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Home » Tours and Travel » Postcards From Buenos Aires
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Postcards From Buenos Aires

Last Updated On July 10, 2017 By Alpha Whiskey 8 Comments

More of a fleeting snapshot, really (albeit rather image heavy). The ‘City Of Fair Winds’, Buenos Aires is a dusty, noisy and beautiful city with a searching modernity rising above its skyline of baroque and colonial architecture. Eyes descend the ornate carvings of huge window arches and elegant masonry before finally resting on a sign for a well-known coffee or fast food chain. Roads are wide enough for the traffic that fills them and the city centre is thoughtfully laid out in a grid, much like New York. Navigation was easy.

1a
Downtown Buenos Aires
1b
Obelisco. Colour did nothing for the image and the pedestrian crossing invited a monochrome treatment.
1c
Juxtaposition of old and new, a common feature of Buenos Aires.

Eschewing the queues for buses and taxis, I walked everywhere, taking in as much as I could in the short time I spent there. At one end of grand Avenue de Mayo is the Plaza de Mayo, home to Casa de Gobeirno, the balcony from which Evita sang.

2
Plaza De Mayo.
3
Casa de Gobeirno.

Adjoining the Plaza is the exquisitely designed and peaceful Metropolitan Cathedral, as well as the Buenos Aires Cabildo.

5
Metropolitan Cathedral.
6
Metropolitan Cathedral.
6a
Buenos Aires Cabildo.

At the other end of the Avenue is the large and imposing Congresso de la Nacion, yet another capital building under renovation, but no less magnificent.

6b
Congresso de la Nacion

Further afield, and en route to La Boca, a heaving street market on La Defensa overflowed with trinkets and leather goods, as well as tasty empanadas.

9 10

Probably the most famous barrio of Buenos Aires, La Boca assaults your eyes with its vivid colours and garish figurines greeting you from the balconies above. The queues of coaches unloading their tourists only add to the commercial sheen smothering the streets.

11 12

Navigating through the rainbow-splashed streets I found respite from the swelter in a small café where I was treated to a beautiful couple engaged in a vertical tango.  Naturally, Alpha Whiskey tried to get in on the act.

14 15

16
(Alpha Whiskey getting a leg over…?)

The general advice is that one should only take a bus or taxi to La Boca owing to its notoriety as an unsafe neighbourhood. Yeah. I walked there. In the blistering heat. La Boca is very much a tourist trap but colour is always appealing to a photographer’s eye and there was certainly a surplus of it here.

16a
Wall Mosaic.

16b

Back in the city I ambled through the many plazas and parks before settling on some sombre reflection at Recoletta Cemetarty.

17
Plaza Vicente Lopez.
18
The giant tree in Plaza Vicente Lopez.
18a
The final resting place of Eva Peron in Recoletta Cemetery.
18b
Hopefully not the final resting place of this cat in Recoletta Cemetery.

Further afield one can find a giant flower sculpture in Plaza Naciones Unidas, although once again they knew I was coming because the area was under renovation. And next to that the Facultad de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales had today’s students and tomorrow’s future pouring in and out between her giant columns.

20a
Giant flower sculpture in Plaza Naciones Unidas (cropped at the bottom because of the construction site below it, which you can see reflected in the petals).
19
Facultad de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales.

The evening is a good time to visit the waterfront at Puerto Madero, not simply to enjoy the vibrant lights and reflections but also the bustling energy amongst the patrons dining out in the many restaurants. It is common for the city’s inhabitants to eat quite late into the night and when presented with succulent Argentinian beef it’s easy to see why.

23
Puerto Madero.
24
Puerto Madero.
25
Argentinian Beef. Probably a heart attack on a plate but still yummy.

A city probably better enjoyed in cooler weather Buenos Aires was rather wonderful, spoiling me with great food, magnificent sights and beautiful women. Quite frankly the blazing heat scorched my willingness to unleash my camera, let alone the energy to take meaningful photos, but I managed a few. As usual I used my trusty trifecta of brain, eyes and legs to make these images, attempting to present a more intimate and varied portrait of this impressive city.

