Mexico City With My Nikon Z7
by Edwin Juan Lopez
Mexico City is the capital of Mexico and the most populous city in North America. Mexico City is one of the most important cultural and financial centers in the Americas. It is located in the Valley of Mexico (Valle de México), a large valley in the high plateaus in the center of Mexico, at an altitude of 7,350 feet. The city has 16 boroughs.
This year, my wife and I asked our kids and their partners if they would join us on a trip to Mexico City between December 24th and December 31st. The kids said yes. So, we traveled to Mexico City the eve of December 24th and arrived in Mexico on Christmas Day. The photo above is the view when we opened the curtains in our room Christmas Day.
The morning of our arrival, we took a lovely walk through the Condesa neighborhood. Here’s the family in front of a beautiful garage. Abbey Road, anyone?
The next two photos are of a lovely courtyard/parking driveway, replete with two resting dogs and of the outside of a Spirits shop.
On December 26th, we traveled to Coayacan, the home of Frida Kahlo. The town itself has beautiful old Spanish-style homes, courtyards and plazas!
Frida’s home was an absolute treat. Her Kitchen, studio and backyard were all memorable. Photos of each follow.
The Museum of Anthropology was built in 1964. We were all flabbergasted as it appears like it might have been built 20 years ago. Designed in 1964 by Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, Jorge Campuzano, and Rafael Mijares Alcérreca, the monumental building contains exhibition halls surrounding a courtyard with a huge pond and a vast square concrete umbrella supported by a single slender pillar (known as “el paraguas”, Spanish for “the umbrella”). The halls are ringed by gardens, many of which contain outdoor exhibits. The museum has 23 rooms for exhibits and covers an area of 857,890 square feet. Below is the umbrella with the City skyline in the background.
The Museum contains wonderful information about the Aztecs and served as a good introduction to the Pyramids in Teotihuacan the following day. The photo below is of visitors photographing other family members beneath one of the great Aztec objects excavated recently.
Teotihuacan is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico located in the State of Mexico 25 miles northeast of modern-day Mexico City. It is known today as the site of many of the most architecturally significant Mesoamerican pyramids built in the pre-Columbian Americas. Our trip to the pyramids in Teotihuacan was amazing. I am including 4 Pyramid photos.
The first is of the Sun Pyramid with air balloons, allowed only til 9:30 am, flying overhead.
The second is of the Serpent Pyramid as we walked into the Sacred site.
The third is of Avenida de los Muertos, viewed from the Pyramid of the Moon; it provides a great view of the Sun Pyramid.
The last photo is the view looking up the Sun Pyramid, which we climbed, before our trek.
What would a trip to Mexico City be without a visit to Lucha Libre? Here are the masks worn by the ridiculously acrobatic and dramatic wrestlers.
The Diego Rivera museum is home to one of Diego Rivera’s most famous works, Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central (Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Central), a 48 foot-long mural painted in 1947. Rivera imagined many of the figures who walked in the city from colonial times onward, among them Hernán Cortés, Benito Juárez, Porfirio Díaz and Francisco Madero.Here it is pictured below.
The second mural is a collaboration of two Chinese artists commemorating the great Mexican Artists of the 20th century and their murals.
A walk through downtown provided me an amazing sight, a man hauling a huge cargo manually. The effort was incredible.
Mexico has built cable cars in the poor neighborhoods to transport 7000 poor folks with no other access to public transportation daily from their homes.
The government and artists have transformed what was previously a slum into a colorful artistic community that may be a ghetto but is no longer a slum.
This was a great trip. I felt I barely scratched the surface. I hope you get to visit Mexico City soon and enjoy this great City.
Finally, I just purchased a Nikon Z7 this fall and took it, along with the kit lens and accompanying 35mm prime, with to Mexico City. It exceeded my expectations and performed admirably throughout the trip.Enjoy!
