{ Urban Photography } in La Paz.

Come to Bolivia and visit La Paz , you will find it to be a great, busy, crazy and different place to be . Where the modern world meets the past in every corner!

If you want to see more photos, please visit { 7 Fotos } to see a little more of the photos I took a while ago.

I'm dead and I'm here ! Headstones: Why Cemeteries Are the Last Witnesses of Our Existence

The headstone/gravestone marks the place where a grave or tomb is placed. They are traditionally used by most religious people and they became part of the funerary tradition and business. The gravestone is the way a family honors the deceased by putting this eternal memorial on“the last place to rest”. This is a tradition that I think we should keep alive.

Just think about it, from here to a hundred years, future generations will probably find our destroyed coffins, our bodies… bones and wonder if we were male or female?, who we were?, when did we died? and more. Part of the objective of the gravestones is not only for ID purposes (so the family can visit the body without forgetting the place) but because the human being has a fear to be forgotten. For most of us, documentation and a gravestone will be the only proof for the next generation that we existed once upon a time.

Most of the world’s population won’t enjoy a massive popularity, not even in their hometown but we will have a family that will remember and have us present in every important milestone in their life but if we are truly lucky, there will be someone who will want to know more about us even after we are gone.

When people started to make headstone, they started out by making them from simple materials and simple designs with symbolisms. From pieces of stone to carved wood, we manage to level up this important cemetery piece. In the old, old days when body snatching was fashionable; families even built cages on top of the graves.

Headstones nowadays are made from different materials: Fieldstones, Granite, Marble and Slate.  In the beginning all tombs had a stone lid, if the coffin was completely made of stone or not, this stone lid was placed over the grave. Stones were used to mark where a body was buried; they were placed around the grave and just marked with a name or initials (that's sad).

One important element on a headstone is the identification of the deceased person, the day of birth and death, a prayer or specials words by the family, a photo and finally a place to put flowers. Most people decides to put a little fence or something to surround the grave this way other cemetery visitors won’t step on a person’s last resting place.

Having a gravestone was and still is a symbol of wealth, the bigger the better. Some people used to buy expensive material and used designs that become traditional but were very symbolic, like skulls, birds, angels, flowers, praying hands, crosses, etc. The headstone evolved into pieces of art. Big or small, the sculptures that some graves have are beautiful and incredible. If you take a walk on a graveyard you will see sculptures of angels, Saints, hands, books, beds, Greek columns and more.

Photos by: www.7fotos.blogspot.com

Sadly, there are more and more people going for cremation “Today, nearly all of the deceased receive some sort of burial or cremation even if it is paid for by the state. The cost of land and the current overcrowding in cemeteries, along with changes in perception, have made people consider cremation.  Cremations are less expensive than the cost of caskets and plots.” -247wallst . 

 I say sadly because XXI century people are opposite to the way The Victorians were during the 1800’s (Click to read more) ; people now hate death, they don’t want to talk about it, it’s scary and a morbid issue that shouldn’t be a topic of conversation…at all! So with that mindset, the sooner a body goes underground and if people don’t have to deal with a corpse THE BETTER! Cremation means that families won’t have to set a foot on a graveyard and that means that there will be one less proof of a person existing or worst; the neglect of cemeteries. Let’s face it, yes…we will have photos, facebook profiles and documents but none of them will truly express the love of a mourning family for the decease the way a headstone does. It will have a direct effect on people's way to see death; probably it will make people colder. Where our feelings will go if we cannot mourn in a place made for that?

The Andean Rockefeller

Simón Iturri Patiño (Santiváñez, 1 June 1862 – Buenos Aires, 20 April 1947) was a Bolivian industrialist who was among the world's wealthiest people at the time of his death. With a fortune built from ownership its majority from the tin industry in Bolivia, Patiño was nicknamed "The Andean Rockefeller". During World War II, Patiño was believed to be one of the five wealthiest men in the world.

Patiño's biographers are not in agreement on the details of his early life. Many wrote that he was a cholo, with a mixed Quechua and Spanish heritage, and born to a poor mother, while his authorized biography holds that he was solely of European ancestry, and the son of a provincial leader. He was actually the illegitimate son of Eugénio Iturri, a Basque man and his mother was María Patiño, from Cochabamba. Before entering the mining industry, he managed a store in Oruro and a few years spent years in private schools.

