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GANGSTA by Salvador Rojas
Last month (October 2009) I was in Colombia visiting my friends in the
cities of Bogota and Medellin. On one of the first days of visiting my good
friend Renzo Devia in Bogota, we decided to visit the picturesque barrio of �La
Candelaria.� La Candelaria is the oldest part of the city and is the area where
the city was originally founded.
Bogota has driving restrictions on when
you can and can�t drive around the city to help fight severe traffic congestion
called �Pico y Plata�. To get around the city we rely mostly on the taxi system.
We were on our way to La Candelaria by taxi. Within two blocks of our
destination we were pulled over by the Bogota Police on motorcycles. With two
military-style police officers on each side of the taxi we were ordered to come
out slowly. I looked over to Renzo and saw one police officer frisking him and
then looking through his backpack. The police officer closest to me asked me
what I was doing here. I told him in Spanish that I was a photographer from Los
Angeles taking photos of the city. He then had me open my camera bag and he
looked thoroughly through my equipment after he quickly patted me down,
satisfied that we weren�t left-wing guerillas or sicarios with drugs or weapons
in our possessions. The police officer then looks me dead in the eye and in
Spanish he tells me �Let me give you a word of advice, keep your camera in your
bag or else someone is going to take your camera from you!� I replied with
�Gracias� thanking him for his concern, he then said we were free to go. We paid
the cab fare and walked the first block with my camera put away.
I was
thinking to myself that Bogota is �Gangsta�, the city has a strong military and
police presence due to all the violence with the guerrillas, paramilitaries, and
drug cartels. You can feel the nervous tension of the city through the eyes of
the Bogota Police.
By the time we got to the second block and the Bogota
police were now out of sight I busted out my camera and got back to doing what I
love, taking photos. This photo sums up my day in the barrio of La Candelaria,
Bogota, Colombia.
GANGSTA
Foto y Letras por Salvador Rojas Photography | Savior Reds
Fotografia
GANGSTA La Candelaria, Bogota, Colombia | Photo by Sal Rojas Photography
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