28-OCT-2005
Skeleton, Quebrada Street, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 2005
The Day of The Dead is a time when Mexican families remember their dead and the continuity of life. The caped skeleton is a pervasive symbol of the holiday. This one hangs on a doorway that is hundreds of years old. It is not the skeleton as subject alone that gives this image its emotional power. It is the incongruity of its placement -- hanging in a doorway, partially in and partially out. The crumbling stone around the door is as evocative as the caped skeleton itself. The door just beyond the skeleton is just as important. It offers context – the lanterns suggest age, while the cross symbolizes the religious belief in an afterlife, which is so much a part of this holiday.
25-OCT-2005
Day of The Dead Sweets, Plazuela de San Roque, Guanajuato, Mexico, 2005
Mexico celebrates Halloween on October 31 and the Day of The Dead on November 2nd. This booth offers sweet treats for both holidays. The proprietor hides from the camera, using a batch of pumpkins as a makeshift mask. Many of these sweets, some in shape of skulls, will appear on family altars as Day of The Dead gifts to the spirits of the departed.
This image is intended to work as a photographic document designed to give us insight into the nature of the holiday. Those insights are revealed bit-by-bit in the small details that make up the image. The half hidden man is reduced to a virtual spirit – he is there but not there at the same time. I deliberately partially blocked his face because spirits populate this holiday, and I wanted him to appear as inhuman as possible. The skulls on the table and those on the banner at the back of the booth, as well as the skeletal decorations on both of its walls, incongruously laugh at the concept of death. In mocking death, and making humor out of it, the Mexican celebrants see death as less of a threat, and more of something that is always present in their lives.
29-OCT-2005
Street Performer and Friend, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 2005
In the days preceding The Day of The Dead, San Miguel offers a range of festivities for visitors. Huge figures on stilts are paraded near the central square. When the stilt-walkers took a break, I found a young girl exploring the innards of this over-sized costume. This image uses a triple incongruity to express its idea. There is a substantial scale incongruity in the contrasting size of the two huge costumed figures and the two humans that sit below them. And the child using the skirt of the figure as a hiding place is likewise incongruous. The woman on the right is one of the stilt-walkers, and appears to be oblivious to the camera. The child, however, looks a bit guilty. I caught her playing at something that might have been off-limits. A third incongruity arises from the contrast in expressions. The two figures convey exaggerated responses. The pair of people seems considerably more restrained.
03-NOV-2005
Stilt-walkers on Parade, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 2005
Stilt-walkers dressed in medieval costumes draw crowds of on-lookers as they move through the portals lining the city's main plaza. I use an abstract approach here to underscore the festival atmosphere that surrounds the Day of The Dead celebrations in San Miguel. I put the viewer into the image by shifting my vantage point behind the stilt-walkers instead of in front of them. By revealing only their shapes, I tried to intensify the scale incongruity between the towering figures and the crowd that surrounds them. There is a crowded feeling to this image – the people swarming around the performers, the wires draped overhead, even the hint of heavy traffic below, establish a mood of festive energy.
31-OCT-2005
Mask Toss, Dolores Hidalgo, Mexico, 2005
I found this young fellow incongruously flipping Halloween masks around in a market and strewing the floor with them. His mother summarily ended the proceedings just after I made the picture. Halloween falls on October 31st. Mexico's Day of the Dead is celebrated on November 2nd. The two holidays are often confused with each other, and even celebrated jointly. Halloween is based on a European concept of death, and is populated by negative images of terror. The Day of The Dead is far different. It is a unique Indo-Hispanic custom demonstrating love and respect for one's ancestors, the continuance of life, and even finds humor in death -- all positive concepts. I include this image in this gallery because it speaks of the innocence of youth. The horrific masks, some of them associated with death, are toys, nothing more. In a way, this image expresses the essence of The Day of The Dead. It is a holiday that can turn the concept of death into life, through play and pleasure.
01-NOV-2005
Day of The Dead Altar, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 2005
At the city's cultural center, we found a number of students building Day of The Dead altars. The students decorate them with items they believe are beautiful and attractive to the souls of the departed. I took an overhead vantage point to abstract the students and stress the colors of the overall altar. This altar is a work in progress – it eventually will be covered with candles, food, skulls, and various objects representing the interests of the deceased. The abstracted students seem contemplative – they sit in a row, rhythmically repeating the role of floral tributes and candles that are arrayed on a wall just behind them. The late afternoon light adds symbolic warmth to the vivid colors, and provides dappled shadows, creating a quiet, thoughtful mood.
01-NOV-2005
Honoring the Dead, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 2005
This haunting Day of The Dead altar, set up at the city's cultural center, features a framed photo of a deceased relative, probably a mother or grandmother. The altar is intended to entice the dead and assure that their souls actually return to take part in the remembrance. The flags in the background are cut by hand out of folded paper. I underexposed the context in this image, muting the brilliant colors of the flags, and reducing the visibility of the many other objects that surround the framed photograph. I wanted the woman’s serious expression to come through to us without distracting competition. The glass on the frame reflects the trees overhead, superimposing a symbol of nature upon the image of the dead woman and symbolizing the concept of the holiday itself: there is always life within death.
