miami rainstorms

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40 images

riding the bike to the city of Miami
to take photos
after the rain
some sun -
but then rain again -

puring rain - soaked wet -
i should have been wearing my swim trunks -
it is actually fun.
then the sun is out again and then rain -
you can see blue sky above bal harbor to the north and dark stormy sky
over south beach maybe 7 miles away.

many streets are flooded -
i see an old coppertone ad - wonder if they still make those,
in the hot weather it does not seem to matter that much.
i noticed there are some green small parrots -
feral or originally from here?
s

pix rainstorm - vodou temple

70 images or so
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lost my cell phone at 8 a on the beach
went to walk the dog and swim.

some puertorican woman found it and she will wait for me.
\need to get to her place before 1 30.
it was just 12.35 when i realized my phone was not wit me.

she lives in little Haiti NW 51st street.
strange coincidence.

there are 5 kids living in her house.
i give her 20 bucks to buy some ice cream for them.

---

a botanica on 54th st has a vodou temple in the back.
paintings on the wall -
knives - skulls - jars.
the girl tells me about the gods.
st lazarus is always by the entrance protecting the entrance.
mary is the goddess of love
and st patrick and st george i think - both represent the god of war.
i am surprised she shows me all this.
some photos on the wall showing some rites in haiti.
old women wearing colorful purple dresses.

---

i see a guy painting some words on the wall - he turns -
it is $erge
in the art gallery district.
i give him some prints - it makes him so happy/
“oh man you are good - these photos are so sharp“

i tell him he could paint on canvas or boards and try to sell his
paintings -
he only paints these walls
in a few years will chip away -
would be nice some of his art could travel to different people and places.
---
a guy sells produce from a van in the street
I buy a mango for a buck
i feel thirsty i get a coconut for another buck.
he cuts a hole with a machete -
i drink the water -then he cuts it into pieces -
i eat the pulp.
---
it is hot sunny and humid.
i see dark clouds drifting south.
the sky turns gray and i see lightning -
a huge rain / thunderstorm soaks everything -
i have to wait 45 minutes under a roofed shelter.
i eat the mango with my hands -
it is very juicy -
buy i can wash my hands and my mouth with the rain .
the storm halts for a few minutes
i ride to chef creole -
order a sea bass
10 bucks for a whole fish with a lot of rice beans sweet plantains.
it is still raining - 45 more minutes.
the streets are flooded.
if i did not have a camera and a cell phone on me -
would just be nice to ride a bike in my swim trunks
---

kids are styling their hair in the street -
i ask if i could take their photo - i am documenting little Haiti - i add
“we are not Haitians!“
they say no then they say yes.

---
cemeterycometary
i ride thru the downtown cemetary
some tombstone bears the name “Crist“
I get on the Venetian way -
fancy homes - bougainvilleas and jaguars.
but after all in Miami
bougainvilleas are everywhere
on the rich homes and on the poor homes -
some beautiful color
that can be afforded by everyone here

pix girl boxer+sunday mass in the park/

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I got some 4x6 prints at Walgreen's -
to drop off to some people i encountered and let me take their picture.

the photos look quite good - very saturated colors and glossy paper -
I need to make the images a bit cooler.
so different from the labs in NYC that usually mute the colors.

the night before I was in the gallery district - openings - people were
dressed up.

the same area not at 3 pm of a Sunday is deserted like a ghost town -
just bums from around here and the mission and the church.

a guy from Georgia is carrying 50 pounds of corn starch in a bag on his
head.
he is 53 and has no fat at all - just skinny an d muscular.
he tells me to be careful around here - to not turn left -

i tell him i am going to little Haiti - so i will take a right turn.
he has no idea he has never been there,
--
I go to the restaurant Chez Anouse -
i give them the prints -
the owner is happy and thinks my photos are also funny.
he seems educated - he tells me some stuff about Haiti / Santo Domingo etc.

i take some photos of his young daughter
she puts on a nice elegant linen jacket

---
i run into a girl i shot a few days before -
she is hyper she is at her friend's and friend's mother place -
they are just sitting in the yard and chilling.

they are not Haitian - geechies [?] from Ohio.

the other girl used to be a boxer -
\she now has some missing front teeth -
knocked out a year ago at some game -
a dentist is taking care of that for cheap -
about to leave her mother asks me if i can bring her a Pepsi.

all the stores are closed -
i find willy's open -
i buy 3 cans and some bananas -
the guy asks me why i am taking pictures.
he has seen me around the hood.

bring back the sodas the mother tells me i am a gentleman.

take their picture and go -
it is very very hot and humid -
but now i am used to it -
just would like to swim off the heat tho.

i got the bike fixed - now it goes so much faster [the brake was too tight[
and although i like road bikes - i appreciate the basket for my bag and
having the brakes on the pedals makes shooting while riding [as i often
do] easier.

