Carrera de Camareras y Mozos

Every year in Buenos Aires there is an event even more epic than the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain: Running of the WAITERS! No joke, every year there is a race of waiters and waitresses down one of Buenos Aires' main drags. It's absolutely hilarious and apparently taken quite seriously because the prizes at the end are pretty damn nice. It's important to note that they race in their work outfits and with a tray with a bottle and a glass poured (whatever drink company sponsors it), so it's a very steady speedwalk so as not to spill. I fortunately found out about it just in time to head down to Avenida de Mayo and snaps some pictures and a quick video. Pretty random...

(unfortunately there is a really annoying siren in the background of the video, I apologize)

Video of asado during lightning storm

This is a video my good friend Alex Weber shot with his Nikon D90 camera that has HD video capabilities. Pretty awesome representation of a standard weekend here at the house. Enjoy!

Paredes que hablan BSAS

Awesome show they play down here in Buenos Aires called "Paredes que Hablan" (Walls that speak/talk). This is a clip about a dude born in Korea that lives down the street from me. Check out my neighborhood!

Moving on up!

After months of searching, we have finally found a new place to live. Life here in Casa Pasco has been great but it's time for a change. Check out where I'm gonna be living for the next 12 months!

My New Crib!

Junin, Argentina

This last weekend might have been the beginning of the rest of my life. Well maybe that's a bit drastic, but it was my first job as official wedding photographer, something that has been in the works for some time now. My good friends Julien St. Hilaire and Luciana Patiño got married in Luciana's hometown of Junin, a provincial city about 3 hours to the northwest of Buenos Aires. The happy couple had arranged for transportation for Julien's side of the wedding party, he's from Quebec, and for the close friends here in BsAs to ride up altogether in a big shuttle bus. So off we went at 9 am to real gaucho land, something I had been wanting to do ever since I arrived in Argentina.

It's pretty standard here for people to have vacation or weekend property in the countryside, a way for people to get away without going too far. So even though we all hotel reservations in the city of Junin, our first stop was Luciana's family's campo, a full working farm about 20 minutes outside of the city. Apparently her grandfather, who at a young 81 might be the coolest man on the planet, and some other family friends were putting together a massive asado for our arrival. I had been to asados before, a lot of them in fact, but there is nothing like going to an authentic Argentine asado where almost everything you are eating comes from the farm. The specialty of the day was lechon, or suckling pig in English. The most amazing pork I've ever eaten in my life. We ate, drank a lot of wine, and played on the farm. Some people rode horses, the rest of us just sat there and basked in the silence of the country. It felt so nice.
The wedding wasn't until the evening on Saturday so between the asado and the main event, we wandered around Junin which to be honest isn't too exciting, but still worth seeing I think. Weddings here are pretty much the same as in the States except there are a couple major differences. For one, there are no bridesmaids or groomsmen. I had some ideas for pictures of both those groups of people, but apparently they don't have them. Also, the bride and groom don't kiss facing the priest, they do it facing the crowd from the podium with the priest at their side. Kind of interesting.

After going to this wedding, I can't wait to go to my next one. The party was incredible and in Argentine fashion went until about 7 am, with even the oldest guests staying awake until the end. They just can't get enough here! I have attached a link to the photos on facebook and will be uploading them to my pbase as well as my new wedding photography site (yet to be named or registered). Now that I have something of a portfolio I can let the wedding biz going! Yeah!!

Enjoy!

Full Facebook Album

Video Blog Coming Soon!

I apologize for not updating my blog as much in the past few months, it's just another task for the day, and to do it properly takes a fair amount of time. This being said, I have started recording with my Flip Video HD camera, video blogs. Unfortunately I haven't found any good free video hosting sites to post them since they are at least 20 minutes long. So if anyone has any advice on where I can find a place to do that, let me know! Peace and love to everyone!

Ask me anything!

There is a new website, or at least new to me, that allows people to ask anonymous questions. So, what do you want to know???

http://www.formspring.me/steeznuts

Stencil Art in Buenos Aires

Art in Buenos Aires is everywhere, especially street art. The main medium is the stencil and there are awesome pieces everywhere. Here is a great video (in Spanish) about the stencil and graffiti culture of the city. Enjoy!