In The Land of Dreams

In The Land of Dreams, originally uploaded by Lucia Rojas.

Sometimes life gives you unexpected blows.... but in those moments, family, loved ones, friends become the most important thing..the columns that hold you up....

Everything seems like an illusion now, but thanks to them we are ll pulling through.

Ghosts in the Guggenheim

Ghosts in the Guggenheim, originally uploaded by Lucia Rojas.

I think about this day a lot because you could say this was the day that I really fell in love with photography. I had always been a painter until then, and my camera was used as memory collector or as an aid to my painting. That day everything changed.

It was my first time visiting the Guggenheim and I was very excited. As I was happily walking around taking pictures, one of the security guards who was having a bad day decided to get on my case. He told me I couldn't take pictures and decide to follow me around to make sure I was doing what he said. I was really, really angry as everyone around me was taking photographs. In a trying-to-be-challenging way I decided to shoot at the reflections on the floor, and told him, I am just shooting the floor, you can't do anything about that. I was captivated by this woman in a pink dress and her reflection, but mostly I really wanted to piss off the guard... :P I made it my purpose to follow this girl around all day... I never did see the art work that day. I was hypnotized, captivated by the moment and the images on the camera.Absolutely seduced by what I was seeing and the way the little Sony Powershot was capturing it.

I didn't need to paint this, no, this was already finished.Photography all of a sudden had a completely new meaning for me. I stayed all day where the shiny floor was and took a series of pictures that I call "Ghosts in the Guggenheim" and that was the beginning of an ongoing series of ghosts in museums. (needless to say I had to return to the Guggenheim some other time to actually see what was in there, but it has never been as good as that day)

To this day, with so much that I have tried to learn and so much that I still need to learn, this is probably one of my top 3 magical photography moments ever and I wanted to share it with you. :) oh, yes! And thanks to that guard ;)

Uploaded by Lucia Rojas on 8 Nov 09, 8.25PM COT.

Some things will float...some things will fly...all the way to Colombia

Some things will float...some things will fly..., originally uploaded by Lucia Rojas.

Seems like there have been a lot of countdowns in my life this year... and now we begin the final one.

30 days.

I am so excited.

Adieu, Bon Voyage,

Adieu, Bon Voyage,, originally uploaded by Lucia Rojas.

I seem to be in a nostalgic mood lately. I have spent days going over old images... pictures I took when I first started to fall in love with photography. It was the moment my brush changed..... and it created a complete transformation in who I was and what I wanted...

I have loved every second of the way in this process and I can't wait for what is coming.... but still, some of my favorite and most loved images where taken back then.

This picture I took for a friend who was leaving on a long trip. It was my way of saying goodbye. :)

R.I.P. Roy Decarava

"I want to express that moment when a man going to work has meaning for that man and for me, not the fragment of the whole but the expression that sets it apart for all men going to work at that given moment, when that man ceases being one man and becomes all men."
-Roy Decarava-


Roy Decarava is one of my favorite documentary photographers. With him I travel in N.Y. to the world of jazz that I adore... with him I get to meet all of his subjects while also looking at them from the sidelines. It's like I can touch them with my eyes... without ever intruding. He leaves an amazing body of work.

Homenaje a Alda Merini

WE 2 R 1, originally uploaded by Lucia Rojas.

Amore,
vola da me
con l'aeroplano di carta
della mia fantasia,
con l'ingegno del tuo sentimento.
Vedrai fiorire terre piene di magia
e io sarò la chioma d'albero più alta
per darti frescura e riparo.
Fa' delle due braccia
due ali d'angelo
e porta anche a me un po' di pace
e il giocattolo del sogno.
Ma prima di dirmi qualcosa
guarda il genio in fiore
del mio cuore.


Alda Merini, da "Alla tua salute, amore mio"

WORLD MARCH FOR PEACE AND NON VIOLENCE

Faces of Peace, originally uploaded by Lucia Rojas.

DAY 34

http://www.theworldmarch.org/

Do visit this website. The World March is a wonderful way to unite our consciousness into one.
:)

Onion makes me cry

Onion makes me cry, originally uploaded by Lucia Rojas.

Taken in Villa de Leyva Colombia. Onion Plantation

I love this shoot for many reasons. For one I love the location and couldn't be more inspired when I am there. Villa de Leyva is definitely a magical place full of wonderful energy, creativity and kind people. Secondly, I usually tend to get very close to my subjects, I am always looking for ways to make the frame tighter, but here I went wider. And the wider I went the more I loved it. I certainly feel this is the beginning of a story telling phase. :)

ONE PHOTO STORY - El Autostop

, originally uploaded by Lucia Rojas.

Taken at the Infiernito Desert in Villa de Leyva, Colombia.

Should you ask?

Too many questions dancing in my head..., originally uploaded by Lucia Rojas.

Sometimes there are questions that need to be asked... no matter what the consequences.

“Words can make a deeper scar than silence can heal”

Scar, originally uploaded by Lucia Rojas.

“There is something beautiful about all scars of whatever nature. A scar means the hurt is over, the wound is closed and healed, done with.”
-Harry Crews-

Elementos de Génesis

Never alone, originally uploaded by Lucia Rojas.

The best thing about change is that something always inevitably ends and that leaves the door open for new beginnings. Sometimes things have to start all over again, as if they were brand new.

Elementos de Integracion

Whitechapel Station, originally uploaded by Lucia Rojas.

It is funny how it works. For months you go on thinking you are not going to make it through another day, not like this. Then all of a sudden you wake up one day and everything has changed. The hole in your heart is not there anymore. You are over it.

This picture was taken with a Holga @ Whitechapel Tube Station in London

Elementos de dispersion

Elementos de dispersion, originally uploaded by Lucia Rojas.

Sometimes you can actually feel things as they shift and change. You know you are going to come out transformed. And they said people don't change... but you know it is not true. You know it because you are living it.

Cumbia en San Jacinto

Cumbia en San Jacinto, originally uploaded by Lucia Rojas.

Cumbia is a Colombian musical style and folk dance that is considered to be representative of the country. Cumbia began as a courtship dance practiced among the slave population in hidden places away from their owners. In San Jacinto, The way the cumbia is danced is probably one of the purest of the country. The woman is always very dignified representing the indigenous side, and the man has much more of a hot-party role representing the black side. Traditionally the woman will hold a candle, because the places were they used to hide to dance were very dark... Feet are always dragged on the floor, because the slaves had chains on their feet, which didn't allow them to properly move.

In the dance the man is trying to court the woman, and the woman sort of flirts back, but never gives in completely... you never touch each other in the Cumbia...but when you are properly dancing it, you should never take your eyes of your partner... and you get very close without ever touching. (I find it extremely sensual ;) )

Barullo

Barullo

Parcour

Parcour! I love it!

Body Language - London, June 2009

Shooting with Elisa, an Italian dancer who lives in London, was so much fun! I have always loved dance so I was dying to shoot with a dancer and Elisa delivered in every possible way :) I am really pleased with the results.

I have been blogged :)

http://www.shuttercrack.com/

Thanks to Mariczka :) This makes me very happy.

I promise I will be back soon with updates about my life in London.