Cheers,

Alpha Whiskey.

26
Teatro Colon.
27
Monumento a la Cordialdad, Parque Lezama.
27a
Puerto Madero.

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Filed Under: Tours and Travel Tagged With: Travel, Cityscape Photography, Travel Photography, Argentina, Buenos Aires

About Alpha Whiskey

Alpha Whiskey has pursued his enjoyment of photography both at home in the UK and overseas, capturing scenic views from Alaska to Bulgaria, from Iceland to California. He has pointed his camera and trained his eye at almost every subject, from wildlife to architecture, from portraits to landscapes, from the Red Bull X-Fighters to the Northern Lights. His photographs have been published on the covers of national publications and within media for the National Trust. His blog is a growing library of images from his travels, excursions, and his photowalks with friends, and he hopes that by sharing them he can encourage others to worry less about gear and simply go out and shoot.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. 1) Joginder
    July 10, 2017 at 5:42 am

    Simply Great!!! laudable pieces of art…

    with best compliments
    Joginder
    www.frozenmoments.in

    Reply
  2. 2) Willy Mermet
    July 10, 2017 at 12:17 pm

    Great Photos of my City.
    But there are some mistakes, on that photographies that said “Piramide de Mayo”, are inside the “Metropolitan Cathedral”.
    The Pirámide de Mayo is that white Monument on the “Plaza de Mayo” photography.
    Thank you.

    Reply
    • 2.1) Martin
      August 11, 2017 at 1:00 am

      Indeed. And the congress is called “Congreso de la Nación”, “Congreso” with one “s” and a stress mark over the “o” in “Nación”, although this last one is tough to get on some keyboards. Also, between the 18th and 10th pictures, there is a paragraph reading “Recoletta Cemetarty”. The Cemetery is called Recoleta, with just one “t”.
      Those little things aside (I live in Germany and know how tough it is, at least for me, to spell the words correctly, even for natives) it’s a nice article and the postcards are pretty.

      Reply
  3. 3) Juan Renta
    July 10, 2017 at 4:20 pm

    AW–great photos of BAires! I know the city quite well, as I visited it and Argentina as part of my duties back in the days when I worked for the U.S. Government (I also live in Argentina in 1982, but in the province of Cordoba). By the way, if my recollection serves me well, I think the dish in the photo is “asado de tira”, my favorite Argentine dish. Thanks for the memories!

    Reply
  4. 4) Jason
    July 10, 2017 at 4:25 pm

    In the first picture labeled “Metropolitan Cathedral.”, if the distant area really that yellow or is this a white balance battle between the daylight streaming in the foreground area vs. the lighting in the background?

    Reply
  5. 5) Rick Keller
    July 10, 2017 at 8:52 pm

    Sharif, great shots! Buenos Aires looks like a beautiful and vibrant city. Well done! : )

    Reply
  6. 6) Martin
    July 10, 2017 at 9:13 pm

    I’m from Buenos Aires, Argentina. So nice and proud to see this post in your web!! beautiful pics! =)

    Reply
  7. 7) David
    July 11, 2017 at 11:33 am

    Photo 3 shouldn’t be there, those buildings could be anywhere in the world (not a postcard from BS.AS)

    Tango couple…i believe those where taken with a cellphone because of the extreme lack of colour because high iso and large dof. I think you could find lot of places with more options to photograph tango couples in Buenos Aires.

    I wouldn’t say that Obelisco pic is a good postcard. “The colour did nothing?” I would said the cross walk does nothing apart from distracting the attention from an Obelisco with no space to breath on the summit. I’m not a fan of extreme dodge and burn either, but that’s personal preference. Anyways, the real postcard from BSAS is the Obelisco, all latin americans know it, and that postcard wasn’t achieved imo.

    But! don’t get me wrong, i liked the set in general (specially the tight compositions to remove distracting objects and plus framing those scenes with branches and trees).

    Reply

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