Since visiting there several years ago, after consistent urging from several friends of mine, I fell in love with Guanajuato, Mexico. This December I returned for two weeks, and had a photographic holiday in this visually rich urban paradise.
Where in the heck is Guanajuato? It’s about a four hour bus ride from Mexico City, and 6660 feet above sea level. It’s about an hour by car from the more well-known San Miguel de Allende.
What in the heck is Guanajuato? It’s the seat of government for Guanajuato State, a thriving university town, and everything I think a city should be.
First of all, there’s a distinct lack of streets. Guanajuato is in a bowl, with a few main roads running the length of the city, and an array of underground tunnels that keep traffic flow out of sight, but easily accessible. And there’s a perimeter road at the top of the valley, with a few spurs and connectors. But other than that, the majority of the living spaces and small shops that climb an equivalent of 22 stories up the hillsides, are connected only by footpaths. Once a nexus of silver mining, Guanajuato is centuries old and because of that it is consistently full of surprises and is infused with a patina of rugged beauty and past splendour.
The relative absence of the automobile, 15,000 energetic students in the city core, a moderate climate, and a vibrant cultural community make Guanajuato one of the most civil places I’ve ever visited. It’s the real Mexico. There’s no tourista attitude here, on either side.
Like so much of Mexico, Guanajuato is a treasure trove of texture, light and contrast. So, I used my time there to play with HDR photography. For those of you who aren’t familiar with HDR, here’s the scoop. In most cases, a camera does not see what we see. Our eyes and our brain work together to keep everything we see perfectly exposed, giving our view of the world the depth, clarity and magic it deserves. Generally, cameras have to compromise on exposure, leaving parts of a photo either under or over exposed. HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography works around that conundrum. You set your camera to take several shots of the same subject, some underexposed, some overexposed, and one right in the middle. Then you drop all of them into a piece of software (Photomatix is what I use), and presto — you end up with a photo that more accurately conveys the look — and feel – that we experience when we truly see.
I took hundreds of photos., many of which are still waiting for my attention on my laptop — but here are some of my favorites. Enjoy; and give HDR a try sometime. You can find out more about it at HDR guru Trey Ratcliff’s site, Stuck in Customs.