I find the Jamaican restaurant with the murals i shot the last time in
Miami -
they remember me
it is good to show them what i have photographed.
these guys are potheads and i smell the marijuana scent all around.

---
i go to the park where they have a huge outdoor mass -

it is the celebration of that wedding where jesus made the miracle when
they ran out of wine.

so all these people are also re enacting that episode as some sort of
impromptu play.
they are catholic - they say - nothing to do with botanica stores and
Voudou.

some think i am from the Miami herald
i can see some disappointment when i tell them i am doing this for myself -
independently

lil haiti/gallery openings in wynwood

slideshow 60 or so images


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the ocean is dead calm -
on weekends there are way more people on the beach in south beach -
i miss the fun of the wave swells

swim quickly and i think - it is better i ride downtown and reshoot stuff i missed or that was at the wrong time of day with the wrong light

i go to the I95 junction over pass and shoot $erge's parrots.
a guy with a beard and dreads walks up to me with a smile and says "Hey I am $erge, the artist!"
i tell him i know he is not!

the light is great - still i haven't made it here in the morning when the sun light hits the west side of the avenues.

i need to meet some friends at wynwood - the gallery/design district-
but i am a bit hungry
i go to chef creole -
there are no prices on the menu - most people just order by sitting in their cars.

i get some crab creole-
it is good - but it is the worst thing to eat before going to some gallery opening -
it is such a mess to eat and that melted garlic butter makes the mess even worse -

i am checking some art
not great stuff after all -
nothing that i can really be able to appreciate a lot -
a few things here and there -
and there is no booze - almost nothing at all -
after hour on the bike i am thirsty - and i want something cool to drink -
water and beer -
i run into Ernesto with his friend - we cant seem to score any drinks -
they go to some bar and i go to this gallery complex -
i get some Bacardi soda too sweet fro my taste -
someone tells me to go and check KMan [as Kendall Man]
i kinda like his work
i walk to my bike to ride back to south beach -
i see the homeless people belongings in the streets -
there are police cars patrolling the streets for the art lover safety.
some people walk with alcohol containers in their hands from gallery to gallery street to street - but the police turns a blind eye.

6 miles to go
it is nice to ride on the venetian way - a long bridge over small residential areas -
the ocean breeze and all the trees around.
some girls are fishing on the bridge -
with gold jewelry on.

little haiti/ocean drive

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overcast morning turns into sub tropical day -
a medium swim to the the far out buoy.
---
i gotta go meet $erge the painter at 3 in Little Haiti 9 miles away.

I ride down Ocean Drive -
tourist spots
loud music -
pilgrimages to the Versace Villa -

a man drinking beer from a Poland water bottle.
he got tattoos from prison -
2 and half years in prison for stealing a car.
“we all make mistakes”.
he has been out 90 days no jobs for him
“I eat out of garbage cans sometimes”
goes to the Labor Pool every day.
he likes the weather here he is from Chicago

---
midtown Miami -
the sky turns stormy again -
dark clouds down the horizon.
---

a guy at the deli calls me “paparazzi“
I tell him I ask people if I can take their picture.
he is an artist. he destroyed all his paintings.
“you can make new ones“ I tell him.
He asks me if I know Vincent Van Gogh.
he takes off his hat and shows me his ear he cut off himself.
---

I text serge I am running 15 minutes late -
he meets me at the car wash with his moped then he gets his old rusty car and takes me for a tour.

seen most of them -
I tell him I could have not done it without a bike.
“oh man - you have been around!”

he takes me to his home -
he seems very upbeat and outgoing -
when I ask him how old he is
he turns more somber.
his 2 kids are stuck in Haiti - can't get Visas to come to see him in the USA.
He was born in Haiti -
came to the USA as a kid - grew up in Corona Queens.
he did not like the cold weather.
never studied art or painting -
just made art since he was little.

Serge has a green card - but never applied for citizenship.

I suggest he could get his kids to the US if he just became a citizen.
Better and faster way to sponsor them for a Green Card
He has no idea of the process - has no internet no email.
I tell him I will help him - look for some non profit/pro bono immigration organization that could help him with the paperwork.
I know well how this kind of anxiety feels.

his art on all these walls sooner or later will disappear -
baked and dried by the sun of southern florida - e
roded by the frequent rainstorms.

the only way to see it is to come here -
he does not paint on canvas or wood -
he could not be farther from the glam of the art world
with the posh art galleries of midtown miami just a mile away.
---
I saw a glossy hip hop video on TV and $erge's painting on the background -
just come and go. nothing for him.

