Buzios

Yesterday I boarded the 1001 bus and headed south to a peninsula called Buzios.

The 3.5 hour bus ride was easy when you´re tired and you have mangos to eat on the way. I slept for most of the ride but was able to catch a glimpse of some rolling green hills and wide open spaces through my tinted window.I arrived in the Centro and immediately took a taxi to Geriba beach. I put myself up at the Blue Marlin on a recommendation from a friend in Rio. The place is nice, clean and quiet, just what I needed.

I´m a short block away from the beach and that is pretty much where I´ve been spending my time. On the way to Ferradurinha Beach one day I encountered this crab. He was just walking along the path wall and didn’t seem to mind me taking his picture.

Ferradurinha Beach is one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever been on. The water was clear, was practically void of people which made for quiet and peaceful days at the beach.

Rio – days 6 & 7

Our last two shooting days took us all over Rio, each place more diverse than the next. The first location we hit was Lapa, home of an old aqueduct that once brought water from the Carioca River to the city population, now it serves as a big elevated platform for the Santa Teresa streetcar.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Rio is a city of contrasts, and Lapa epitomizes that statement. Here, the aqueduct, built in the middle of the 18th century, lies against two of Rio’s most recognizable modern buildings in the Financial District. The pyramid shaped building reminds me of the large structure in ‘the future’ from the movie “The Time Machine” from the 60′s.

After we shot the aqueduct we headed up to the Tijuca National Park. At the top you get an amazing vista of Rio, here is my attempt to show the scope in a six image, stitched panoramic. The view starts on the north end of Rio with Sugarloaf Mtn. rising up, and ends on the Corcovado (Christ Statue).

Our last day of shooting had a call time of 5:30 am so we could catch sunrise over the rocks and beach at the point where Copacabana and Ipanema beaches meet. As we headed south towards the point, the sun was a huge, bright orange disc just over the horizon. By the time we got out to our spot the sun wasn’t quite as huge as it had appeared minutes prior, but it looked pretty spectacular.

Our photographer, David Stoecklein making it happen.

After the beach we headed back to the Selaron Stairs to get some of the early morning light. When we were there earlier in the week the sun had gotten to high in the sky for us to shoot. Selaron, the artist was there working so we asked if he’d want to talk to a couple of cute girls, of course he couldn’t say no.

Our last location of the day and the shoot took place in an antique market in Lapa. The market ran for about three long blocks and had everything from old stopwatches to twin lens reflex cameras circa 1960, toys, paintings, you name it, it was there.

Now that the photo shoot is over I am off to Buzios for a few days to sit on the beach and do nothing…except read my book, “2012″ by Daniel Pinchbeck, sleep, soak in the sun and swim in the ocean.

We worked with a lot of crew on the shoot but two people in particular we couldn’t have worked without, Walter, our driver and Ajus, our security guard. Walter spoke great English and had a great sense of humor. Ajus, a firefighter and ex-cop, spoke no English, but did an amazing job keeping us safe at every location. Thanks guys!

Walter

Ajus

Rio – Wall art study

Tonight it’s all about the graffiti. Here in Rio the graffiti is world class and is on the same level as some of the most prolific street artists in the USA or around the world.

In Rio there are two different types of graffiti:

The messy tags that gangs use to mark their territory.

And the ornate and creative street art developed to beautify neighborhoods. It’s funny, the messy taggers will no doubt cover most available space on a wall to let you know they’re around, but you never see taggers messing up the good graffiti art.

In the town of Santa Teresa wall art is prevalent and viewable around most bends in the road. A slice of the good stuff is represented here.

Rio just happens to be a giant canvas so no matter what neighborhood you happen to be in you’ll more than likely see talent on every block. I spent part of the day Saturday in Lapa, a town just down the hill from Santa Teresa. Lucky for me I found some more wall art that was equally inspiring…

An electrical box and light post just outside of my hotel.

In Rio every VW bus is white, if it’s not all white, it’s white with an advertisement on the side. Walking north up Ipanema Beach I found this one. I looks like it’s from the same artist who did the electrical box above.

And last but not least, a peaceful girl meditating with the sound of the ocean nearby.