little after 6:30 AM this Christmas morning, I had already left the paved streets of the town of Montalbán behind and was heading up the dirt road that ascends towards the mountains located to the east... The night before, I said goodbye to my family after the Christmas dinner and while they were sharing with games, music and songs, I was sleeping with my dogs and cats so that they would not be scared by the noise of the fireworks... So at 5:00 AM when many in the village were ready to sleep after the party, I was standing sipping a steaming coffee while waiting for the arrival of the first rays of the sun and thus begin my hike which I intended to culminate crossing a trail called by the people here “El Lamento” (The Lament)...

oday is Christmas Eve and all around me the people in my family are immersed in a feverish activity related to the preparations to celebrate in a few hours all together. I have always been a bit more equanimous about these dates (and about all dates on the calendar, certainly) so after a long morning walk, I came home and sat down in front of my PC to go through some RAW files of my most recent photos. This December has been really prolific in terms of photographic material, as I've combined my willingness to exercise more consciously and seriously, with my passion for taking pictures... So every time I go through my archives I find a bunch of photos which I want to see processed and edited. Today's photos are from my ride last week along some country roads which I hadn't ridden for decades. And I really found a lot to photograph there and especially to turn to black and white...

continue determined to improve my physical condition, so today shortly after 6:00 AM I was already on my way to the trail that crosses an old pine plantation at the foot of the mountains surrounding my town. This is a place which I have already walked in recent days but had not done so in the early morning hours, at dawn with the fog rolling into the valley overlooked from here. So in addition to training for a while, today I was able to take many photos of these natural landscapes to share with you here on #Hive....

eing a street photographer in a town like mine, is something that gives me the opportunity to know and experience first-hand the ability of ordinary people to overcome everyday problems... This publication is based on photographs of Christmas decorations that I have found on the streets of some of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods in my town... Inside many of these houses are people who in many cases have to walk miles to get a little drinking water, are forced to cook with firewood in the absence of domestic gas, some are elderly whose sons and grandsons have left town in search of a better life, others find it difficult to get enough money for a day's food, and so on... However, I have wandered these streets this December and I have not ceased to be amazed when looking at the streets decorated with Christmas motifs made mostly with recycled objects, some even have some lights on them... For me, this is difficult to look at, because I know how difficult is the life of many people here... So, it is impossible for me not to admire all this and want to take some pictures that I share with you today...

he old “Los Tramposos” ("The Cheaters") road dates back to the early years of the XX century when a group of people, all small producers, from the town of Montalbán decided to create an alternate route that would allow them to avoid passing through the checkpoints established by the large landowners, who in exchange for the right of pass through the main road, used to take part of the merchandise that the small producers and merchants of the town took with them to market. So, at least from the point of view of the big landowners, these people were “cheating” and that is how this narrow road got its name, which is still used to this day...

rom the mountains west of Montalbán (Venezuela) you have a perfect visual domain of the valley where the town sits. If you wake up very early and climb high enough to get above the altitude of the cloud ceiling, then you can enjoy a landscape full of magic, where the sunlight, the cotton-wool clouds and the mountain peaks combine to create scenes worthy of being observed and which call us to reflect on how nature can literally “paint a picture” minute by minute without stopping? Let's go ahead and join me along this photographic journey which I brought for you today...