Friday, May 27, 2022

Portraits from Baja - B&W

One of my objectives during the February ride down Baja California was to capture street portraits using the iPhone camera. These are all in black and white, with the background erased by using one of the settings in the camera. Of the dozens of portraits taken, here are the ones I like best.


Paco in Ensenada
Paco was on a bench selling plaster curios painted gold.
Had cans of gold spray paint in a canvas bag.





Juan in Ensenada
Juan is the parking lot security for a popular restaurant there.





Manuel in San Felipe
He works as an electrical contractor


Jaime, a fisherman in Bahia de Los Angeles.
Bahia was one of the poorest towns we witnessed in Baja. A local business employer closed, now fishing is more for feeding your family than commercial. 




Juan, at a crossroads of Highway 1 and Highway 5,
sells gasoline from the trunk of his car. The sun was very bright mid-day.





Billie only has one leg, uses a crutch and a walker to get around Tecate.
His smile and happy mood is contagious.





"No name" shy beggar in Tecate. 
He saw Billie (above) and I talking, laughing. Approached us slowly and just stood there, saying nothing.
The only person I gave money to after talking their photo.

Enrique in El Triunfo
He is a lifelong rancher, town historian, storyteller. 
His jokes were long and winding, with great punch lines.

Amazing little camera in the iPhone. Because mobile phones are common place today, using them to take candid street photos offers great opportunities to capture images of people relaxed, unassuming. It does not cause people to change how they are acting. With a large format professional type camera, people freeze up, frown, cover their faces with their hands, turn away, leave you, etc. 

One can fiddle with the iPhone while talking, then casually snap a photo without putting people on guard. Immediately share the photo you just took with them. They will smile. Worked for me.

Ride safe my friends, am heading to Hotchkiss, Colorado 
the first week of July for the USCA National Sidecar Rally. 

CCjon