A few weeks back I was invited to tag along with Foto Ruta, a photographic tour through neighborhoods not normally visited by non-residents. That was all the information they gave me before beginning my adventure, the neighborhood I chose: Villa Crespo. On a Saturday afternoon in a big beautiful bar, arriving somewhat lost, I found myself with a big group of kind foreigners that talked energetically and immediately put me at ease.
When everyone had arrived our two lovely hosts Jocelyn Mandrk and Becky Hayes, gave us a series of tips to consider while taking pictures and how to get good results, something like an express course, clear and simple. Then the game began, they gave us a list of clues (which change every weekend) and we were later sent out cameras in hand.
“We require participants to slow down, look around them and notice things they wouldn’t normally notice. BA is about the funny little things you find in and around the streets, the café culture, the galleries, street art, amazing architecture set against scruffy half built buildings. We want the greatness of the city to be more accessible,” explains Hayes.
I took a little while for my partner and I to warm up to Villa Crespo, we wandered around a bit aimlessly feeling timid until we began to feel like it was our own neighborhood. For two hours I stopped feeling like a visitor and began to see the city through the eyes of its inhabitants, I stopped seeing it as the grand South American capital and saw its intangible richness.
Here are a few pictures from my experience.
