As you may know, a big reason I love doing what I do, is that it allows me the time to travel and pursue my own photography and projects. Something that’s been in the pipeline for about 18 months now is a street photography trip to Mexico, specifically to photograph the Day of the Dead in Oaxaca. So with my 8 Street Collective buddies, I jumped on a plane at the end of October to capture this quite incredible celebration of life and death.
This was a relatively short trip, just 9 days in total, and I have to say a world away from the intensity of my Ethiopia trip at the start of the year. Oaxaca felt very safe and non-threatening, which I was fully expecting with it being such a popular tourist destination, but Mexico City in particular really surprised me. From what I’ve read in the news I was expecting a city at war, but it was just a normal working city, which had some fantastic neighbourhoods to photograph in - particularly Roma and Condesa.
The trip also gave me the time to experiment and play. I’ve been shooting street photography with a 35mm (or 23mm on the Fujis) for years now, and I’ve felt a real desire to freshen things up, and try something different. So - and I can’t believe I’m saying this - I bought a zoom, something that in my mind was utter sacrilege for so many years. But you know what - I absolutely loved it! So many of the frames you’ll see below wouldn’t have been achievable with a 23mm, as I needed the telephoto and the super wide aspect that the 18-55mm f/2.8-4 delivers. It was also really enjoyable to take it easy, not put any pressure on myself, and enjoy the process of capturing street life in a different way.
This is beautiful mate!