Jorge Quinteros

Photo Essay: Colombian Day Parade in New York

Being around people who are passionately celebrating something is contagious. In this case, the candor in their screams, the hard sway of the tricolor flag, the array of native outfits, it’s alluring people and the overall readiness of the Colombian community in welcoming anyone to join their celebration was remarkable. Underneath the harsh 85 degree temperature on Sunday July 31st, I found myself amidst the streets of Northern Blvd celebrating the culture and the traditions of the annual Colombian day parade. I’m not Colombian but being a photographer and an admirer of culture was a good enough reason for attending.

In comparison to the Puerto Rican day parade which takes place along the overcrowded streets of 5th Ave, the Colombian one shined at a smaller scale which I liked a lot more. Unlike the slew of other photographers armed with 70-200mm lenses and 2 camera bodies strapped around their shoulders, I shot entirely with an 85mm and no press badge to guarantee that I would snag the type of up close shots I wanted. Constant movement was crucial because of the inability of my lens to zoom. Tasteful shots were all in the footwork.

With nothing to lose other than being escorted off the main streets and asked to stay behind the barricades like everyone else, I kept my dSLR as visible as possible so as to secure my stay in the middle of everything. I simply looked like I was supposed to be there and I guess you could say I behaved as if I knew what I was doing. During the 2+ hours that I walked the parade route alongside the participants, no one ever questioned my presence. I was asked twice who I was shooting for and at no time did I feel self-conscious stating I was working for myself. I solidified the statement as I handed them a Moo card.

The great thing about parades is that everything goes as far as street photography is concerned. When that amount of people are in a public place, particularly when they’re having fun and being entertained, they’re normally unaware of anything other than ensuring their view is not being obstructed from the spot they’ve secured for themselves hours before the event.

With the exception of a few onlookers, everyone’s is relatively upbeat if they notice you photographing them. You can’t expect not to be a potential subject if you’ve chosen to be part of such festivities. Asking permission to photography complete strangers is not something I’ve master as of yet so I took advantage of doing it all day. The likelihood that they would have declined was small in view of the setting we were in but uttering the words was a push towards boosting that confidence.

The reason I shot with a 85mm was because I don’t own a fast mid-range zoom lens yet. I’m looking to eventually purchase the 17-55mm f/2.8 but leaving the technical aspect aside, my objective as a photographer was not to be one of the many skulking at a distance. I didn’t want to be a voyeur to everything around me but rather an active participant. I love interacting with people too much to give up the opportunity of being close to the action.

I enjoy casual shots as much as anyone else but I appreciate it even more when people furnish me with the opportunity to photograph them because of my approach. The sun was shinning and in spite of that, I refused to wear my shades because I wanted the people to see who was photographing them. Street photography involves getting close to people and so much was the case during the parade that I’m eagerly added Colombia to the wishlist of countries I hope to one day visit.

Feel free to view the rest of the photographs from the Colombian Day Parade.

Camera+ and Little Skip Coffee Shop

As I candidly photographed the interior of Little Skips, a quaint local coffee shop located in Bushwick Brooklyn, a part of me felt contrite for having sold the small and rugged gem that was the Canon G11. The creative possibilities are endless and exciting in using a small camera like this or even the iPhone in view that you can get away more with photographing in low-key environments as oppose to potentially have people shying away when you’re aiming at them with a dSLR.

It’s rare the instance in which you won’t come across something funny, quirky or beautiful and those are the moments you want to have any type camera with you but more so if it’s one that’s not an inconvenience to carry. On this particular outing, I left the D90 behind and reminded myself that it’s the relationship between the photographer and the place that’s ultimately important and not so much the camera.

In case you haven’t noticed yet, I have this inherent attraction towards coffee shops and whenever a new one in the neighborhood pops up via Yelp or word of mouth, I’m destined to pay a visit. I’ve dropped by several already but it’s recently that I considered photographing the setting which I regret not having done much before.

The one deed I don’t do is to secretly photograph and immediately leave. I can probably get away with it and feel less guilty about doing it at a Starbucks but when it comes to local coffee shops, the likelihood the barista behind the counter preparing your latte or Americano is the owner is very high which is what I appreciate.

