I’m here now. And will be for a few weeks. Look out for stories on vagrant communities and a dwindling peacock population in an unexpected place…

Rumor has it that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid fought their last gunbattle about 40 kilometers north of this tiny tumbleweed of a Bolivian town. I think it’s one of the coolest places we visited. It just had this kind of mellow, ground down, rough around the edges sort of vibe going on.

A lot of the walls in town were painted with these old advertisements that had started to deteriorate from all the sand and the sun.

We happened to be there on the town’s birthday so there was a big celebration. People were firing these really primitive looking fireworks. They were hand held and made a really loud bang when they made loud bang. This little girl didn’t like the noise. I can’t say I did either.

This bike just looked kind of classic to me.

We rode some horses through the badlands. I think you kind of have to when you’re in such a wild west kind of place. It was fun but more bumpy than I thought it would be. Not a good activity if you have a camera bag and a camera around your neck.

Is a port town about 2 hours east of Santiago. A lot of people told me that it was really nice here, I think I still believe those people despite my personal experience. Let’s weigh it out.

Cons:
Its been cold. Its been grey. Its been rainy. We got robbed.

Pros:
The food has been pretty good. We met some nice people who helped us fumble through our bad Spanish. Our hostel is cheap and familial.

Hmm. I think if I had visited Valparaiso in the summertime my opinion would be completely different. In the cold gray weather the colorful houses and bright graffiti murals seem to clash with the grey sky and the cool air. I can imagine this place being a little tropical paradise when the sun is shining but for now I just kind of wanna curl up in my hostel bed.

Whine whine. We’re jumping on a bus tonight and taking a 27 hour ride north to San Pedro de Atacama where cooler climates and more appropriate vistas are supposed to prevail. We’ll see.

For now here are some boring pictures I took of the town today:

I walked a lot yesterday. Up hills, through, alleys, through parks, through a spice market and a mosque. I saw a shop that sold deer antlers with giant knives imbedded in the end, I saw dead fish, I ate baklava, I drank orange juice, I saw too many hardware stores and not enough grit, I got lost and then found again, I almost fell asleep on the ferry, I worried about thunder and rain and gear damage, I battled to stay awake during class, I talked shit, I hung out, I drank beer and today… I’ll probably do it all over again.

Last weekend a friend called me and asked if I wanted to go to the outskirts of Delhi and take photographs of some Kushti wrestling. I love this country for that, random calls on what was going to be a lazy Saturday afternoon that lead to something sort of incredible.

After about an hour drive through slow weekend traffic we arrived in an area of Delhi that was half urban and half rural. The scene was Fight Club with a twist of masala. A large dirt “ring” had been flattened out next to a rickety four story building that was still under construction. Random groups of Indian men crouched in the late afternoon heat waiting for the action to start.

When it did it was a lot like the freestyle tournaments that I used to go to in high school, except with more dirt and less spandex.

The ring was big enough to accommodate three, sometimes four matches at once. Two referees dressed completely in white circled the grapplers. Their job was to declare a winner and pay them a small amount of rupees. One man with a microphone called the matches through a tinny PA system as he walked around the ring.

The day started with wiry stickish children enthusiastically dragging each other through the dirt. As the the hours passed the wrestlers in the ring got older and bigger and the crowd grew as well.

The young men with anatomy chart physiques and crumpled cauliflower ears had a lot more energy and skill than the adolescents who proceeded them. Red clay flew about in a whirl of bodies and the crowd cheered for big throws and takedowns.

Unfortunately we had to leave before the biggest wrestlers got their chance to roll around. Even so it was a great afternoon and a unique opportunity to see something rare. I hope I get a chance to go back.

Today was the first day of Fashion Week in Delhi. It got off to a normal start, well normal for India I suppose. There was massive line (and I use the term line loosely) for credentials, the set up of the venue was pretty rough and the first show didn’t get going until an hour and a half after the scheduled start time.

The clothing was pretty wild as you can see. Massive plasticy headdresses, weird day glo colors and giant futuristic looking shoes. The lights went on and we started shooting but soon the problems would start.

Apparently the venue didn’t get the proper certifications for fire safety. A squad of police and fire officials put a hold on the event before anyone got on the runway and everyone was told to wait.

The models changed out of their outfits and everyone went to the lounge to hang out. A couple hours passed and no one had heard any news. We ate lunch. A couple more hours passed and people started wondering what was going on.

Models and media sipped beers and waited. Eventually after a new sprinkler system was installed a rumor circulated that the last three shows of the day would be presented with the rest being cancelled.

The hairdressers and make-up artists went at the models like a well trained NASCAR pit crew…

But alas the rumor was just that and in the end the fire safety officials would win this battle. The day was cancelled and after six and a half hours of waiting around everyone was told they could go home.

Is the subject of both this multimedia project and the music video below. Both shot by photographer Jessica Dimmock.

I’ve always been impressed by the intimacy the Dimmock managed to get with her subjects in the Ninth Floor. There’s a palpable emotional connection there that I just don’t see often. It’s a tough watch so be forewarned.

She managed to carry that same feel into the music video for Moby. Interesting to see how much a talented shooter can pull out of a small moment.

It was an intense 10 days. I can say that now but it doesn’t come close to encapsulating the sheer grit it took to get through the event. I went from spending my days shooting the beautiful sandy shores of Diu in southern Gujarat to freezing in the lofty altitude of the Himalayas. We endured 2 a.m. wake up calls, freezing temperatures and endless stretches of unpaved road. I spent 71 hours in five different vehicles over the course of five days. I was abandoned on Barchla pass, left to find my own way to Leh. At times I was angry, depressed and confused but in the end I think it was worth it. I did get to make some beautiful images.

Here are a few of them, take a look. Watch the slideshow full screen to do the images justice. Slow it down. Take them in.

An assistant to a local artist cleans the glass that covers a painting of the goddess Durga. The painting is on display on the City Palace road in Udaipur as part of the ten day durga puja festival.