heading to Mexico with B&W film

[jmooney]

we are heading to the Yucatan peninsula for a week's holiday. We will visit the colonial town of Valladolid and then spend several days in Tulum. I plan to bring two camera bodies one for B&W and the other for colour (mostly colour reversal). My wife thinks I'm crazy to bother with B&W (for this trip). She says Mexico as all about colour. I hope to prove her wrong 😀. Can you point to good examples of B&W in tropical settings?

Edward Weston did ok in Mexico with only black and white. 🙂

 

[charjohncarter]

Edward Weston did ok in Mexico with only black and white. 🙂

Very true, I had forgotten about that.

 

[dan denmark]

in 1975 i travelled from San Antonio to Mexico City on the train. i went with a mate, we shared an old (relocated) Pullman "First Class" carriage and hung out the windows with our cameras the full trip down. now i wish i had taken more shots inside the careriage but the scenery and people along the way as we rumbled and chugged and stopped were fantastic. i was shooting mostly ektachrome in those days and are buried somewhere in a box. must dig them out and have a look... i wonder what that same journey would be like today...

-dd

 

[JohnTF]

One more gear statement- I certainly can't speak for all of Mexico, but at least here in Morelia, my leicas have been completely invisible. In the states, we have all gotten people coming up to us on the street to talk about our leicas, but everyone here shoots either nikon or canon. I struck up a conversation with a photography student down here, and he didn't even say anything about my leica. Stealthiness ftw!

You forgot to mention the carnitos, best in the world plus the avocados, -- Am pretty sure you can buy film at the camera store on the square in Uruapan-- My friend Jorge is a Leica kind of guy, runs the Autos Vial, -- when shooting with Florencio, he feels people assume you have artistic intentions if you have expensive looking equipment in central Mexico, kind of opposite to the attitudes in the US.

Will try to post a couple, one color one B&W from your neck of the woods, they are in my gallery regardless.

Regards, John

 

[kxl]

Whoa! I have a nearly-identical image from Taxco, no doubt from the same vantage point -- corner table at the second level of a restaurant?

As for other Mexico B&W images, visit the Mexico gallery at my zenfolio site.

I go a couple of time a year to Mexico. I always take both a color film and B&W film. Guess which one I enjoy the most? Although Mexico is a very colorful country, I still love my B&Ws the most. I hope you have a great time I always have:

Not my best but it was fun in Taxco, GRO, Mexico (3/26/09).

 

[35mmdelux]

To me, Latin America is about vibrant color.

 

[Bill58]

To me, Latin America is about vibrant color.

The "vibrant color" is red, blood. and a ton of it in Mexico. Given the news lately, I think I'd rather go to Bagdad for a photo vacation. With a US gov't. travel advisory, maybe even your life insurance wouldn't pay. But it's your life.........

 

[kshapero]

South Florida

 

[Leighgion]

B&W film is useful wherever there's shadows, shapes and textures. Mexico's got those like everywhere else.

 

[JohnTF]

The "vibrant color" is red, blood. and a ton of it in Mexico. Given the news lately, I think I'd rather go to Bagdad for a photo vacation. With a US gov't. travel advisory, maybe even your life insurance wouldn't pay. But it's your life.........

How many tourists have you heard being bothered? Besides, with your lightning like reflexes from years of RF shooting, should be a breeze.

Check the headlines in major US cities these days.

It does pay to check things out, but same applies here.

I hear Domke is using Kevlar in their new cases, to protect Leicas from stray gun fire. ;-)

Regards, John

 

[totifoto]

I shot some b&w films in Spain last year, also shot some color too 😱

A famous b&w shooter ,Rax, said to me once that if a picture can look good in color it can also look godd in b&w.....if not better 😉