No one is going to care more about providing you with great coffee, comfortable seats for relaxing, free internet access and laptop outlets as much as the owner. Having the opportunity to come face-to-face with the owner of an establishment is rare nowadays but that certainly wasn’t the case today. Before even taking one single shot, I placed my order for a toasted multigrain bagel and a cappuccino and hoped my order would take long so I would have an excuse for wandering freely photographing.

With the iPhone, I really try and I think I’ve succeeded in not getting overwhelmed with needing to download every new camera app that debuts. Very much like my loyalty towards Lightroom, I’ve used Camera+ enough that I’m convinced it has everything I will ever need for managing my photographs so I don’t bother experimenting with anything else. The combination of effects I applied using Camera+ to every photo taken in Little Skips was: Scene: Clarity, Effects: Overlay, Borders: Viewfinder.

Granted that every photo I took could have been shot without having bought anything or even making the owner aware that I was a photographer but the fact that I did opened up the opportunity for developing a relationship that would make me come back even more. The coffee shop isn’t targeted towards anyone in particular, rather to everyone in some way. The armrest of the sofa I sat on had the biggest tears you would never want a guest to catch sight of but it was those same oddities that made Little Skips rare and special at the same time.

It’s difficult to say whether I’ve discovered my favorite coffee shop but I secretly hope I never do because that gives me the incentive in searching and photographing more.

Photo Essay: Union Square Rally Against War

As a New Yorker, I’m well acquainted with how overcrowded Union Square can get over the weekend due to the Farmer’s Market but what I wasn’t prepared for when I walked out the subway was the multitude of cops safeguarding the main plaza and the impressive amount of rally participants chanting “Money for Jobs, Not for War!”

The crowd wasn’t necessarily angry. In fact, quite the opposite. They were enthusiastic for participating in something they believed in and very friendly in taking their time to enlighten you on the purpose behind their strong voices.

If there was ever time where I felt absolutely no discomfort in photographing people, it was here. Generally speaking, protestors would most likely not object to you photographing them because after all, they wish to be seen and heard. Our job is to impartially capture what we see as best we can.

I loaded the 85mm on the Nikon and began getting quite involved photographing which ironically enough meant removing myself from the circumstances and focus completely on the people rather than the cause.

Broadly speaking I didn’t have a sense of what I wanted to capture other than knowing you can’t photograph everything because you’ll increase the likelihood of going crazy. With every genre in photography, you’re far better off capturing 1 or 2 viewpoints very well rather than 5 or 6 very poorly.

Sometimes the most you can expect when you have only one opportunity to capture something is to hope that you’ve at least seized a small aspect of its totality.

With situations like this, they’ll always be elements of unpredictability which to me is the part that makes it both difficult and rewarding.

The one factor I would say influenced the shots I took was the lens I used. As I managed to carefully navigate myself amidst the crowd, I kept contemplating how much more versatile my vision would be if I had a 24-70mm lens as oppose to resorting to the limits of a prime.

I’ll admit to having missed several shooting opportunities because they required a wide-angle perspective. I did have the 28mm f/2.8 with me but when you find yourself in a place where everything happens so quickly, the last thing on your mind is setting your camera down for more than 1 minute.

I wouldn’t say I photographed anything explicitly violent but I must say the excitement in believing that I did was exciting. With the large amount of attendants avidly photographing as much as I was, I’m sure they shared the same feeling.

Feel free to view the rest of the photographs from the rally at Union Square.

Photo Essay: Queensborough Bridge

We arrived at the Queensborough Bridge at 11am. Generally when I’m photographing alone or with friends, I like to take the coordinator role for two reasons. First, to make sure we begin early so as to make most of the day and take advantage of the abundant natural light and secondly because I’ve gotten lost in New York enough times that each mishap has led me to discover and learn more about these places that’ve turned out to be more of a virtue than a curse.

