Jorge Quinteros

Weight on the Shoulders

I’m certain this prominent monument at Rockefeller Center has been photographed a million times but until now, I wasn’t able to include myself in that large pool. As a resident, we don’t visit these tourist attractions as much as one would think but I happen to be in the vicinity today with my camera as always and I learned something new about this Atlas Statue which is situated directly in front of the St.Patrick’s Cathedral.

There was a Rockefeller Center history tour taking place and my objective was to photograph and leave but I purposely lurked a bit to overhear the tour guide talking about the sculpture. What I learned was that from the front like in this photo, the statue comes across as aggressive with his muscular arms wide open holding the weight of the world as if he’s fed up with it and about to lunge towards the street.

Take a walk behind and you’ll notice a completely opposite demeanor. His head is bowed and he appears to be kneeling in reverence towards the cathedral. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to photograph it from behind myself but it was impressive to see the difference between both viewings.

Admiring Astroland

For as long as I can remember, Coney Island has never been the glitzy summer retreat you would envision if I showed you no pictures of the place and just told you it’s been a popular amusement park that attracts a strong amount of residents and tourist every year.

This summer, for about 45 minutes I sat in front of the Cyclone photographing people when I realized that this is truly one of the most terrifying rides in the park mainly because it has the look as if it’s going to fall apart. Aside from that, it also still has the stomach twisting turns going for it which accounts for most of this screams.

As much as I try to recount my visits as a child, I can’t think of the time when the boardwalk didn’t appear to be falling apart or when the rides didn’t seem to shake and rattle more than they sped yet when you’re 10, moving targets and cotton candy can make you oversee what most people would worry about.

Paris Pigeons

What’s entertaining about this photograph is that the pigeons were a perfect portrayal of what I was feeling when taking the picture. There’s a widespread notion of Paris being heaven on earth during the springtime but quite the opposite can be said about the winter months. The sky is relatively gloomy, there’s perpetual rain, expresso shots become indispensable but on the bright side it’s less expensive and you can take advantage of indulging on all the indoor activities that you would normally miss out on if it were sunny.

Needless to say the temperature was beyond frigid temperatures and I appreciate that these birds were still kind enough to be patient with me while I tried to capture something I was unable to do outside which is stand still like they were.

Washington Monument Obelisk

Currently in existence today, there’s 3 major obelisk in the world and 2 of them are located in the United States. The first major one was constructed in St.Peter’s Square in Rome and it’s said that it’s placed in a way where every Pope who addresses any crowd in the square must face the obelisk as well. I take pleasure in saying that I had the opportunity to photograph it while we visited Rome.

The second obelisk was brought from Egypt in 1881 and placed in Central Park in New York. I’ve passed it on several occasions while bike riding and if your curiosity was as big as mine to visit it, it’s located directly behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art once you enter the park.

The third obelisk is no other than the Washington Monument in DC which was built to commemorate our 1st president who happen to be a Freemason. According to Masonic tradition, it’s said that the symbolism behind the monument was to show that the country was controlled by Freemasonry since the beginning and if you take the time to study the details of this landmark, you’ll noticed that it has Freemasonry stamped all over it.

I have friends who are completely obsessed with all this Freemasonry conspiracies and my curiosity for it peaked after reading Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol along with the rest of his books.

The Capitol Building

You may not necessarily be a history buff but the core reason to visit Washington DC is for you to walk away having received at least a brief lessen in American History by touring museums, memorials and monuments.

My wife and I made the 4hr drive down from New York because prior to that, her familiarity with anything in this small-big city was based off books and movies and not necessarily on a first hand experience. I’ve read it’s one of the must see places in the U.S and while the same is said about London or Paris, for some reason I’m more inclined to want to go abroad to enrich myself with foreign history than to appreciate the one we have in the states. Sounds uncanny but it’s true.

Nevertheless, we enjoyed the long evening walks, the quaint affluent neighborhoods and also visiting most of the Smithsonian Museum which there was an added incentive to do so since admission is free of charge. As for the Capitol Building, I was in dire need to explore it as much as a tourist could since I was in a mission to recreate scenes from Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol.

Arc de Triomphe

To say there’s no city like Paris may be a cliche’, but it’s a profoundly true statement. I’ve had the fine pleasure of visiting this spectacular city in two occasions with each stay being completely original from the other.

When you choose to go will have an impact on how much you’ll be able to see. Summer and Spring is the most expensive but the added expense is worthwhile in comparison to the bone-chilling weather of Winter that I bow never to go through again because I endure enough of it here in New York.

When I’m asked about what it was like, I always start off by saying that “If you don’t appreciate art, history, culture and a lot of walking, then don’t even bother making the trip.” I think you have to be able to first esteem the artfulness in your city or town before justifying going half-way across the world thinking that your value for it will be different. I’ll admit that The Da Vinci Code movie was the driving force for my wife and I going.

As for this photograph, it took me a total of 8 shots standing in the middle of a packed cross section on the hectic Champs Elysees avenue in Paris until I was satisfied with a photo that best represented being in the presence of the enormous Arc de Triomphe.

Added to the pressure was the reality the not all of us visit Paris, so this moment was significant, rare and it wasn’t something I wanted to screw up. The complete amount of other things that begged to be photographed in the area were endless and quite frankly overwhelming, so deciding how to approach my subject before framing the shot was priority.