So I was able to make it to Rio and shoot at a production plant. I spent a total of 6 hours in Rio. I know its crazy...I had to get back to Sao Paulo the same day to shoot early the next morning. Its a shame Rio really is all that you imagine it to be. I did get to see Ipanema, Copapcabana beach, had a beer, and Cod fish cakes (which are super tasty) on Copacabana beach. Not to mention soak in a bit of sun to get rid of the NY winter grey tone of my skin and it was 100 degrees which felt nice. As usual though I had to rush off to the next location.

Observations: Hot, actually very hot, great looking beaches and people. That's all I got I was there for only 6 hours.

 Coming in for a landing at the airport in Rio you see the green patch in the upper middle thats the runway and yes it ends in the water.

Cool futuristic airport in Rio

Copacabana beach. Sort of reminds me of Coney Island.....a tiny bit if you squint your eyes.

Ground level view of the beach.

Copacabanna beach, from my perch at the restaurant before rushing off to the airport.

This image truly represents how I see things when I am traveling....Some blur with some sharp areas.

The weather has played a huge part in my recent travels unfortunately not for the better. I was stuck in Shengyang, China (a small city near North Korea, although they did have a Prada, Gucci, and Burberry boutiques just to name a few) when on my way to Singapore because of snow, getting around Chicago was a nightmare with all the snow and the cold. I almost slid my rental car into another car in Odense, Denmark. Luckily whatever I did kept me from hitting the car, but got myself stuck in a snow bank instead. A woman who was jogging passed by me, volunteered to help push my car out of the snow bank as a result of the slide. Did I mention Danes are amazing?

So why should flying from Copenhagen via Frankfurt be any different? I was supposed to fly to Sao Paulo and make a connection to Rio de Janiero.  That was not to be....My flight from Frankfurt was late by an hour then the connecting airlines computers were having issues so they couldn't get me on another flight.  I traveled by taxi to the domestic airport to try to get another flight no luck. Ugh...a rare defeat for me. I usually mange to overcome those issues somehow.  Anyway Rio was rescheduled and I stayed in Sao Paulo to work on other parts of the project. I photographed doctors, patients, battery recycling, regular people, kids, babies, and triplets...the triplets were a challenge.

I was last in Sao Paulo 10 years ago, and it was really great to be there again. Its a busy metropolis of 10,886,517 in the city and 19,616,060 in the greater metropolitan area of people with things to do.

Thanks to everyone in Sao Paulo who made my short time there interesting and special.

Observations in Sao Paulo in February: Hot!, beautiful people, clean for such a large city, bad traffic, crazy afternoon rains, great food, Brazilian Portuguese sounds beautiful, great music, friendly people, great vibe, Bohemia beer, and those Capirinas that somehow taste better there.

Flying into Sao Paulo. This is the edge of the city. Look how it ends so abruptly

Flying over Sao Paulo. This city is huge!

Riding around Sao Paulo. Part of my taxi series.

The clouds are rolling in right on time 4pm

Sao Paulo...thunder storm from william vazquez on Vimeo.

Thunder storm out my window at the Sheraton Sao Paulo Brooklin. During the storm the power went out in the hotel for about an hour.

 A bridge in Sao Paulo that has become a symbol of the city.

Paging Dr William and Daniel. Daniel was instrumental in making things happen in Brazil. He's going to be president of Brazil one day I think.

What a great bunch of people to work with. Daniel, Denise, Fabiola, Flavia, Erica, Fernanda, me, not pictured and a super cool Patricia

I drove from Farsøe to Odense to shoot then on to Copenhagen. The drive to Copenhagen should take about 2 hours from Odense. My drive took almost double that due to snow, and because of the totally wrong tires on my fab Volvo rental car. So after a nerve wracking drive I slip and slide into Copenhagen. I went to Copenhagen to catch my flight to my next stop Brazil, see a friend, and some speed touristing (something I am getting very good at.) Too bad the weather was not too hospitable. It was cold, wet, snowy, and 8 inches of snow on the ground. It was beautiful with the snow and all, but wet feet are not conducive to walking around for too long. I bet its beautiful in the summer time though.

Observations: cold, snow, wet, (it is winter time after all), great architecture, pedestrian friendly, canals, great people, great hotel Royal SAS hotel.

 At the SAS hotel, Copenhagen

A view from the 8th floor SAS hotel of the road Vesterbrogade

A view from the 8th floor SAS hotel of the road Vesterbrogade 10pm

A view from the 8th floor SAS hotel of the intersection Hammerichagade and Vesterbrogade Pedestrian street

Around town, Copenhagen

Canal, Copenhagen

Royal palace

Canal

Bikes are ridden in all weather.

Not only are they ridden in all kinds of weather there are minimal locks.

The Copenhagen Eye. It's the London Eye that more like a ferris wheel..

Great looking hallway, SAS hotel Copenhagen

I visited Farsøe a small town in the Jutland region of Denmark. It was cold, snowy, and small. As a matter fact there was no hotel in town. I had to stay at a nearby town called Aars for that.  I was photographing a woman named Bente for the report I am working on. I photographed her at home as well as working at her job as a bartender. The bar was a local place with a working class clientele. I got to meet some interesting people. That's the best part of projects like this I get to meet and interact with people from all walks of life. People like Thomas and Anders in the last photo. Thomas works in a lumber yard, and Anders is a fish farmer. He raises trout I believe.  We were immediate friends. Most of the poeple at the bar were regular customers, and Bente told them that a NY photographer was coming to photograph her. They were excited by that I hope I didn't disappoint. I did keep the NY'er attitude dialed down a bit. Thomas and Anders kept offering to by me a drink. They found it incomprehensible that I would be in a bar and not drinking. I took them up on their offer once I was done. SKOL! That's cheers in Danish

Observations: cold, snow, ice, lonely, really nice people, good food as a matter of fact great food even in the middle or no where, great landscapes.

This is what was expecting me as I approached Aarlborg airport.

I just had to stop and photograph this horse. Unfortunalty as I was leaving my car got stuck and it took me half an hour to finally get enough traction to make it up the hill.

A small part of Farsøe. Everyhting was covered in ice. There has been so much snow the town ran out of salt for the roads. So driving was like driving on an ice skating rink in my Volvo with fancy low profile tires.

5am start...No cars on the road. I spent 15 minutes stopped in the middle of the road taking photos not one car passed by.

Bente and me at the bar.Thomas and Anders. Skol!

I am a little behind on the blog. Lots of moving around these days.

I was in Geneva, Switzerland to photograph Shing Chen who is leading a team of researchers who are looking for cures to neglected diseases such as sleeping sickness.  He is very cool guy, and I had a great time spending a few hours with him. He was most entertaining, and gracious to have given me the time to photograph him. Particularly because the weather outside was not very hospitable.

observations: multi lingual people, super clean (of course), people wait for the light to change, organized, great architecture, great public transportation.