Playa and Akumal

To promote our new destination wedding business, we spent a couple of days on the Riviera Maya last week. It was a whirlwind of meetings with wedding planners, shopping for office stuff and, of course, good meals.

Our first night in Playa del Carmen, we met with Maria, from Weddings in Playa. She recommended Como Como on Quinta by Calle 38 Norte. Fantastic! A nice glass of Sangiovese with breadsticks dipped in olive oil was a good start. That was followed by a wonderful arugula salad with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and bits of proscuitto.

The Osso bucco (veal shank) was a generous portion of meat, falling-off-the-bone perfect over mashed potatoes. Our other entree was tagliatelle with lobster in a cream sauce. Both dishes were outstanding.

The next day we scooted up to Cancun to meet with Denise, Gloria and Maria Fernanda at Tropical Wedding Experts. Like Maria, true professionals with whom we look forward to working.

We had time for one more meeting back in Playa and were faced with the decision of where to stay for the night.

We wanted to snorkel in the Akumal Lagoon, so we headed to Akumal. A nice ocean front room in the Vista del Mar Hotel and dinner at La Buena Vida finished off the day. Unfortunately, the cold front kept us out of the lagoon.

Breakfast the next day at Turtle Bay Cafe and Bakery more than made up for the weather disappointment. Flavorful Chiapas coffee, amazing sticky buns (well-balanced, not too sweet). So amazing, that we ate it before we could photograph it. You'll have to settle for photos of the crab cake benedict and the fruit plate. They were both as good as it gets.

Carnaval 2011

Our first Carnaval season as Cozumel residents was unforgettable. We were able to attend several evening events where the king and queen candidates performed before the final vote. Jennifer went to a couple events where the comparsas (dance groups) were competing.

The lead up to Fat Tuesday features parades along the waterfront, comparsas performing in the plazas and on the streets, and concerts in the parks. Of course, there are plenty of food vendors in both parks and along the parade route.

Since the parades start after dark and the lighting can be uneven, I concentrated on shooting some of the preparations for the parade on Fat Tuesday for this blog post.

Photos from the other events are on Jennifer's web site under the Portfolio heading.

The next blog will feature some of the good eats we discovered on the mainland when we traveled to meet with wedding planners for our new destination wedding business.

New Web Site is LIVE!

After a lot of work, our new web site for our Destination Weddings business is live.

Jennifer and I are so excited to be living here in this beautiful place. We are looking forward to photographing weddings on Cozumel, the Mayan Riviera, Cancun and Tulum.

Please pass this along to your friends. We are offering a nice discount to the first wedding booked in Mexico.

M&J Photography

Cozumel Carnaval 2011

We have spent the past three Saturday evenings at the Moby Dick events center for the preliminary parties for Carnaval.

The candidates for King and Queen of Carnaval are presented, then perform alone, and finally perform with the dance troops (comparsas) that they have assembled. A couple of the candidates had as many as 40 dancers.

It is an impressive production with Las Vegas style costumes and elaborate dance numbers. It's even more impressive when you realize it is all home grown. A small city of 100,000 puts on a show of this caliber.

All of the candidates are local and many of the costumes are made by parents.

If you have been fortunate enough to be on the island during Carnaval, you've probably enjoyed the parade and the free concert in the park. I don't think many gringos see this part of Carnaval. After all, the show begins at 11:00 pm. Most of us are in bed by then. Me included.

I will return with some restaurant reviews in the next week.

For now enjoy a few photos from last nights performance.

Birthday Evening

I have had many memorable meals in Cozumel. There is a lot of variety among the restaurants and quite a few places really care about their food and the service.

A birthday dinner on the island has lots of possibilities. A couple of years ago, a friend and I went to El Moro on my birthday. I'd heard about the terrific shrimp dishes. Big shrimp, a contradiction in terms, that come from the Bahía de Campeche. We were wowed that night, and it has been a habit for the past couple of years.

Guests are greeted with enthusiasm and warmth. Chips and a nice habañero pico de gallo arrives at the table, followed quickly by drinks. Fortunately, they serve Mexico's finest beer, Bohemia. Only worth noting because not everyone does here in the land of hopless, flavorless Corona.

You can't miss by starting with the garlic soup with egg. A rich chicken stock that has the perfect amount of garlic, and an egg that is swirled into and cooked in the broth.

The shrimp brochette (shrimp on a wire) is good, the grouper is always fresh and never overcooked, and one friend loves the chicken mole.

But, I'm after the Camarones Palapa, which I have never seen anywhere else. They start with large shrimp, pounded flat, breaded and fried. The results are small shrimp bowls. In the shrimp bowl is a sauce very much like a Veracruzana, but with green peas, and more shrimp.