---
I walk into a bodega -
the woman in blue looks at me with a severe look -
I want to buy a black mary+baby jesus candle -
I like the voudou mix music she is playing.
I go to the ATM and get some cash
the music is only on tape -
i don't remember the last time i used a cassette player.

i buy the candle and i show her what I am doing.
she smiles at me and puts her hand by her heart.
but no pictures inside.
---
there are dogs roaming the streets and chickens and rooster.
a woman points at a dog and tells me “look she has 13 nipples”.
---
Serge had told me people here are afraid of cameras -
may it be because of religion or immigration issues.
a lot here came on rafts - illegally.
the police raids and deports.

---
I brought with me a small album with prints
not the best ones - just a few scattered ones from a few months ago.
if i show that and I speak to the people with the French i learned at school they open up more - sometimes they let me take the picture.
some kids - maybe dope dealers - don't like that at all .
---
I get a flat by the Toussaint Louverture statue.
no bike stores for miles -
a girl at the air pump tells me to buy a patch at the gas station.
then some auto mechanic guys have the tools to take off the wheel
I realize that a beach cruiser bike that brakes with the pedals is a pain for fixing a flat.
you need a wrench AND an allen key as well to take off the wheel.
---
Haitian Creole
looks like french spelled in a different phonetical way -
like “brudda” for brother or “dahzit” for thats it.
---
Chez Anouse restaurant
murals inside and outside painted by Dominique -
the owner says that guy is fast, he paints fast.
2-3 hours for the whole restaurant.
---
At the Car wash owned by $erge's brother - there are always people hanging out - playing fast games of domino.

I take the portraits of these 2 young sisters and a cousin -
they all look so different n their outfits.
the blue contact lenses look so amazing and real
---
riding back just 15 block away or less
the “design district”
looks like an hybrid between Soho and Beverly Hills.
but built all at once
new restaurants
and so many signs filled with real estate language and quotes -
security guards patrolling the streets
I keep on riding
and it all reminds me that movie Zabriskie Point.
The billboards the poor the rich the desert -
escaping.

$erge the painter

slide show 22 photos [long shooting day]
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slide show 22 photos [long shooting day]
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I met $erge.
he came with his old car filled with cans of colorful house paint.
he said hello to everyone.
like a star of the block. he was happy and flattered someone wanted to get to know him -
positive energy.
but it was raining -
and hat is the point of shooting colorful walls on a day that colors are muted
and there is too much rain for my cameras.
so today he will take me for a tour.
---

I thought about shooting the contrasts of Miami
the reality of people that just shop buy stuff.
young girls with Gucci bags and big SUVs in Bal Harbor.
the fancy car people show off a luxurious life -
and pay valets 25 dollars

Haitian ghetto
they make it beautiful with what they have
colors - art - craft
ladies wearing awesome outfits and colors -
old beaten cars but beautifully painted yards
and having fun in the yard -

the art
the saints and the madonna
as gods and goddesses

i could shoot the contrast of opposing worlds
but it is harder to turn the camera onto those that try hard to impress.
but i don't want to just romanticize the poor -
as it is something exotic -
and i am taking a package tour in it,

somehow little Haiti is to Miami what Chinatown is to new york somehow -
in some way.
self contained worlds where it i hard to fit in
very different -
but a parallel urban
reality within a city

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little haiti/ biking downtown miami/looking for storefronts

slide show 90 photos [long shooting day]
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Little Haiti Sunday

hot semitropical day.
on Sunday
the beach is crowded
the ocean is flat.
it would be more fun with the waves and the riptide
or some snorkeling gear

just a quick swim
then
ride the cruiser bike over the venetian way bridges to downtown Miami.

looking for more storefronts to shoot -
little Haiti - the north side of town.

lots of places are closed -
wonder if it is because it is Sunday
or because it is past 6 pm.

not many people in the street.
the light changes a lot because of the clouds.

if the light is good on the east side of the street -
it makes it hard to shoot on the west side.

for some places i should come back in the morning.

thousands of little bugs swarming.
in some places it is hard to see and ride the bike.
i have coconut oil sun protection over my face and arms
and all these little motes get stuck on.

i see some chicken freely roaming the streets -

a crack head woman both friendly and hostile
“i am on crack - do you have a dollar? what if i took your camera? you
want to take my picture? what about if i suck you? do you want to see my
tits? you must be a terrorist, you have a camera! go back to south beach. “

i gave her a dollar then she gives back to me then she takes it again.
it is like talking to different people at once.
someone now evil then sweet and vulnerable.
just inconsistent - a roller coaster of thoughts and actions.

the ghetto in Miami looks poorer than anything i saw in new york.
so many people asking for a dollar -
a lot of alcoholics and toothless crack heads in the streets.

