Costa Rica in situ: urban observation

Recently I’ve had some time to work on and revisit projects that for whatever reasons have been set aside. One of these small but extremely vibrant series is composed of a split between urban San José, Costa Rica and some of the country’s more natural environments…rainforests.

As you may have seen in some of my other photography, populous cities and nearly-pristine natural areas are two of my favorite subjects. They are both invigorating and stimulating in their own ways despite their seeming dichotomous attributes.

Looking closer one may see that in many places nature is a series of sprawling cities with high population densities…except instead of humans the inhabitants are made up of my third favorite subject—insects—which I also photographed while there.

Anyway, I visited Costa Rica near the beginning of 2017 with a friend I had met a few years ago in Berlin; he is originally from Costa Rica and he said I could stay with his family at their house in San José as a base while I visited. Due to my fluctuating mental states (mostly downward), the amount of airline miles I had accrued, and my lack of liquid assets, a brief visit was all I could pull off. Going in January, even one day would have been worth it as I find winter an often depleting season to work through but fortunately I was able to spend eight days much closer to the equator and away from the bleak gray north Texas winter.

Like most of my trips I spent lots of time wandering around, observing the surroundings and occasionally interacting, more often content to simply take a photo in appreciation or an attempt to understand. Here are a few urban shots from this brief tropical excursion while fighting the blues. I will post the nature oriented ones later as a second entry.

2 thoughts on “Costa Rica in situ: urban observation

  1. Great post. I totally relate to spending lots of time wandering around on trips. I like the photo from the cafe. It’s interesting how the door is open and the doorway is so wide. It’s as if the interior cafe is part of the hustle and bustle of the street.

    1. My friend Alex and I got some aguas frescas in that shop and just people watched. I always miss that aspect of being in the city.

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