Hi Edwin! Looks like you had a great time. I am headed there myself in a few weeks in April. Can you tell me how it felt carrying your equipment around town? Did you feel safe most of the time having your camera out? I have been to Mexico many times, but never to Mexico City. I have never felt unsafe there, but I was in different parts of the country that don’t see the same crime as the city.
I felt completely safe the entire time. I was out late at night on a couple occasions and never had a problem.
Have a great time as Mexico City is a great place.
I really enjoyed reading your blog thank you so much
Thank you for looking and commenting.
Hey Steve,
it seems comments from me are not welcome here. If thats the case, please let me know and i quit. Thanks. Elderin@gmx.de
Why would you say this? Comments are welcome from all, unless they are made to attack, hate or cause trouble.
Because my comment did not show up even two days later and i dont want to waste time (both yours and mine).
Maybe you have been busy or it had something to do with the my browser not refreshing the site.
would be nice if you would delete my email address. i included in my message as i thought this would not be of public interest and you would like to answer by email.
This is funny. After reading some critics here i started to have a closer look at the images and i see what these people mean. But we all shoot images like these and use cameras for nothing more or less but documenting the moment. The article for me was about how the Nikon Z7 performed as a travel companion and to do documentation kind of shooting not to produce art. In that way i enjoyed reading it and the photos as well. I am also shure, that Edwin took some great images of his family that he did not show here for obvious reasons and that he could produce different (more artful) images when he feels like doing so.
Hola Edwin! Yo también soy mexicano pero me aterra llevar equipo caro a la ciudad de México, por temor a ser asaltados. ¿Me podrías aconsejar acerca del tema? Muchas gracias!
Hola Raziel,
No tuve problemas viajando en Mexico con equipo caro. Las personas de Mexico son amables y muy cordial. Lo único que tienes que recordar es que no debes llevar equipo caro por la noche en vecindarios isolados.
Disfruta y no te preocupe, edwin
I think these photos are great for what they are, documenting a trip through mexico city. I appreciate these real world experiences since this is how I would normally shoot. I would be curious to know how it felt to carry such a large and sophisticated camera on a vacation. Was it worth it?
Thank you Paul. That is all these photos meant to convey; documenting a fun trip to Mexico City with my family. They were not meant to be artsy photos or thematic photos, other than fun that is. Last time I posted, I had traveled to Cuba with Peter Turnley. On that trip, the theme was street photography. I shot more carefully and studiously.
This trip, however, was all about fun with family and sightseeing. Thank you again for your thoughtful comment.
Hi Paul,
I meant to tell you that I did not consider the camera large and sophisticated. Traveling with the camera and two lenses, the kit lens and the 35mm s lens was a joy. Was it worth it? I would say yes but of course Iulian would say it as wasted on me. Go figure, my friend.
…thanks a lot for your words, Steve!
And that is why this is a great resource for any type of photographer. Thanks Steve for publishing the comments and your retort to the comments. Very well said. “In reality there is no better, just ego.” is a great line to live your life by. And need I say this is a real world website so Edwin took some real world photographs and I enjoyed them along with the write up of Mexico City. One city I will never visit but have now a glimpse of. Plus to see the Nikon Z7 in action is great as well. A camera I personally own now because of the real world articles on your site. Anyway thanks for running a great photography site and sticking up for us hobbyists. I look forward to more articles from Edwin.
Thanks for your comment David. Working with the Nikon Z7 was great and an education; it was not like shooting any other camera. It performed admirably. The last two photos on this post were taken from a car traveling on the highway at 60+ mph. The combination of the fast shutter speed and IBIS allowed me to grab these 2 shots. Admittedly, they are simply ‘snapshots’ but being able to get them allowed me to convey what is happening in Mexico City.
Hello Steve.
You’re saying that criticism is not welcome?
I did not say anything about myself being a better photographer nor tried to show off. Maybe you tried too much to read between the lines.
It is just the fact that you published an article and someone judged its quality.
If I say that some food is bad tasting – doesn’t mean that I am a better cook. It just means that I can distinguish between good and bad food.
Thanks.
