Jillian Mitchell Photography | Destination Wedding Photographer | Puerto Vallarta | Mexico | New England | Worldwide

This past weekend was a big one in Mexico. Dia de Los Muertos is probably the most famous of all Mexican holidays and we held a small festival in San Pancho to celebrate. I absolutely love how Mexicans embrace death as a part of life and have a specific day set aside to celebrate and remember those who of have passed on. If you’ve ever seen a Mexican cemetery you know what I mean. The colors, flowers, and shrines almost welcome you to come in and pay your respects. A stark contrast to the cold gray slabs of the cemeteries in the u.s. of a. The procession was led by Aztec dancers and finished at the plaza where the performances took place. Our theme was Un Colectivo bien Muerto which is a story for another time…

Pretty much since I’ve moved here I have been hearing stories about Alta Vista, a small town by the same name and a river that is home to incredible rock formations and petroglyphs. The town sits on a mountain over-looking a large valley which contains the river and although there is a sign leading in from the highway, the formations are still extremely well hidden by the over flowing jungle that surrounds it. I had tried to come about a year ago and got lost never finding the petroglyphs, but this time I was going with friends from the area so I figured there would be no problems. After hiking in the wrong direction for about two hours we realized our mistake and headed back toward where we came from. Now four hours into a hot Nayarit day (even in the jungle it’s still pretty humid and sticky) I was starting to think I was destined to never find the site, when we came around the corner to find a beautiful rock pool surrounded by a wall made up of  hundreds of square and rectangular boulders. Along the path to the side of the pool were several petroglyphs seemingly effortlessly carved into the stone. We cooled off in the water and spent time walking along the paths and then before we left made an offering of maize, frijoles, cocoa, and even a pulsera that Cocho had made, at one of several “altars” that have been at the site for hundreds of years. The last photo was taken with my new pin-hole lens adapter for my lens baby. I didn’t know I felt about it at first, but it seems perfect for dream-like places such as this.

I’ve been really lacking on the posts lately even though I’ve been taking tons of photos with my new d700 that I am absolutely in love with. Here are some photos of some of the guys from town tearing it up in San Pancho. Once I can afford a massive telephoto I know the quality of my surf shots will improve, but for now I don’t think this is a bad start. If you’re in the area make sure you come down for the Surf Torneo being held on the weekend of Nov. 20.

I came back to the US of A for a wedding and to visit the friends and family. One of the only things I miss about the United States is the ability to buy fresh local fruits and vegetables whenever you want. So you can imagine how excited I was to go to the farmer’s market in Rehoboth Beach, DE. I got there towards the end so unfortunately the berries were all gone, but I still got some crazy sweet peaches and super ripe melon.