Barcelona

Barcelona, a trip for a week. An extraordinary city with Gaudi's architectural creations. In the old town district, you take the time to walk in narrow streets. The "ramblas" are too tourist for my taste. A city with a population proud of speaking Catalan and who knows how to party. Two regrets, the first not being able to take the teleferic of Montjuic (it was not working) and the second, not being able to see a soccer game of Barça.



La Sagrada Familia.

Park Güell.

La Pedrera

Tourists

In front of the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona.

The old town district.

Activists catalan.

Dismantling Detroit

The filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady look at young men who salvage scrap metal from Detroit’s derelict buildings, set against the backdrop of globalization.

A cargo ship failed in Brittany.

The "TK Bremen", a Maltese cargo ship of 109 m, failed on the beach in  Erdeven (a location in Brittany), December 16, 2011, during a big storm.  I went to see this ship at the end of December and I took these pictures and this video.

A video:



Untitled from philippe le vessier on Vimeo.

Occupy Wall Street In Zuccotti Park, NYC.

I went to Zuccotti Park in NYC at the end of October by curiosity. What a pleasant surprise to see these protesters just next to the Wall Street District!
The Occupy Wall Street movement began in Zuccotti Park in New York’s financial district on September 17 2011.  
The catchphrase  was :“We are the 99 percent”. 
But, November 15 2011,  the New York Police Department have been clearing the park where Occupy Wall Street protesters have been camped since September.
Here are some pictures and videos I made during my visit.

Below some videos.



Occupy Wall Street in New York City. from philippe le vessier on Vimeo.

 Here is the Occupy Wall Street Band playing  In Zuccotti Park, re-named Liberty Square by the occupiers.

Untitled from philippe le vessier on Vimeo.

 I went in Zuccotti Park  during the first snow fall of winter in New York,  October 29, 2011.  It was the first time in history that more than an inch had fallen before Halloween in NYC. 

Unrelenting high winds tormented the occupation with freezing sleet and snow while temperatures fell into the low 30s. Many tents to collapsed under the conditions, leaving occupiers' possessions vulnerable to the elements.

A week before police evicted protesters from Zuccotti Park, Tim Weldon quit his job in Connecticut to be closer to the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Music in NYC subway

"Take Me Out" by Atomic Tom LIVE on NYC subway

"Sherry Baby"

During the  San Giglio feast, Williamsburg, in Brooklyn (New York City), in the evening,  people are going in the street for this celebration.  At this time, I saw a band who was singing "Sherry Baby", a classical american song. Enjoy this video I made !!!


Untitled from philippe le vessier on Vimeo.

Mexican Immigration in U.S.A.

Last February of this year,  I went to Mexico City to renew my Visa, like a french immigrant, for my job in New York City. I needed an interview with the American immigration. I went to the embassy of the United States of America and I was so surprised by the number of people who was making the line to get  an application for tourist visa  or temporary worker visa. That day, I was with almost 800 Mexican people in this American embassy and the only  french guy. A man who was in the line told me that  the number of Mexicans is like that everyday. I spent more than 5 hours to get an interview with an immigration agent. I discovered, like a french immigrant, an  unusual reality. Today, I read this article in the New York Times. 

A quiet cultural shift is running through rural families like the Orozcos - from left; Andrés, Antonio and Samuel, who have been sending workers north since the 1920s. Now their homes are filling up with returning relatives, men who used to go illegally are seizing expanded visa opportunities, and the youngest Orozcos are determined to stay put.


" The extraordinary Mexican migration that delivered millions of illegal immigrants to the United States over the past 30 years has sputtered to a trickle, and research points to a surprising cause: unheralded changes in Mexico that have made staying home more attractive... Here in the red-earth highlands of Jalisco, one of Mexico’s top three states for emigration over the past century, a new dynamic has emerged. For a typical rural family like the Orozcos, heading to El Norte without papers is no longer an inevitable rite of passage. Instead, their homes are filling up with returning relatives; older brothers who once crossed illegally are awaiting visas; and the youngest Orozcos are staying put...".
"Better Lives for Mexicans Cut Allure of Going North". By DAMIEN CAVE. Published: July 6, 2011. New York Times. 

A video.