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jama ecuador, manabi ecuador, PHOTO CHALLENGES, weekly photo challenge: urban, Wordpress challenge
One of many sidewalk vegetable spots in Jama, Ecuador.
Many of the photo challenges prompt a chuckle as I apply the theme to where I am in life. This week’s “Urban” challenge on Word Press presents the following criteria: The idea behind urban photography is to photograph your city and the streets where you grew up as they are.
I am a long way from home, Toto!!!
I grew up in a petite community (Bolivar) that was three miles from a petite town of 300+ (Benoit) that was 35 miles from the small city of Greenville, Mississippi. One rural blacktop road skirted the edge of my parent’s farmland; our streets and avenues were the turn rows in the cotton field and the gravel road that zippered down the levee’s spine! Ecuador is a long way from the Mississippi Delta, though my little adopted town of Jama reminds me a lot of life on a farm once upon a time in a land far away.
An unhurried town, Jama expects one to slow down and embrace the day.
Fresh-squeezed juice? Fresh bananas? Daily news?
……………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………….. It is about documenting urban living space and how people adapt their environment to certain needs and vice versa.
Adapt; the locals certainly adapt here, and their resourcefulness reflects their ability to survive.
One of several fishermen with the day’s catch; a lone melancholy whistle announces, ‘fresh fish for sale.’
Street breakfast
Want a hard-boiled egg? He sends someone to the market to purchase the eggs, which are dropped into the water used for coffee! Cheese-stuffed empanadas? No problem, they’re lovingly made ahead and stored in a cooler, then pan fried to order! He serves the morning bus traffic as well as locals in search of breakfast!
Maria and family enjoy counting in English!
Urban photography shots provide cultural, social, economical, and ecological context all at once, and can capture social tension.
Hmmm. I think I can find a few of those shots, though the social tension seems to be absent in my little corner of Latin America.
Upgraded from bicycle to moto, this friend peddles the fresh-fish of the day!
Aside from the bus lines that speed in and out of town, Jama is a quiet and unique place.
Resourcefulness!
Jama’s Hub, the Central Park
After three months of museum shows, I am delighted to be home to the quiet solace of Jama! To my dear subscribers, thank you for your incredible support! Between awards, updates and photo challenges, I am playing catch up this weekend! I apologize in advance for the handful of posts that are about to fill your inbox!
Most of all, thanks again, WordPress, for another great photo challenge! Here are more posts for the this week’s theme of “Urban.”
Siempre, Z
Zeebra Designs & Destinations 
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Muchas grrrrrrrracias! Z
Thanks for sharing about Jama. A small town usually has a lot to offer in terms of friendliness, less stress and traffic, and a greater sense of community.
Thank YOU for taking a detour through the town of Jama! Yes, it’s a sweet community with little stress! Z
What wonderful photos, and what a wonderful place Jama seems to be! Thank you for sharing those photos with us.
Thank YOU for your kind comment! Yes, Jama’s a sweet place! Z
A wonderful series!
Thanks Naomi! I love the vantage point of your photo! I noticed it a few days ago and wondered about the history of that image! Looks like a fun moment frozen in time! Z
I like the donkey photo!
– for you: the ZEBRA story:
http://flickrcomments.wordpress.com/2012/08/25/the-lion-sleeps-tonight/
Lovely photos, and I enjoyed reading about Jama. Now I’m going to check it out on a map as well, :).
Checked it out, and found lots of photos of your paintings, :). Jama looks like a beautiful place, love the beach. Now I want to know more about it, lots more…
How great! It’s such a sweet place, inland about five kilometers from the ocean, which is probably why it’s still so refreshingly authentic! i can visualize you smiling your way down the street filled with new cultural experiences! Z
Me too, talking to everyone even if I don’t understand what they are saying, :).
You have such a wonderful eye for color and your photos (and accompanying comments) are always fascinating! Thanks.
