Category Archives: multimedia

A Slice of Awesomeness

By cate | Published October 19, 2011

Awesome, or as the New Englander in me would say, Wicked Awesome. That was my Tuesday night. I shared a milanesa with fritas, hung out with a friend and listened to swing by a bunch of older, weathered, totally awesome, local musicians at the Bar Palacio in Chacaritas. The place was filled with just energy and happiness. Good friends, good music and I’m pretty sure I spied a few good shots of whisky here and there.


We should all be so lucky to reach this age and have a talent and passion like these guys.



Here is one song I recorded (remember folks Cate = still photographer; Cate ≠ videographer) and there are a few pics below.


Bar Palacio, Chacaritas

In search of Buenos Aires

By cate | Published April 15, 2011

What gives personality to a city? Is it the graffiti on the walls? The way people walk the sidewalks? The bars, the clubs, the fashion? Does Buenos Aires = tango and empanadas and Boca Juniors? I suppose it does. I suppose it also is Recoleta and Puerto Madero and San Isidro and the Plaza de Mayo and the Mercado Central. It is also riding the collectivo and the subte. It is hanging out with the people that have Buenos Aires entwined in their DNA. I think it is something you can sense when you get near it, an aura of sorts. You know when you’re talking with someone who is exactly where they should be. Maybe it is a form of happiness or acceptance or peace or maybe it is much more organic. But, that is not to say it is an easy existence. I can’t quite come to terms with how to communicate it verbally, but hopefully I could do some justice to it photographically.

Please click the play button – bottom left – to view the slideshow. Stick around until the end for an extended cutline explanation. You can also read it on the multimedia page if it is too difficult to read here. I had to shrink the slideshow to fit within the blog.

btw… you can find this and other cool stuff on my irregularly scheduled newsletter.

More Subte

By cate | Published March 7, 2011

I’m working on the full package – audio and visual. I promise. But you know deadlines and other commitments tend to get in the way of my own projects sometimes and well… gotta pay the bills, so working for money is always a plus. But I found THE PERFECT recording to use for my subte musicians piece on ‘Los Alegres Muchachos de Antes…’ (please don’t expect me to type out the full name again. You can see the post just before this for the whole thing). I really don’t think I could have spliced a better set together. Unfortunately it is 7:15 long. Too long for a multimedia piece.

Useless factoid: The general wisdom in photojournalism is that photo multimedia productions should not be more than three minutes long. Granted I’m pretty ADHD and have a hard time focusing for three minutes on anything.

Regardless, I will have to figure out where to cut this down. It is a shame though, so I believe it is important to share it in its entirety. Keep in mind these guys are playing a box, a beat up trumpet and a guitar that has had some recent – and loving – repairs performed.

I’ve now listened to it close to 25 times and I am not exaggerating. I use the music and the banter as inspiration for choosing the photos. It is as if personality oozes from the sound, the vibes, the chit-chat in the background. This is a soundtrack found in many cities. I recorded this one in Buenos Aires, Argentina. How freakin’ cool.

Click the photograph to hear the full audio. 7min15sec. Player will open in another window. Click Play to begin.

BTW… If you happen to run into them on the D Line, favor de mandarles saludos de Cate.

The unfamiliar sounds of the subte

By cate | Published September 22, 2009

Osvaldo Ortega, 80 and his wife Celia Liano, 80 dance inside the Uruguay subte station.

Osvaldo Ortega, 80 and his wife Celia Liano, 80 dance inside the Uruguay subte station.

Among the sounds of screeching train brakes and horns inside the Buenos Aires subte this past Sunday, was melodious jazz, rockin’ blues and plenty of applause. In the yearly Festival de Jazz, September 20, 2009 the Metrovias organized music in different subte stops, free of charge.

Some came with mate, some rode the subte from one concert to the next and others danced to sweet memories surrounded by metal and flourescent lights.

For me it was five hours of riding the subte, mostly the B-line, so I could make it from one concert to the next quickly. The finale, Deborah Dixon at the J. Hernandez stop on the D-line was overfull and I pulled out my camera, pushed politely through the crowd and caught the last song and a half.

Twenty groups participated, playing along the B, D, A, and E lines. The music ranged from jazz vocals, jazz trios, blue-grass to a little swing.

So despite the wonderful spring afternoon, I spent my Sunday underground having one of the best musical experiences in Buenos Aires.

I have a Youtube video made from the new Soundslides conversion below. Yeah. Tell me what you think, feel or see.

(I recommend you hit play and immediately hit pause. Let the red bar load and then hit play again. This will give you better sound flow.)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vAIhvVVIQE]