Marisa Matluck Photo Blog

This blog post officially marks ONE YEAR of me blogging… that is right, one year ago I started this blog with photos of Calle 8. I felt that in honor of my dedication to blogging, I just had to go back to the Ocho. Ladies and Gentlemen, I have come full circle!

If you ever want to see what Miami is really made of, step outside your bubble and head to Calle 8. Once a year, this street is filled with Sabor Latino (Latin Flavor). Actually it is Latino all year long… mostly Cuban. I went yesterday with a new friend of mine (there is the shout out) and an old friend – my camera. What would a day at Calle 8 be without my camera!

I think there must have been at least a couple of hundreds of thousands of people walking the roads, eating the food, drinking, partying… even thinking about it is exhausting. There was so much Latin pride up and down the streets that between working with Colombians and being at the festival, I was super close to buying a Colombian flag and proudly wrapping it around me.

I did see some pretty intimidating people at this event. There was a myriad of tattoos to be seen as well as chongas wearing very little clothing. I witnessed a dude getting beat by Miami police and I also waited in a line to get a free oven mitt. The oven mitt line was just something I wanted to cross off of my bucket list (thanks for waiting with me JT <—-another shout out).

So these photos are comprised of what I feel best describes Calle 8.

Enjoy

Let me just say what an AMAZING weekend I just had in Montreal. It was absolutely beautiful, crisp, fresh, vintage, and freezing! For me it was a mecca for new photo taking opportunities and tons of visual stimulation. I was in love with the reds and yellows of the leaves. It has been quite a while since this Florida girl has seen anything like it! The first day there, I rented a bike with some friends and we rode along the river. Then, we ate lunch at a beautiful little restaurant in Old Montreal. I was also shown around town by a wonderful new friend who even took me to a hockey game! (How could you go to Canada and not see the Habs play?)

I am sad to say that I did not take my momma camera to the wedding I went to Montreal for. Because of this, I will just have to give a shout out to Jocelyn and Michael, congratulions to both of you! I am posting an iPhone photo because you guys looked so happy that I have to put something!

Anyway, I was always at the end of the group because I was so busy photographing (surprise?) but the end result is one of my favorite unplanned photo-shoots!

Sapa. Beautiful. Serene. Fresh. Green. These are just some words I would use to describe this peaceful mountainous, rice-filled, region of Vietnam. While touring through Southeast Asia, I embarked on a two day, 26 Kilometer trek through Sapa.

It started with an overnight train (hence the night shots below) and ended in a guest house somewhere in the mountain. Upon arrival in Sapa, my group was met by Cherpa’s, also known as members of the Lo Kai people. These women make the trek everyday to help tourists like myself walk through muddy, slippery, rocky roads for a mere tip of 60,000 Dong ($3.45). My Cherpa got a bigger tip because she had to put up with me stopping every 2 minutes to take a picture (so out of my character, not!).

Normally I have a ton to write about but I think the photos of Sapa will speak for themselves.

I had not been to the Youth Fair in over 10 years! It was great, all different types of people, the real down and dirty M.I.A.

Camera in hand, I went expecting to photograph a pretty ferris wheel at dusk. I got so much more than that…