This week’s photo challenge asks participants to show abandoned. It can be literal, a photo of ruins, a desolate place, or an idea of a wasteland. Or it can be interpreted in other ways, from images of overlooked things to forgotten people.
Last year not long after Carnaval 2013 was over I took a wander to the lot where the abandoned pieces of floats lay resting from the Calle Abajo side of town. They lay there for a while until the best pieces were moved to one of the local cantinas for recycling into floats for this years celebrations. Check out fellow blogger Connie’s post and pictures and you may see a few familiar pieces. In these two pictures from last March, I’ve chosen to focus on the figures, interpretations of people who are abandoned.
In the first photo it seems that the torso of the woman with her back to me is reaching out to the man figure while he is embracing the woman in front of him. To the left are the arms and torsos of other discarded figures:
These arms belong to two male figures from a Aztec themed float. These pieces were recycled this year along with some of the platforms used to build the spots that the float riders stand on:
About a month after Carnaval ends and the dust has settled preparations begin for the following year. In the mean time this years float pieces will likely meet the same fate, laying in the lot through most of Wet Season until someone decides it’s time to rescue the abandoned parts that can be salvaged again in the campo.
More Reading:
-
“Abandoned” | “On Dragonfly Wings with Buttercup Tea”
-
Weekly Photo Challenge: Abandoned | Something to Ponder About
-
2-28-14 Travel Challenge Weekly Photo Theme | The Quotidian Hudson
-
Abandoned – WPhotoC | Ouch!! My back hurts!!
-
(Weekly Photo Challenge) : Abandoned/ Yang Ditinggalkan | bambangpriantono
-
Ancient and Abandoned | Tvor Travels
-
Weekly Photo Challenge: Abandoned | Lonely Travelog
-
Weekly Photo Challenge: Abandoned | Wandering Iris
-
Weekly Photo Challenge: Abandoned | Cee’s Photography
-
Weekly Photo Challenge: Abandoned (Dog at Beach) | What’s (in) the picture?
In Da Campo 
It’s always kind of melancholy to see the detritus after all the joyful activities. When I was in the Southern Caribbean, I once found a shoe that must have washed on shore from Carneval in Rio. It didn’t look like anything that might have been worn in the local Carnival celebrations, from what the locals told me.
Hope it didn’t have a foot in it like our Great Canadian Feet Mystery: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/09/04/human-feet-washing-up-on-shore-in-british-columbia-canada.html
The float pieces will be the least of it. At about day four, which is today by the way, the stench becomes unbearable!
Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge – Abandoned | Joe's Musings
Pingback: WPC Abandoned | Words 'n Pics...
Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge: Humbly Abandoned | Humbled Pie
Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge: More Abandoned | Humbled Pie
Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge: Abandoned | Through the Eye of Bastet