Plaza de Mexico
Justiceiro
Registered Users Posts: 1,177 Major grins
I'm not sure where to put this, I suppose "sports" is the place.
Here are some shots I took the Sunday before last at the Plaza de Mexico in Mexico City. After walkng under the huge sign that said "No Video or Film Cameras, No Backpacks" I made my LowePro mini-trekker as inconspicious as possible, whistled a juanty tune, and paid the usher a $3 tip for his excellent service and poor eyesight. I had read on luminous landscape that the 6th row, shade, was the best place to sit. LL is speaking of Seville, not the DF, so I think actually the 8th or 9th with a bit longer lens would have been better. I shot most of these with my Canon 35-135 USM- it would have been very nice to have a 200, as most of the action took place on the far side of the ring.
35 Minutes until Death in the Afternoon
The ring wasn't very full, as the torreros on that day were not amongst the best. One was quite old and past his prime, one was very young and inexperienced (this was his first corrida in a big ring) and the other looked like he was going to be pretty decent.
The entry of the banderilleros, picadores,and matadores
The Matadores present themselves to the crowd
The old Guy
The Promising looking experienced matador
And the young, inexperienced matador
The event also included a rejoneador, who fights the bull entirely from horseback. (known in portuguese as a cavaleiro). Unlike the portuguese style, in Mexico the rejoneador kills the bull with a sword. In Portugal killing the bulls is illegal, except for in one Village where the government was forced to give way to intense local adherence to a long tradition.
Fighting from horseback is not as dangerous as from the ground, but involves a different set of skills and a well trained horse.
In the traditional corrida, the bull is first tested by the matadores assistents, so that the matador may observe the bulls' fighting style.
The picadores, who are always quite large men wearing armored leggings and riding blindfolded armored horses, draw blood from the bull to weaken him and cut him in order to cause him to lower his head. The higher the bull's head, the more dangerous it is for the matador.
The banderilleros then place lances in the bulls flanks. They do this over several passes, starting with long lances and gradually getting shorter and shorter lances, so that they must be closer to the bull to place them.
This is a dangerous job, as during the placing of the lances the picadores have no cape to distract the bull with. Sometimes things go terribly wrong.
Fortunately, the other banderilleros are usually close at hand to distract the bull (similar to rodeo clowns). If something happens in the center of the ring, however, it can take them several seconds to arrive.
The matador then begins to make passes at the bull. The crowd and the judges pay close attention to his style. Does he move his feet to avoid the bull? Is his form and posture correct? the best possible passis when the Matador does not mve his feet, swngs the cape slowly, and the bull passes inches from him. the following pass is OK, but will earn no adulation from the spectators.
If the Matador is not paying attention, or if the bull's head is not sifficiently lowered by the picador, then the following can easily happen. this was actually going to be my entry for the "rough" competition, as this guy is having quite a rough day, but I could not e-mail it from Mexico.
As this was in the center of the ring, the bull managed to throw him a second time before the banderilleros arrived, and the matador had to be carried off the field on a stretcher. I will post a few more pics after work, if people are interested.
Here are some shots I took the Sunday before last at the Plaza de Mexico in Mexico City. After walkng under the huge sign that said "No Video or Film Cameras, No Backpacks" I made my LowePro mini-trekker as inconspicious as possible, whistled a juanty tune, and paid the usher a $3 tip for his excellent service and poor eyesight. I had read on luminous landscape that the 6th row, shade, was the best place to sit. LL is speaking of Seville, not the DF, so I think actually the 8th or 9th with a bit longer lens would have been better. I shot most of these with my Canon 35-135 USM- it would have been very nice to have a 200, as most of the action took place on the far side of the ring.
35 Minutes until Death in the Afternoon
The ring wasn't very full, as the torreros on that day were not amongst the best. One was quite old and past his prime, one was very young and inexperienced (this was his first corrida in a big ring) and the other looked like he was going to be pretty decent.
The entry of the banderilleros, picadores,and matadores
The Matadores present themselves to the crowd
The old Guy
The Promising looking experienced matador
And the young, inexperienced matador
The event also included a rejoneador, who fights the bull entirely from horseback. (known in portuguese as a cavaleiro). Unlike the portuguese style, in Mexico the rejoneador kills the bull with a sword. In Portugal killing the bulls is illegal, except for in one Village where the government was forced to give way to intense local adherence to a long tradition.
Fighting from horseback is not as dangerous as from the ground, but involves a different set of skills and a well trained horse.
In the traditional corrida, the bull is first tested by the matadores assistents, so that the matador may observe the bulls' fighting style.
The picadores, who are always quite large men wearing armored leggings and riding blindfolded armored horses, draw blood from the bull to weaken him and cut him in order to cause him to lower his head. The higher the bull's head, the more dangerous it is for the matador.
