City of Warriors

In the state of Coahuila is a municipality called Guerrero. It's a small city, with less than one thousand inhabitants. Even such a small city, it's filled with lots of beautiful and bright colors that are well known to the south-west culture in Mexico.

Guerrero is a surname that means warrior. These small municipalities are home to a large number of Roman Catholics and even though the state of Coahuila has over two million citizens, given the size of the state that only equals out to be 15 people per square kilometer. While that may seem small, Coahuila is home to the country's largest coal reserves and the state's capital Saltillo also has a growing automobile industry with plants for both General Motors and Chrysler.

Los Colores de Coahuila

Sabinas, Coahuila, Mexico, May 2007

I've resumed work on my forthcoming book, Los Colores de Coahuila.  Stop by here for details on the release date.

Los Colores de Coahuila to Open in Del Rio, Texas

Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, March 2001

I am pleased to announce my first solo photographic exhibition in nine years.  My pictorial series on the frontier Mexican state, Los Colores de Coahuila, will be opening at the Firehouse Gallery in Del Rio, Texas, for their First Friday series, Friday, April 6, 2012, from 7 until 9 p.m.

Los Colores de Coahuila features 42 color photographs taken between 1999 and 2007, in locales such as Piedras Negras, Jimenez, Ciudad Acuña, Sabinas, Nava, Guerrero, and Villa Union. 

Exhibit information:

Los Colores de Coahuila

Photographic Exhibition

First Friday, April 6, 2012

7 - 9 pm

Firehouse Gallery

120 East Garfield

Del Rio, Texas 78840

(830) 775-0888

www.delrioarts.com

www.robertjonesphoto.blogspot.com

   

Los Colores de Coahuila

 Dam reservoir along the Rio Grande

Presa La Amistad, Coahuila, Mexico, April 2001

The one thing I learned from A. Aubrey Bodine's spectacular photography of Baltimore and Maryland's Eastern Shore, is that a great photographer can never leave home, yet show us the world.  I have been in Minnesota three years, and still I cannot develop an affinity for the place.  (That's not to detract from Minnesota as photographic subject - Chris Faust has done wonders with the Gopher State).

This is where my heart is, the Mexican state of Coahuila.

I shot this exposure on one of the greatest films ever, Kodachrome 64.  Sadly, it is gone now.  

 

Los Colores de Coahuila

 

Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico, April, 2001

Great news!  I will be having my first one-man exhibit in nine years, at the Firehouse Gallery, in Del Rio, Texas.  Friday, April 6, 2012.

Mark your calendars!

New Book Launch: Los Colores de Coahuila

Guitarist, Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, March 2001

As Garish: Roadside Polaroids goes through its final tweaks and polishing, as it goes to press in the Fall, I am pleased to announce work has begun on my next volume, Los Colores de Coahuila, my excursion through the cities and villages of the Mexican frontier state of Coahuila, along the Texas border.

Juan Torrescano, in his essay for the book, comments, 

Robert Jones declares he does not want to use his images as a "deep" philosophical vehicle, nor does he want to concentrate on historical subject matters, but his images speak precisely to these topics (but without the verbiage to get in the way of his imagery): The aged troubadour, who dexterously strums his lira to please his improvised clients, the popsicle vendor who tirelessly runs through the broken pavements and alleyways with the desire to exhaust his goods, the proud rancher who places his hopes in the next season's harvest -- not to mention the spotted furious cock ready to enter into battle. The colorful juggling street clown in full attire, the snapshot of the smiling family, and what about the fortezza vecchia of the National Emblem, the effigy of the Patron Virgin of Mexicans? The flower vendors who avidly conquer their lady with a beautiful bouquet, as well as the figures of San Martin De Porres, the elderly woman, the barber, and the emerging mysterious gardener, the fresh fruit vendor, the roses in the church atrium, as well as the tower, and the stained glass windows. Or the scenes of  dogs and felines lounging in the sun, and the wide range of multicolored, stripped and weathered facades, doors, and windows. All this -- for the people of the border -- is a standing ovation. It gives integrity to a bland environment of brick walls  without decoration, or older houses that speak only of their abandonment. 

