - Los Clasiqueros

Friday night I was at Niceto Club photographing the Tranqui Yanqui fashion show [photos to come]. One of the musical acts was Los Clasiqueros. They're a band that reworks popular international hits into cumbia songs. Two of their most popular covers are ELO's Last Train to London and Modern Talking's Brother Louie. Both songs totally work as cumbias. Bizarrely there's a copycat cumbia cover band called the Klaziqueroz who also have a version of Brother Louie. Finally I cracked up reading the following comment on YouTube, which is obviously not known for it's intelligent discourse. The comment typifies many Argentine's opinions regarding cumbia as a musica genre:

esto es una reverenda mierda!! por favor!! matenlos!! y si vas a postear algo bueno hacelo pero no esta mierda!! y encima lo haces con seriedad!!

Having developed an ear for Rio Platense Spanish, imagining the preceding being spoken brings a smile to my face.

Verdulerias Lit from Below

On sunny days, vegetable stands can have a goulish lit from below effect as reflected light, in this case from a very bright, white building across the street, provides the primary light.


Here's the same artichoke as above but flipped upside down and reversed horizontally. It looks more normally lit.


Some brocoli and tomatoes, also flipped over, even tho it looks normal like this.


These beets are lit from a more regular angle but I love the glowing reflecting in the glossy surface of their stalks.

Fundacion Proa

Recently renovated and reopened Fundacion Proa is a musuem that shows rotating exhibits. They're funded by Technit, the largest private company in Argentina [they make steel tubes for petroleum exploration]. Their money and connections allow them to bring to Buenos Aires exhibits and artists who almost never make it south of the equator. The current show is called The Time of Art and juxtaposes 2nd rate classical painting from the 16th and 17th centuries with better known contemporary artists, with the works mostly coming from a museum in Italy that's under rennovation. The show runs until January.

Fundacion Proa's location right next to El Caminito in La Boca makes it idea for tourists to stop in and check out some art. Given their focus is mostly international art, however, the museum is more of a benefit for the local population.

Edificio Alas at Night

There was a thunderstorm coming in. The city lights reflecting off the clouds made the sky almost the same color as the building. See more photos of Edificio Alas.