Eventually, Patiño started in mining with Hunanchaca Compaby of Bolivia, a silver company, and then with Fricke y Compañía. Patiño was assigned to collections for the store, and in 1894, he agreed to accept a deed of land in compromise for a $250 debt owed by a prospector. The deed turned out to be the rocky side of a mountain and Patiño was fired from his job for settling an account in exchange for a worthless piece of property. Legend has it that Patiño was forced to pay back the store from his own funds, and was stuck with his own bad bargain.

The mountain, located near Llallagua, turned out to be richer in minerals than anyone had imagined. Although the first several years of work yielded a little, the turning point came in 1900 when Patiño located a very rich vein of tin, later called "La Salvadora" (The Savior). Over the next 10 years he built up the control of nearby mines and other important mines in Bolivia, including Catavi, Siglo XX, Uncia and Huanuni. By the 1920s he had also bought out Chilean interests in his mining company and went on to buy tin smelters in England and Germany. By the 1940s he controlled the international tin market and was one of the wealthiest men in the world, hence his "title" The Tin King (Rey del Estaño).

In his 2008 book "Outliers", Malcolm Gladwell estimated the total net worth of Simon I. Patiño around USD 81.2 billion in 2008 dollars. That amount placed him in number 26 of all time wealthiest individuals in human history, ahead of Bill Gates, Carlos Slim, Warren Buffet and J.P. Morgan.

Patiño had been living between Europe and Bolivia since around 1912. In 1924, following a heart attack, his doctors told him not to return to Bolivia and he moved abroad permanently, first to Paris, then to New York and finally to Buenos Aires where he died, close to the homeland he was so fond of and wanted so desperately to return to. 

Among the many gifts that Patiño did to his wife when he was alive was the Palacio Portales in Cochabamba (which was begun in 1912) is one of the most luxurious; however, the family never lived there. The entrepreneur's widow moved to Villa Albina.

The Portales Palace was designed by French architect Eugène Bliault. The construction has an eclectic style, mixing the French Arabic trend, and Italian in different rooms. One of the halls is a replica of the library at the Vatican, for example. Statues of Roman emperors, female figures simulating the four seasons, the zodiacal signs, plus cherubs and angels, are combined in the decoration of the rooms, giving the impression that one is inside a huge kaleidoscope.'

(For more photos of The Palace click THIS LINK )

The mirrors and gold multiply everywhere, and it seems that the salons have a dispute with each other over which one is more luxurious. In the main hall presentations, conferences, concerts, tributes, etc. are presented. This large room has a unique sound, so most piano recitals are held there.

The huge mansion, considered one of the most important cultural heritage of the country, which took six years to build, this place was never properly inhabited, although planned in detail by Patiño. He even instructed to built public showers for residents of the area, so they could use them and so ingratiate himself with them.

Shortly before his death, and already knowing he had a heart disease, Patiño decided to create the Foundation that bears his name to this day, especially to please her two daughters who were very attached to bolivian culture.

Patiño is without doubt the greatest industrialist Bolivia has ever had. His substantial wealth made him powerful in Bolivian politics and he was locally both admired and hated. Previous to a political shift away from his allies in the government, Patiño merged the company owning his Bolivian tin property with a British company active in Malaysia.

Patiño died in 1947 and was buried in the city of Cochabamba high in the bolivian mountains of his birth place in a white mausoleum. This mausoleum is in the property where a small cottage was builded for his wife, this property is called Villa Albina. 

-If you want to see pictures of Villa Albina visit THIS link
-If you want to see pictures of The Portales Palace visit THIS link

(Source: Wikipedia and Los Tiempos - 
Photography by { 7 Fotos }

¿ How long will you wait ...?

How long will you wait for her/him?

" Siempre hay dignidad en esperar. Porque lo fácil y villano es reemplazarla(lo) (aun así sea una pieza de recambio pasajera), lo cobarde es consolarse en las personas veleidosas que nunca faltan y te ven como un trofeo de guerra. Lo canalla es olvidarla(lo) en un paréntesis indigno, y luego hacer como si nada hubiera pasado."