The tentative launch date for Los Colores de Coahuila is Spring 2012.

Los Colores de Coahuila - Film from the Freezer

Street scene.  Location unknown, Coahuila, November 2004.

Of course, one of the problems of keeping film in the freezer forever is I sometimes forget where I took a certain photograph or roll of film.  This is one such case.  Nonetheless, it is a very intriguing scene.  

Los Colores de Coahuila - Film from the Freezer

Street Scene, Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, March 2001

One of the best unintended consequences of storing film in the freezer for nearly a decade is when a print such as this sneaks up on you, and quietly grabs you.  I usually don't go for understatement, but this forgotten scene was apparently just too elegant to pass up.

Los Colores de Coahuila - Film from the Freezer

Paleteria.  Sabinas, Coahuila, Mexico, April 2002

I don't plan on leaving this earthly realm like Eggleston, leaving over 1,000 rolls of film in the freezer.  In fact, I am now below 90.  Just picked up this somewhat faded, but nonetheless sweet frozen treat from Walgreen's just today.  After nearly a decade in the Frigidaire, this one still makes my mouth water.

Garish: The Cutting Room Floor

Street signs, television aerials, telephone lines

Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, c. 1999-2000

This one is too close to my heart and it hurt a lot to excise it from the book.  Yet, it stands alone quite nicely, and takes me back to the smells of burning mesquite and roasting pine nuts.

Los Colores de Coahuila

Piedras Negras, Coahuila, March 2000

As readers of this blog can surmise, I spent a lot of time in the city of Piedras Negras.  The genesis for a series on the brilliant colors found in the state of Coahuila was here.  The juxtaposition of forms, of ostensibly ashen masonry and dry-rotting wood miraculously brought back to life by mere coats of paint is at once the simplest thing in the world, and also the most fascinating.

Los Colores de Coahuila

Piedras Negras, Coahuila, March 1999

Any urban or even small town landscape in Coahuila would be incomplete without telephone and power lines to establish the image's geometry.  

Los Colores de Coahuila

Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico, April 2002

Coca-Cola may be American, but it is ubiquitous in Mexico.  Not for nothing was their previous president, Vicente Fox, also president of Coca-Cola before being elected national leader.

This one is for a photographer now vacationing in Galicia, who's on a similar wavelength.

Rediscovered Negatives: Los Colores de Coahuila

Federal Route 57, near Progreso, Coahuila, May 2007

The sky was beginning to clear right about the time I photographed this billboard early one spring morning.  To bring a little more color to the image, I used an 81A warming filter.  Apparently, it warmed up the sky enough to saturate the blue to such an extent that during processing, uneven development occurred, and you can see where the developer made the sky denser at points away from the sprocket holes.

Still, the sign made me hungry enough to stop and buy some beef jerky.

Los Colores de Coahuila

Piedras Negras, Coahuila, March 1999

Every picture tells a story, but sometimes a picture has a backstory.  During my first visit across the border to Mexico, I stopped in the beautiful city of Piedras Negras, across the Rio Grande from Eagle Pass.

I'm used to people asking me what I'm doing, photographing insignificant ephemera.  In Texas, I usually get a long drawn-out "Yep.....Right.....Uh huh."  Trust me, Hank Hill is alive and well there.

Mexicans tend to be a bit more upfront.  For example, I was standing in the town plaza in Villa Union, about fifty miles inside the border, and this guy pulls up next to me and says, "Hey!  You're white!"  It was hilarious, because he was as gregarious as you'd ever want to meet; he just got to the point more directly (you don't see white tourists beyond the border towns in Coahuila much).

Back to this photo:  It was taken outside an auto repair garage and car wash.  As I was stooping to snap the picture with my Ricoh KR-5, one of the mechanics on duty asks me, "What are you taking a picture of?"

