Maldonado - Ruta 12.

As the warm weather comes south, I've been taking more trips around Uruguay. This last time, I drove along many minor routes that I had never traveled before. Ruta 12, heads-up North from Punta Ballenas (very close to Punta del Este) and gets to Minas. About 13 kms north of Ruta 9, there is this magical place called Pueblo Eden. No more than 40 people, that right forty, live in this beautiful place. I'll be going some more soon, so you can expect more images. In the meantime I leave you with some images from right outside the town at sunset. Perhaps I have not mentioned this before, but Uruguay has some of the most amazing skies I have ever seen.



Ruta 12, Maldonado, right outside Pueblo Eden.

My gratitude project... Parque Roosevelt.

Since I started the year, I have been looking for a project that would be a support vehicle to regularly express my gratitude.
Sometimes, through the course of my life, I tend to focus on the things that are not working as I would like, forgetting the many blessings that already are...  

Since we got to Uruguay, I have been regularly walking KC in Parque Roosevelt (Roosevelt's Park).  It turns out that this huge piece of land just outside Montevideo, belonged many, many years ago to my grandma's grandfather, who donated it to become a reserved park.  Crazy that in my many years living in Uruguay, I had not even visited this place.  

As I was walking in the woods today, it suddenly hit me.  This is, and has been my gratitude project all along.  

Every time I walk KC, I will take with me a little Leica pocket camera.  It's something slightly more sophisticated than a point and shoot, since it allows for greater creative control.  As we enter the park, KC gracefully drops his rear on the land waiting to be freed of the confinement of the leash.  As I do release him, he'll perform the same routine over and over, just run out, almost bouncing as he does when he is overly excited; pee and then run back like a maniac towards me...  

We just walk through the trees, not following any specific trail.  For me, the experience of the fallen leaves, and the sound they make as I step on them, it's almost a meditation in itself.  For KC, it is clearly his place.  This guy was made for the woods... I can just tell how he feels at home in here.  Besides, the smells, and occasional (ok, sadly not so occasional) trash, with the added bonus of some cow and horse manure, this place a true delight for him.  

To my surprise, as I continue to go, I continue to be inspired to photograph.  I thought that over time, I would get old; that nothing new would awaken my eye and my inspiration.  But rather, the more I go, the more I like what I see, and the more I discover.  

A few days ago I was rewarded for always carrying the camera with me.  As I was almost leaving the park, not having taken any image that I felt was good, I turned around and there it was... the most amazing light.  Just another reason to be grateful...  It's a blessing to be able to simply get out and walk in the woods...  

Villa Serrana

The weekend of May 1st, a holiday in Uruguay, we took of to el departamento de La Valleja. For a country which is probably the size of the state of Maryland, Uruguay has 19 'states' (needless to mention that implies 19 government bodies with all the bureaucracy that it's associated with them, but I'll write more on that later.

We had a great time. I had the opportunity to take a few images to continue to warm-up the engines for the Uruguay project. You can see all the images from Villa Serrana by clicking here. Keep you posted.

Martin | www.MartinHSphoto.com

In the search of the elusive 'project'...

It's been a long time since I las posted in the Projects section of my site. Partly, because I have not been doing much work lately; at least not in the form of a 'project'. To a certain extent I continue to struggle with the whole notion of conceptualizing and defining a 'project'.

It's been my intention all along to use this section of my site, as an open space where I 'let you peak into the insights of my creative process'. Why? Because I would love to be able to do the same with other artists and photographers. Because as much as I have been able to learn in these past few years, I still urge access to this dimension of the creative work, and find it very difficult to find other colleagues to openly share this with me... so hopefully this will to a certain extend help others in the same process I am... and perhaps, in openly acknowledging it and writing about it, I will find a way through.

If you have been in any way following my work and this site, you probably know we (Clara, KC and I) have moved to Uruguay (more on this by clicking here). Even though the decision to do so goes well beyond my photographic work, and has a profound base in our family life project, there has been all along for me, the idea to re-connect to Uruguay. For the past 8 years I have lived abroad, and in the process I realized that I hardly know my country; that I really have a very limited understanding of this wonderful place and it's people.

So I have this idea (and illusion) that perhaps this elusive project notion will come together this time around. But I am almost certain it will not manifest as all my 'other projects' have in the past. It will most certainly not be the result of thinking, of conceptualizing and writing it down in a piece of paper.

Perhaps I am being naive, but lately I have this feeling that I just have to go out and shoot, and that one day, as I browse through my ever growing collection of images, just like one of those magical drawings that become 3D and pop-out at you when you look at them in a certain way, or from a certain angle, just like that the project will raise and become clear in my mind.

So for the time being, I continue the journey of practicing patience and trust (what I coincidence!) as I start heading out to discover not the place where I was born, but the place where I feel most connected to. I intend to take frequent short trips through different parts of the country with my motorcycle, and in this process get to know and connect with the place and the people.

Uruguay is a magical place to do photography... I leave you with a recent image from the 'Llamadas de Otoño' (autumn street festival where the carnival comparsas go out and perform fully dressed one last time before they retreat until the carnival next March). To see more of my Uruguay work, click here.



Llamadas de Otoño. Banderilleros displaying their magic against the setting sun.

Nepal - Buddhist Temple

This was a test done with te automatic video creation engine from animoto. Worth checking it out.

Another time around...

Thank you for visiting the Projects section. This area of my website is intended to provide you with an inside look at the projects that I am currently working on or have worked in the past. My intention in doing so is to open a space for you to co-participate in my creative process and for me to leverage the ‘collective’ wisdom.

I am not sure how this will evolve in this re-encarnation. But remember, you are witnessing work as it happens! As I start to shoot; as I approach the topic through the view finder, I might find a different way to look at it, and angle that awakens a whole new passion, or even get disenchanted and move on to something new.

I will share the things that inspire me, that moved me, as well as those that frustrate me. This blog is the vehicle I have chosen to share the ‘unseen’ part of my work, an intimate part of my work; the flip-side to the images that I create, how I feel when I am preparing a project or when I am actually working on it.

If you are now watching this, you are warmly welcomed to participate, in any way you choose to. Perhaps it's by simply looking at my work and sharing it with others; perhaps it’s by sharing your views through an e-mail or the blog. Any way you choose to, I want to hear your point of view or know about your stories, facts or perspectives that might provide a new insight into the topic.

Feel free to browse through and treat yourself… Thanks again for visiting and you are always welcome.