Criticism is always welcome and allowed here but hateful remarks are not and yours was a disrespectful hurtful comment. I replied to what you said, so no need to drag it on. Maybe you do not look close enough IN BETWEEN the lines if you do not realize we are all different, we all are not pros and nor do we want to be. Some of us photograph for the enjoyment it brings, not to show skill level. Thank you.
Well, that is a very good answer, Steve. I may have to adjust my view of your website a bit because of this. You always should see the intention of the photographer, i sometimes forget this also.
Howdy Ingo; I have learned a lot from you as you have helped me with settings in the past; Tis been truly appreciated. I whole heartedly support your comment.
Having visited Mexico City and many parts of Latin America, I have to say that photography can be extremely challenging. There’s so much going on. I don’t live in a big city, so taking pictures in a massive and colorful place like Mexico City is hard. The heat and bright sun during Christmas also make it even more difficult. There is so much to see and experience and so little time, the rule of taking photos at the “Golden Hour” isn’t helpful nor practical. Also, wandering around in an unfamiliar place early morning or in the evening can be potentially dangerous as we did have more than a few shady characters approach us. I went to Mexico City in 2013 and I looked at my photos and realized they were terrible. But it was an incredible learning experience and since then, I have travelled around the world and with each trip, my photos are getting better…but one thing I have noticed is that the experiences of each trip are so wonderful regardless. What I mean is that, I don’t let the quality of the photography determine how much fun I’m having. I would like to thank the author for this article because it reminded me of why I travel and take pictures…it is so much fun! People on who follow these photography sites get way too critical sometimes and forget that many of us are hobbyist…not professionals. I love skiing, and love getting better at it, but I’m not training for the Olympics and definitely don’t need someone talking down to me on the ski slopes.
Thank you Joe. I could not say it more articulately than you have written it.
Hello Steve. I follow your website for years and found some nice readings during this time. But, now, I have to ask you: what is the reason of publishing this article? I have absolutely no reason / intention to offend the writer – but I always considered this website as a photo oriented one. The photos published here lack in composition, crop, vibe, story – you name it. I am very sorry about the writer’s feelings – but I hope he will take my comment in a constructive manner. There is a lot to learn about photography and travelling is a very fun way to do it.
Sorry again for my comment.
Not a nice comment, no and normally would not allow that. When I started this site 11 years ago I stated clearly “THIS IS A SITE FOR ALL, FOR BEGINNERS TO SHARE THEIR PHOTOS, FOR HOBBYISTS TO SHARE THEIR PHOTOS, AND FOR PROS AS WELL”. I promised people could be comfortable doing so, without attacks from commentators who feel they are better than everyone else. Ever person who shoots a camera does so at a different skill level, as well as different level of enjoyment. I would guess that Edwin gets much more enjoyment from his camera than you do, and I doubt he would ever leave a comment just to put down another photos. Thee are his family trip photos, and I assure you there are MANY who read these pages who do the same as Edwin, myself included. You must not be aware that I do not and never have judged anyone by their skill level, as again, we all are in different places in that area. All that matters is the experience, the joy, the passion and the love for photography. When someone comes along with the “I am better than you” attitude it’s usually a sign that the person commenting is unhappy or a negative person and guess what? In really there is no better, just ego. What’s better to you may not be to me or someone else. Anyway putting down anyones photos, It’s not welcome here. Edwin has posted before and is always welcome to again, and that goes for anyone who has the love and passion for photography. Thank you.
Bravo!
Well said, Steve.
Thank you Steve for your website and commitment to inspiring photographers of all abilities. I must admit that comments like Iulian’s can have a chilling effect on what others submit. I, myself, am more likely to be more critical in what I send you next time. Notwithstanding, your response truly puts your money where your mouth is. I truly appreciate the support.
Thank you Steve for taking a stand against such negative comments that unfortunately are very frequent on other forums. If more moderators/owners would take a similar stand we would have a much more constructive social media climate. I enjoyed Edwins picture and storytelling. It made me more interested in visiting Mexico City,.