Thank you! I’m lucky to live in an area that provides so much visual and stimulating material, even if it’s a sleepy street scene complete with strong light and dense shadows! Z
Love those upgraded bicycles 🙂 Thanks for this wonderful glimpse of Jama 🙂
you are so welcome! every trip to town is a positive experience for me! i was there today and smiled all the way home! (I live in the country) z
Perspective is such an interesting thing!
You are so right! Especially from this viewpoint from the equator! Thanks! Z
Love it – I wish my Urban environment was as quiet as your’s appears to be
Yes, I am very lucky, and extremely lucky today with only the sound of the wind and the pelicans! Z
That steering wheel on the bike is FANTASTIC!
Yes, whoever put it together was quite clever; it certainly makes me smile when I see it! Z
Love all your photos. Could feel the friendly, familiar energy in the shots. 🙂
thanks! i was in town yesterday, and it truly is a unique town! Z
Hi,
my name is Terence and I posted this week’s photo challenge. I would like to put together a gallery of (some of) the submissions and wanted to ask your for permission to include your shot! If so, could you send me a link or the file?
Best,
Terence
But of course! Thank you so much, Terence! The pool of images from around the world has been amazing, and the posts compliment each other. You’ll do a dynamite job with the gallery, and I look forward to seeing it!
Lisa/Z
I just realized that doing it manually will be virtually impossible. can you please upload your shot here:
http://urbanphotographychallenge.tumblr.com
there is a submit button next to the title – please also add the location and if you have, a title (less important).
thanks a lot!
Terence
I have twelve shots; is there one in particular? Z
feel free to choose 😉 i love the one with the guy in the green t-shirt cooking!
Well by all means, we’ll pull out one of him! I’ll check that series of images to see if there are any that are better.
Z
“Breakfast Served with a Smile” is happily awaiting moderation on the tumblr account! If you need an image for Panama or Costa Rica or Nicaragua, I can write another post if needed! I enjoyed the challenge! Z
An urban scene I can relate too. I grew up in a similar surrounding where you get a genuine , happy smile from a food vendor and where people have time to talk to you about life and all despite of being in a city. Wonderful post! Best wishes to you.
Oh yes, two Sundays ago, one of the vegetable vendors insisted that I sit and have a cervesa with her! The owner of the supermarket proudly pointed to the front of the refrigerator, where she had taped one of the newspaper write ups about the show! Yesterday, the wiry little man named Papalito had guarded the two cans of tuna for me for three days! I had bought them elsewhere and set them down in order to cut a few bananas from the hanging display. Papalito rightfully assumed when he found them that they had to be mine! I bought grapefruit, lemons and bananas, thanked him and gave him one of the cans for his kitchen!
Yes, it reminds me of Mayberry RFD!
Z
Great post and photos! I love the energy of the coffee water-egg guy!
He is tireless and always smiling! I should interview him one of these days! Thanks! Z
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Great examples!
Thank you! Jama seems a long way from a proper city, but the challenge was a fun one. Lisa
Oh, my gosh. You grew up in an area I’ve traveled and explored and grown to love. I’ve had breakfast in Greenville, roamed the levees and old plantations like Doro, and been in Bolivar and Benoit. Outside Bolivar, I spent some time talking with a fellow whose grandfather was at the levee in 1927. Here’s one of the posts I wrote about that trip .
Oh – and here’s another that I’d forgotten about: “Teddy, a Turtle and Spud”. I need to get my life under control and start writing again!
hmmm. wonder if that grandfather might have been my father! i grew up in bolivar! my father, born in 1913, told how he boated from his family house in benoit .. his father was a country doctor.
goodness amiga.. you’ve rolled all through my stomping grounds! i can’t wait to visit more with you..
i have a ten o’clock meeting that might last past lunch… i look forward to more of this! z
Whoops! That first link didn’t take. Here it is: Muddy Waters.
it’s opening now.. i forgot to tell you my father’s name.. everyone knew him as ‘charlie boy’ williams. he was a great man.
gotta run
z
ps.. did you read john barry’s ‘rising tide’?
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Interesting photos.
thanks! z
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Am loving these shots Z 🙂