431 - Museo Panteón de Belén
The awesome thing about Mexico is that they actually acknowledge that death is a real thing, unlike the United States. Which is comforting in a strange, unsettling way.
After the Dia de Los Muertos festival in La Paz, the next logical step in our quest to photograph the living dead was at a massive graveyard. We chose Museo de Panteón de Belén, which is the biggest cemetery in Guadalajara. Even Jose Cuervo was buried there.
The catch was that the place wasn’t easy to photograph. They had rules. First off, you weren’t allowed in the place without booking a guided tour. Tours ran every hour, from 11am - 3pm, and and from 8:30pm - 11:30pm. Taking photos cost EXTRA, and they don’t allow photography in the night tours. TLDR; you can only take photos in the worst time of the day for lighting, while on a guided tour.
Luckily we’re always up for a challenge, so the “rules” didn’t scare us. We paid the extra dime to bring in our cameras, and braced ourselves for a blown out 90 minute tour in Spanish.
Once the tour started, it became an awkward juggle of shooting but also pretending to listen to the tour guide. I didn’t know enough Spanish to understand, but he was ridiculously enthusiastic and kept making I felt bad blowing him off. Call it an character flaw, I call it being a human.
So yes, I stood there nodding my head like I understood pure gibberish. Luckily the tour moved slow, so whenever he paused to move to a new spot, I’d stay behind for a second and snag a shot I’d been planning out in my head. The first photo I got was of the grave wall, with pillars:
“Optical Delusions”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8
[ISO 1000 ~ 17mm ~ f/11 ~ 1/800s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Notice how I avoided the outside completely, because it was blown to oblivion. I was also able to use the shadows to create a strange symmetry with the ceiling. One thing I like to look for when it’s mid-day lighting is hard contrasted shadows. You can construct strange abstracts with them.
The shot almost looks like an optical illusion how it pulls you in. Also did I mention those are all real graves?
Eventually we found out that the place had a bad vandalism problem, which is why they required tours nowadays. Some dude on the tour knew English, and translated that particular statement to us. At this point, I began looking out for signs of graffiti, because I have a soft spot for it.
My eyes eventually landed on the ceiling:
“Graffiti Tracers”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 250 ~ 24mm ~ f/9 ~ 1/160s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Now I’m not quite sure that was a RESULT of graffiti, as it looked more like a drywall repair. But either way, I loved how abstract it looks. It makes you wonder what happened… Which as I’ve mentioned before, it one of the best things you could do in a photo.
I didn’t get any other shots of the place, because the outside portion with the tombstones was way, way, way too bright. But it was pretty neat. I’d recommend a visit if you can understand Spanish- he said something about a vampire at one point.
And with that, the tour came to a slow, drawing end. Sometimes I wonder about the situations I go through to get a shot.
I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.
Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.
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