24-OCT-2005
Musician, Guanajuato, Mexico, 2005
The Day of The Dead is celebrated in sound as well as with sights. Mariachi bands often lead the songs that toast the departed. Music acts directly upon the human spirit, and I wanted to express a sense of that energy here. I did so by using a full one-second shutter speed and moving the camera slowly while the shutter remained open. The result is an extremely abstract image of a vibrating, blurred figure with the outline of a trumpet flowing through the image. While we can’t hear the traditional Mexican music being played at this moment, we can certainly imagine it.
26-OCT-2005
The Day of The Dead Flags, Guanajuato, Mexico, 2005
These flags are made of paper that is folded and then hand-cut. Most of them portray human skulls in various attitudes. I underexposed these flags against dark trees and an early morning sunrise, and just as I was making the picture, a large bird soared directly over them, creating a juxtaposition of symbols. The flags represent death; the bird flying freely through the image stands for the spirit. It almost made me wonder if it was just a fortunate accident, or if this image was somehow part of a greater design.
01-NOV-2005
Free Spirits, Parade of La Katrina, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 2005
La Katrina is one of the Mexican popular phrases for death. Lady Death is often depicted in Victorian dress. In San Miguel, the eve of The Day of The Dead is celebrated with a parade of La Katrina’s through the town's plaza. Dressed in 19th Century clothing and wearing hats, the Katrina’s, usually expatriates, paint their faces as skulls, and distribute treats to children and then head to a charity ball to raise funds for worthy causes. The ghostly women represent spiritual figures, and that is how I interpret them here. Once again using a full one-second exposure, and moving the camera while the shutter remained open, I was able to create a sense of flow that energizes this highly abstract image. There are two ghastly faces blurred within this image. Their huge circular hats appear to be moving, as do the blurred arms and hands. The image is surreal, expressing the arrival of the spirits of the dead themselves.
01-NOV-2005
Close-up, Parade of La Katrina, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 2005
Unlike the previous image of the La Katrina Parade in San Miguel on the eve of The Day of The Dead, this one was made with a shutter speed nearly a half second faster. Using the same panning technique, it allowed me to show more detail, yet still retain the feeling of movement. The image is full of electronic “noise” which greatly adds to the expression here. It creates an impressionistic context for the subject, making it seem less real and more painterly. The Katrina’s wore mesh veils over their painted, skull-like, faces and I was able to retain part of that pattern in this image here as well. There are still many photographers who will go to great lengths to eliminate electronic noise from their images. In this case, they would be shortchanging themselves by doing so. The vibration, noise, blur, and mesh, along with a close-up vantage point of an incongruous subject – a woman of great beauty painted as Death itself – work together to help tell the story of The Day of The Dead. She provides an eloquent example of death within life, and life within death.
01-NOV-2005
Deathly Pose, Parade of La Katrina, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 2005
This image, the last of a series of three I have posted here of San Miguel’s Day of The Dead La Katrina Parade, is entirely different in both concept and execution than the two that precede it. I wanted to emphasize the nature of the costume, so backed away a bit to include the huge hat and long beads that express the Victorian era in which the Katrina story is set. This woman stopped to pose for the many photographers that surrounded her as she reached the steps of The Parroquia, San Miguel’s brilliantly illuminated parish church. I did not move my camera at all. The shutter stayed open for a full second, which normally should have blurred the entire image due to “camera shake.” As it turned out, the softly focused background of lighted church did blur, adding much energy to the image. However the subject herself remains visible. Why? I never use flash, preferring the qualities of natural light. However other photographers shooting this same subject were using their own flashes, and one of them illuminated the woman for a very brief part of the time that my shutter remained open. That neighborly burst of flash was enough to produce a clear image of her hat, painted face, and beads. The long veil she wears creates the faint pattern on her face and neck. This image is less abstract than the others. But when viewed together with them, it adds important context for the La Katrina parade itself.
02-NOV-2005
The Day of The Dead Crowds, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 2005
The streets leading to the town’s main cemetery are crowded with celebrants from mid-day onwards. Graveside festivities continue into the evening hours with a candlelight vigil. Rather than describing the crowds by showing a chaotic mass of people walking down the street, I waited for a group of people to pass into the shadows next to a yellow church and photographed them as abstract silhouettes against that colorful backdrop. I shot numerous images of various people in this setting, until this particular group of people spontaneously arranged themselves within my frame to best express my idea. The man in the large brimmed hat dominates the scene and becomes the focal point, and there is also a range of sizes and genders present – some appearing in defining profile. I see them as the living, on their way to make contact with the dead, yet because of the degree of abstraction, they appear almost as if they were spirits themselves – only shapes, without form or detail. (I liked the electrical wires appearing within the otherwise pristine backdrop – such casual wires are ubiquitous in a Mexican landscape and add local character to the image.)