76th and 6th av. it is not really little Haiti anymore.
mostly auto mechanics and car body shops.
there are beautiful murals at hidden corners.
--
further down
st mary cathedral
from afar i thought it could be a mosque -
the blue and white tiles.
i see the coral bricks at the entrance.
services in english / creole / spanish.
--

i head back to the 50s
there are people bbqing in the backstreets
i hear priests delivering their sermons thru loud sound systems -
i look inside churches i see women kneeling and covering their faces.
i hear hip hop and i hear voodoo music.
and there is smoke and scent of grilled meat everywhere,

i stop at an auto mechanic.
3 young Haitian kids pose for me.
they tell me where to find more nice wall paintings.
the tell me i am covered by these little bugs.
--
there is a car store that sells music.
i smell pot being smoked inside.
--
a elder woman is dressed up.
a bum eating from a styrofoam plate on some bench outside .
i say hello and she smiles.
she has jewelry, broken shades, style.

--
not many Asian people in Miami.
i see just 2 Chinese restaurants
where the food is cooked and served by black Haitians.

---
it is hard to photograph people here.
even if friendly most they don't want to have their photo taken.
i see some women dressed up walking out of churches .
awesome colors and hats

but most of the times
they just say no.
--
i have to ride 10 miles back
stop at target
with a beach cruiser you cant go too fast and
after 6/7 miles the wide seat rubs on the inner thighs.
just not so comfortable for riding more than short distances.
--
inside Target
feels like a different world
and a wind chill from the AC.
-
i m riding the venetian way
it is 10 pm 78 degrees and 80 percent of humidity.
there is breeze from the ocean.

i stop at Walgreen's and buy a 12 pack of beer.
after 22 miles - i am tired.

surf/sunset miami beach

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Miami Beach - pre tropical storm

after a day of continuous rain
the sun comes out -
some clouds and showers come and go.

in the morning the ocean is rough
there is a red flag
and waves one after another - not so good for surfing-
looks like when the Mediterranean is stormy.

i go for a swim - the rip currents feel like a river and
the sandy bottom is very uneven
shallow and deep a few steps apart

the lifeguard blows the whistle at me -
when i get out of the water
he tells me he does not want people to swim too far out -
even if you are a good swimmer.

---
i skip Mexican dinner
i just want to go in the water before the sun sets.
no more lifeguards after 5 and i bring my fins -
i swim past the surf and the surfers to the buoy.

it looks amazing
the waver are longer and taller -
some push me up and i feel 10 feet above the beach level -
i dive to see how long i can hold my breath.
i come out and i hear "Stefano"
and it is Paulo surfing
catching some good waves.

--
I should have bought one oft those 300 dollar underwater camera enclosures.
to take the pictures i wanted to take but i haven't ye taken.
-
I swim until before dusk -

just to catch some shots from the beach.
i wrap a plastic shopping bag around my camera - the lens sticking out.
wade in the water and shoot .
-
wait until dark
i hear the sound of the waves
loud and louder
and i realize it makes me happy
to hear that to be there

700 miles on I 75 - miamibound/tropical storm approaching

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atlanta-miami 700 mile drive

3 am motel 8 somewhere in northern Florida.
70 bucks for the night she says

Motel 6 was forty I reply.

she goes down to 50.
all about coupons and haggling.

king size bed -
the window is sealed -

cant sleep until 5.30
hit the road at 11 am.


no starbucks strong coffee
breakfast at 7-11
caffeine shot creamer
high caffeine content.
if i had known
would have skipped the crappy coffee in the styrofoam cup
just drank 2 shots of caffeine creamer.

stay on I75 skip the turnpike -
90 extra miles
hit the west coast traffic -
Tampa/Ft Myers

black insects - flies or winged ants
hit my windshields like snowflakes in a snowstorm
it is cloudy
83 degrees outside.
Vasectomy ads
signs

hit Naples
turn left on the Alligator alley

the highway thru the everglades.
makes it worth the extra miles.
I see burned trees and green grass red leaves.

i wish i could stay
but hertz needs my car in 2 hours

in the middle of nowhere - i can't see a building down the horizon
always like it here.

i make a turn to everglades city - but it is too far away
maybe some other time.

in Miami it starts raining
and feels like an hurricane is approaching
no time for the beach
just rest
the past 2 nights
not much sleep