The one gullible feeling we wanted to obliterate before walking was believing we were going to capture in 3 hours something that hasn’t never been since before. It’s not as a touristy overpass as much as the Brooklyn Bridge is but the challenge was is finding how to illustrate the place as a location worth visiting without being too generic with the content.

What I enjoy doing before going anywhere is performing a quick Flickr search of the place to take a notice of the style of photographs that have been shared already and try to do something relatively different.

It’s difficult to think you’re likely to find anything interesting when you’re simply walking over a bridge unless there’s a typical sunset waiting for you up top but what can make the trek worthwhile is in being more reluctant to take shots just because you can and more because it’s distinct in nature.

I realize the approach is nothing foreign but once you’re in the moment with camera in hand, batteries fully charged, an enthusiasm to shoot and an empty memory card waiting to be pumped with images, the unexpected question of “why the f**k did I come here” can certainly come up. One of the interesting moments was in seeing how passengers from the Roosevelt Island tram were as adamant to capture a photo of us as much as we were of them.

One point to mention is that you can’t get too distracted with the panoramic views because the pathway is not as wide as one would like so you’re likely to be ran over by the high-speed bike riders.

The entire walk across the bridge would probably have taken us 30-45mins but if you’re trying to look beyond the massive structure, you have to take into account the people and details that play an intricate part in its existence. I took us about 1 hour 25 minutes because we stopped frequently and without sounding too philosophical, we began realizing there was more to just the bridge.

Some would argue it’s likely you’ll take more beautiful photographs the moment you board a plane and arrive at a place that’s more striking than what you’re leaving behind. No question being abroad is more exciting but I like to work more with reality than fantasy.

Not flying anywhere exotic doesn’t have to be the straightforward equivalence of thinking it’s not worth picking up the camera and seeing what’s out there. Walking a bridge that leads you from the town of Long Island City into Manhattan may not sound too compelling but I realize that it’s easier to get people enthusiastic about seeing photographs of something new and much more challenging to get the same reaction of a place or thing which they’ve seen time and again.

You can view the rest of the photographs from the assignment.

Photo Essay: Unforgettable Dubrovnik

A lot of folks are not even familiar with where Dubrovnik is but what I can assure you is that once you visit the city, you’ll not only know how to pronounce it correctly but you’ll be destined to never stop thinking about how remarkable the panoramic views are everywhere you turn.

Dubrovnik is situated at the south of the Croatian coast along the Adriatic sea and it was one of the last port of calls as we toured the Mediterranean onboard Royal Caribbean. With the exception of the other major cities we visited like Rome, Venice and Florence, Dubrovnik was the one destination I wasn’t too acquainted with so my expectations was not nearly as high but it turned out the city is one of the highest visited in the country.

When you arrive, instantly the most recognizable feature of the place is the magnificent history you see from the enormous walls that surround the whole city. Walled cities are generally architecturally impressive but Dubrovnik is on its own in this category. There’s a big wall, now what?

If you’re adventurous enough and since you’ve already made it this far to visit the place, the ultimate highlight of your day will be trekking along the wall to marvel at the countless red rooftops, the hidden monastery courtyards and the vibrant blue sea waters along the coastline. You’re also likely to get a glimpse of the damage to some structures that hasn’t been rebuilt from recent wars.

We spent over 2 hours walking the wall because it’s inevitable not stopping to photograph and to rest. There’s many stairs involved, the walk is strenuous but the views are worth it. I suggest going in the morning because there less of the hoard of tourists who disembark from the cruise ships as we did and because it’s not nearly has hot as it will get in the afternoon.

Another chunk of advise for your visit is to not be afraid to get lost in the town. Not just visually put physically because as captivating as the massive main squares may be, it was in the narrow polished limestone streets that we found the most homelike shops, cafes and restaurants where you’re more likely to pay less in comparison to the ones located on the main streets.

After all the touring and all the photographing, our favorite past time in the evening before heading back to our cruise was just sitting at one of those street cafes enjoying a glass a wine and an order of chocolate strawberries with my wife as we enjoyed the atmosphere and realizing the surrealism that we felt in being part of a golden era for that day.

You can view the rest of the photographs from the assignment.