"There is always dignity in waiting. Because it's easy and villain is to replace (That person) (even if it's a piece of temporary replacement), the coward thing to do is console yourself in the fickle people who are always there and see you as a war trophy. The scoundrel is to forget (her/him) in an unworthy parentheses and then act as if nothing had happened. " 

By: Antonio Tamariz

Hay una parte de nosotros que no vive sino es con ella (él). ¿Por qué la extrañamos tanto? Cuando la besamos, por ejemplo, es como si la mitad de nuestra alma quedara con ella. Entonces al siguiente encuentro uno la besa tan apasionadamente como si tratara de recuperar por su boca la mitad de su alma o como si entregara la otra mitad para no vivir más que en ella, de ella.

Por eso, es una tarea tan ardua separarse por un tiempo de aquella persona a quien se ama. Aguardar su regreso es tarea titánica. Ahora, ¿cuánto uno puede esperar al ser amado?

Dusty Tombstone - { The last place to rest }

 Photos by: { 7 Fotos } - Photography (click and Like)

Graveyards are the least favorite place in the world for most people. ¿Why it shouldn't be? graveyards equals pains, sadness, loneliness, even fear. I believe that all of these feelings can be transformed into something more positive.

The first time I step into one, the only thing I felt was curiosity. ¿ Why this place was so scary? ¿Why grown-ups never wanted to talk about the people that were buried there? Death, unnameable.

Just take a few steps into the cemetery and you will see dozens of names and dates written over the tombstones. It's so unfair really; many years of history reduce to a name and a date. Some tombstones look like they are regularly visited but others have been abandoned. Who could abandon the place where a loved one was buried? Usually, Immediate family; wife, husband, mother, father, children, grandchildren and so on will be the ones who will take care of the loved one resting place but as time goes on these people also dies and the great grandchildren won't take the responsibility of taking care of the tombs.

I think the blame lies on "older" generation. Since there is a phobia to talk about death, deceased and cemeteries there is a high probability, if not a fact, that the new generation won't know that they still have relatives in a cemetery.

Graveyards are actually one of the best place to relax, put everything in perspective and meditate. The cemeteries I have visit were located in large green areas, surrounded by trees. There were lots of family mausoleums most of them looked abandoned but still looked stunning. The most impressive thing for me were the statues of angels, children and crosses of all kinds. The silent witnesses of time in this place.

Don't be afraid of cemeteries, My advice to you; take a day to visit your local cemetery. You will be surprised to find large generations of families and local famous characters. The tour will let you gain a new respect for the death and a new value for the life you still enjoy. Regardless of what everyone will say. It doesn't have to be a morbid and sad experience.

More Photos at: 7Fotos

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#InstaPhotography - Back to basics

#InstaPhotography : I haven't found an official description but I will try to explain it in my own words.

-Insta-Photography: "The practice of taking photographs with the application (app) called Instagram and then publishing them to this social network. " - { 7 Fotos }

I don't even remember when it was the first time I heard about Instagram but I have been a faithful user for about 2 years. I didn't know anyone who was using it so everything about this app was new to me.

At first I didn't like it. It felt like a straight up look inside my life, It was even scary, With time you realize you can find ways to control it and to filter yourself. This day, there are lots of people publishing every little thing they do and where they go. Nowadays I have been using it mostly for artistic reasons, I love photography, and you can't get any simpler than Instagram.

The photographers this days, are getting too complicated with this art. They get the most expensive equipment and expensive production, too much gets you distracted from the most important thing. Your Photo.

Instagram takes that weight from your shoulder. Sure, you can't use your cellphone as your work tool and no, the chances are that you won't get money from it but it brings you back to the most basic thing in photography; light and a good eye. Maybe you are a photographer and you are thinking "Everyone thinks they are a photographer now" but the reality is that not everyone can get a great photo, not everyone will feel the love for it. That will be noticed in the photo.

Most of the people that only take pics for the money take empty and artificial photos. Only time will tell when they get tired of it or who were made to be photographers.

For more of my photographs go HERE

#InstaPhotography