What more could a shrimp lover ask for, but shrimp on shrimp?

The meal is topped off by a complimentary Mayan liqueur Xtabentun, made of honey and anisette. Not a common drink, it has a nice balance.

If it is your birthday and someone in your party has spilled the beans, the lights go down and a homemade banana split with candles comes to the table, accompanied by a sombrero (you can't keep it) and a version of one of the worst songs ever written.

This year, the birthday celebration continued into the night, with the first Carnaval event at Moby Dick. The king and queen candidates were presented after an elaborate dance number. Mexican pop/disco star, Yuri, put on a show which wound down at 2:30am. Then the dancing started. Five more to go, and we plan on being at every one.

El Moro

Open 1:00pm - 11:00pm

Closed Thursday

Ave 75 bis norte, between Calle 2 y 4

Visit to the U.S.

For many years, January has always seemed like the lost month. There never seemed to be any assignments and the weather was challenging. On the plus side, the month appears to go quickly into memory.

This January was not much different, except that we left our home on Cozumel and made a two-week whirlwind tour of the U.S. We attended the annual meeting and seminar at National Geographic offices in D.C. (but, we missed the meeting due to bad weather at Charlotte, NC airport). The seminar was great, with the first speaker, Abelardo Morell, inspiring us with his "camera obscura"photos:

Other highlights were visiting with friends and family in Severna Park, indulging in crab cakes, steamed oysters and clams from Annapolis Seafood. The American Visionary Art Museum, featuring "outsider art" in Baltimore is a must see:

A leisurely, but punctual Amtrak trip took us to New York Penn station. Cold, but sunny, we made the trek to the Met to see the Stieglitz, Steichen and Strand photo exhibit, some interesting furniture and a cool exhibit by Joan Miro. A stellar dinner followed at Sfoglia on 92nd & Lexington. Terrific mussels, Berkshire pork chop, branzino and orrechiette with lamb sausage. It was early and the weather wasn't horrible, so we walked to Demarchelier at 86th and Madison for the Upper East Side French bistro experience. About what you would expect; nice atmosphere with attitude. Decent creme brulee and chocolate mousse cake.

The next day, with no meetings and everyone we know working or occupied, we head to the new NYC Italian food mecca called Eataly. Located near the Flatiron building on 23rd and Broadway, it's the creation of Mario Batali, Joseph Bastianich and his mother, Lidia. All things Italian, and the best of all of those things - with prices to match.

It would kill me to live in the neighborhood, because I would want to shop there regularly, which would cost a fortune. The selection matches the quality. The best fresh and cured meat, seafood, cheese, produce, coffee, gelato and baked goods are located among food stations that offer seafood, vegetable dishes, cured meat and cheese plates, pizza, and well . . . . just about anything you can think of that is Italian.

Standing at a table in the La Piazza section , we had a plate with five kinds of cured meat, five kinds of cheese, a tricolore salad with reggiano, a glass of Spumante, and a glass of rosato. $56 with tip. A bit more than a Cozumel lunch at the taco stand. However, it was good and everyone should go once. At least. (all above photos taken at Eataly)

Another delay at the airport the next day, due to freezing rain and snow, but we eventually made it to Albuquerque. A visit to the Apple store, a visit to Creede, raid the storage unit and the sad discovery that after 52 years in business in Española, NM, Matilda's is closed.

We're back home, we've applied for our work visas, which, when granted, will allow us to launch our Mexican business. Stay tuned for details.

A Few Kodachrome Memories

Let's be clear about this from the start. I love shooting digital and I wouldn't trade my Canon 5D MkII for a boatload of film.

But, I would like to jump on the nostalgia, "in memoriam" Kodachrome bandwagon. I used it a lot as an amateur in the 70s, when I was trying (at great expense) to figure the whole photography thing out. If you missed the exposure on K25, you had a washed out mess or a contrasty problem.

When I was a newspaper photographer in the 80s, we never used it, unless we were on our own time. The newspaper had no time or place for a film that would take two - three days to process and be returned.

In the early 90s, I received Kodak sponsorship for a book project on Colorado ranches and farms. I think they sent 80 rolls of 64 and 200.

I started shooting assignments for the book division of National Geographic in the 90s. One of the first questions was, "You'll get 200 rolls of film for this assignment, what do you want?" Really? Anything? I played around a bit with 25 and 64, but really loved the Kodachrome 200. I always had my "low light" bodies loaded with 200. Almost always had it in the Leica. And I usually rated it at 400 ISO.

The photos on this post were all shot with it. If they don't look as vibrant as a color slide, blame it on the scanner, not the film.

They really did "take our Kodachrome away." More due to Kodak's stupidity than the marketplace. Or, maybe not.