The banderilleros then place lances in the bulls flanks. They do this over several passes, starting with long lances and gradually getting shorter and shorter lances, so that they must be closer to the bull to place them.
This is a dangerous job, as during the placing of the lances the picadores have no cape to distract the bull with. Sometimes things go terribly wrong.
Fortunately, the other banderilleros are usually close at hand to distract the bull (similar to rodeo clowns). If something happens in the center of the ring, however, it can take them several seconds to arrive.
The matador then begins to make passes at the bull. The crowd and the judges pay close attention to his style. Does he move his feet to avoid the bull? Is his form and posture correct? the best possible passis when the Matador does not mve his feet, swngs the cape slowly, and the bull passes inches from him. the following pass is OK, but will earn no adulation from the spectators.
If the Matador is not paying attention, or if the bull's head is not sifficiently lowered by the picador, then the following can easily happen. this was actually going to be my entry for the "rough" competition, as this guy is having quite a rough day, but I could not e-mail it from Mexico.
As this was in the center of the ring, the bull managed to throw him a second time before the banderilleros arrived, and the matador had to be carried off the field on a stretcher. I will post a few more pics after work, if people are interested.
Cave ab homine unius libri
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Comments
I'll come back for the rest.
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To some its photos of people torturing an animal!
people say its ok its tradition, but so was cock fighting/dog fighting and Badger baiting. and Im pretty sure there wont be any pics of those in a 'sport' section.
To some its a sport and a grand tradition that involves great skill and bravery, and shows the bull as a strong powerful animal.
It certainly makes for some dramatic shots, especially the shot of the rejeonadar and the bull closing in on his horse.
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However, I do feel a bit of satisfaction when the Bull wins.
does the bull ever win?
I thought they always were killed in the end?
My www. place is www.belperphoto.co.uk
My smugmug galleries at http://stuarthill.smugmug.com
This particular bull dispatched a matador, knocked a picador off his horse, and generally caused the humans to fall over themselves. So it is, at least, a moral victory for the bull.
Sounds like a good bull, still not the sort of moral victory I personally would be happy with
My www. place is www.belperphoto.co.uk
My smugmug galleries at http://stuarthill.smugmug.com
The experienced matadors welcoming the novice to his first major Fiesta Brava, the principal matador ceded the honor of the first fight to him.
A bull toppling a picador from his horse (the crowd hates picadors, and therefore loved this)
The banderilleros moving in to rescue the picador
Banderilleros to the rescue after the second matador is injured- his ankle is broken and he only takes a few more steps.
An exceptionally valient pass by the Matador
Protestors outside the Ring
But you did a superb job capturing it!
*although the big Tim Allen movie ads in the background steals a bit of their thunder, dontcha think?
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A couple of things led me to want to observe one- first was reading Hemingway's "death in the afternoon," which certainly gives one an appreciation for the complexity of the whole affair. The second was a Gallego friend of mine who said "you will never understand Spain until you understand the Bullfight." Quite a buildup, so I decided to go check one out as a sort of ethnographic project.
Having seen it, I will tell you that it is quite disturbing. But it is also fascinating, and certainly beautiful. It is spectacle in an older sense of that word, not as something garish and flashy alone, but as something mesmerising, ritualistic, and almost religious.
It is obvious, upon viewing, that this is a direct descendent of gladitorial games- from the form of the Arena, to the addressing of the crowd by the combatents, to the division of the tercios by trumpets, even to the "imperial box" and the appeal to the judges as to the manner of the killing.
I had considered afficionados as, at the least, hypocritical, as they claim to love bulls, but participate in a ritual of their execution. But, althouhg it is hard to juxtapose these two things in my own mind, it is in fact true. The afficionados demand that a matador kill cleanly and quickly, and if this does not happen, become quite angry. It is not simply a matter of the killing being badly done, there is a real sense of insult and a sort of moral wrongness to it. It is an insult to the dignity of the bull, and the crow]d; despite being there to watch the bull's death, do believe the bull has tremendous dignity. I have the feeling that I speak a totally different moral language than they do.
Whn I asked my Gallego friend afterwards about it he said "you kill bulls too. You just don't watch it being done." American society has certainly sanitized death. We get our meat in shiny packages. We cover our own dead with makeup and bury them as quickly as possible. We never really see dead people, or animals. I wonder if the folks in the Plaza are not, somehow, more honest than we are? Or I wonder if thye are just more anesthetized to death (later that week I walked past a body on the street, and no one seemed shocked or disturbed at all).
Regardless, it is certainly something colorful, and alien to me- therefore fascinating. And it is deeply rooted.
After the bullfight began, the protesters all came into the Arena, sat down, and watched the fiesta brava, without making a sound.
Isn't that strange?
Well written thought above, thanks for sharing.
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