Instead of giving my usual sarcastic answer (I tend not to be droll when a guest in someone else's country), I replied, "I'm shooting the gravel.  That chain and broken bits of glass are really interesting."

His response made me laugh out loud, as he told his co-worker, in English, "See that?  He's taking a picture of the gravel."

"Huh?  The gravel?"

"Yeah, he's taking a picture of the fucking gravel, man!"

God, I miss Mexico!

Angeles Verdes

Somewhere on Carreteria 29, Coahuila, November 2002

In Mexico, if your automobile ever breaks down, just telephone Angeles Verdes (Green Angels).  Just dial 078!

Rediscovered Negatives: Los Colores de Coahuila

Piedras Negras, Coahuila, March 2000

Just ten years and one month ago, I was armed with my Ricoh KR-5 Super and five rolls of Kodak Vericolor III film.  Of all the places I most miss, Coahuila tops the list.  It is the place my heart and mind keep coming back to.  Alas, it is much too dangerous to go there these days because of the "War On Drugs."  It is a disgusting waste of human life: Mexicans being slaughtered in the street because of Americans' greed to get high.  One good reason to decriminalize drugs.  Still, the drug cartels corrupting Mexican politics and society are terrorizing the people, who are defenseless.  

One good reason to legalize firearms ownership in Mexico.  Until then, the slaughter of the innocents will continue....

Los Colores de Coahuila

Ruta Federal 29, San Carlos, Coahuila, January 2002

In the winter, even though the temperatures don't really dip too low, outdoor eating venues are shuttered up.  I ran across this refreshment stand, and was so floored by the desolation, that I shot it with an 81B warming filter, and then desaturated the image after scanning (a departure from my usual processing, which is why this image is not included on my website).  

The resultant image is a place out of time and mind, although the Siempre Coca Cola advertisement places it in the 1990s, though in less than a decade, sun and sand worked twenty years damage on it.

Los Colores de Coahuila

Mothers and Children, Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, April 2002

These women are the wives and girlfriends of men detained in the city jail in the city of Acuña in Coahuila.  I was introduced to them by my dear friend and guardian angel, Paulina Sanchez.  Whether imprisoned justly or not, these women's men were languishing in jail for want of an attorney.

So, they wait in vigil outside city hall in protest, hoping that the mayor will grant clemency. While I cannot know whether justice was dealt or not, I certainly sympathize with their predicament.

One year before taking this photograph, I had spent time in the jail at the police station in Acuña.  I had been photographing along the main drag, near the border crossing into Del Rio when I passed by a grade school.  As I was taking pictures of street life with my Ricoh, when the kids behind the fence playing at recess asked me to take their picture, I did.  Five minutes later, the police picked me up and took me to the local police station.  

As it turned out, a child had been kidnapped from that school but one month before.  The suspect was a tall gringo who took the boy's photograph the day before.  Apparently, I was suspected of planning to do the same.

By God's grace, a woman named Paulina Sanchez was on her way home for lunch, following about fifty feet behind me.  She went to the police station as a witness on my behalf, and went to the U.S. side of the border to make telephone calls to everyone I knew to call the Acuña police to get me out.  After a long wait in the drunk tank -- which smelled of urine -- the police chief let me go.  My Army administrator called and informed him I was a legitimate military photojournalist.

I've heard it said that street photographers haven't made it until they've been arrested for the "crime" of taking pictures.  Perhaps, but I really don't want to go through it again.

Rediscovered Negatives: Los Colores de Coahuila

Ruta Fiscal 57, near Progreso, Coahuila, November 2007

Mexicans have a sophisticated way of appreciating color, by integrating it with buildings' architecture, in this case a bodega.  A common sight throughout the country, houses and businesses transformed into billboards make even the simplest of structures appear warm and inviting.  This yellow/white/red color scheme is emblematic of Carta Blanca beer.