02-NOV-2005
Flowers for the Spirit, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 2005
The gravesites and family altars of San Miguel are strewn with flowers, primarily large, bright blossoms such as chrysanthemums and marigolds to honor The Day of The Dead. The colorful setting creates a pleasant atmosphere for the celebrants. In spite of the holiday’s fatalism, festive interaction of the living with the dead is an important ritual that salutes the cycle of life. I made this image just outside of a large flower market on the eve of the holiday. I sensed a pensive quality in this expression. She brought the flowers to her nose, smelling the blossoms and thinking, no doubt, of the spirit she believes will be drawn to them. I waited for her face to come close to, but not overlap, the flowers. I wanted to hold that thin line of negative space between them, adding a touch of tension that creates a focal point by pulling the eye to that space.
02-NOV-2005
Expatriate Cemetery, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 2005
With at least 5,000 expatriates living in San Miguel, a special section of the town's cemetery is set aside for burials of foreigners. It is tidy, with gravestones carefully aligned, quite different from the casually arranged, crowded Mexican cemetery that adjoins it. On The Day of The Dead, the Mexican cemetery is blanketed in flowers. Yet with respect and dignity, someone has thoughtfully placed a simple pair of marigold blossoms on this expatriate gravestone. I used my spot meter to expose for the highlights on the brightest edge of the gravestone. The result is an underexposed image that retains all detail in the stone and flowers, but makes the shadowed background and faces of the grave stones as dark as possible. The two stones move diagonally through the image, leaving as much room as possible for the viewer’s imagination to work. The end result is a considerably abstract image, with a touch of incongruity, built on essential human values.
02-NOV-2005
Cemetery on The Day of The Dead, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 2005
Relatives of the dead cover virtually every grave in this vast cemetery with flowers. Graves are lovingly tended, sumptuous picnics and family stories are shared, and cheerful music is played. All because the celebrants believe that the souls of the dead will return to be with them. I deliberately left all those people out of this picture, including only what they chose to leave behind. The angel is the focal point of the image, rising out of the banks of floral tributes and lifting an arm as if in amazement.
02-NOV-2005
Remembering the Dead, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 2005
At the height of the Day of The Dead celebration, hundreds attend a special service for the dead on the grounds of San Miguel's cemetery. This was the most emotional moment I witnessed on The Day of The Dead. While the holiday is generally considered a joyous family celebration, memories of loss are bound to emerge in spite of the festivities. Perhaps that is why this service is held – to provide an emotional outlet for those whose grief will not go away. I was in a photojournalistic mindset when I made his image. I immediately saw the emotional potential of a service for the dead, and positioned myself in a crowd standing well behind the priest. Using a focal length of about 200mm, I shot image after image of these four people, representing full span of life – youth to age and in-between. In this image, I was able to find the fullest range of emotional response.
02-NOV-2005
The Festive Field of Death, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 2005
Visiting a large Mexican cemetery on The Day of The Dead can be an unforgettable festive and sensory experience. Voices raised in songs, some sad, others happy. The sound of Mariachi trumpets, accordions, and guitars. A sea of color floral tributes reaching as far as the eye can see. The unforgettable smell of flowers, incense, and cooking food permeating the air. And, if one is able to believe in such things, the spirits of the dead will surely come to join the party. The image is built around the man, who seems lost among the blossoms of death. He is the focal point in an image crammed with flowers, crosses, fences and tombs. A cloud of rising incense slowly rises from a grave
02-NOV-2005
A Cloud of Incense, The Day of The Dead, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 2005
A pot of burning incense creates clouds of smoke that mysteriously rise from a grave on The Day of the Dead. I moved in to emphasize the roses on this grave – both those in the sun and others in the darker background, where the long stems of other flowers create an arch. Through it all floats scented smoke, creating a screen of abstraction that is as hauntingly beautiful as it is mysterious.
02-NOV-2005
Twilight, The Day of The Dead, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 2005
A late afternoon sun backlights and abstracts an enormous wreath rising above the flowers covering the graves around it. Soon twilight will fall, and thousands of candles will carry the celebration forward into the long night. To visit Mexico on The Day of The Dead is a fascinating and insightful cultural experience. And visiting San Miguel de Allende for this event is a unique and unforgettable travel experience. Photographing it was a challenge – there are so many aspects that needed to be included and somehow defined photographically. Travel photographers face similar issues when shooting any festival, holiday, or celebration. By abstracting this scene, I try to reduce the emphasis on the religious symbolism, and instead stress the commemorative and spiritual aspects of the holiday. It makes an effective closing image, because it leaves so much room for the imagination of the viewer. Ultimately, it is the human imagination that must carry the biggest load on The Day of the Dead, one of the world’s most intensely personal yet public celebrations.