On December 12th I photographed the Our Lady of the Guadalupe festival in Leadville–a commemoration of the image of the Virgin Mary miraculously appearing to a peasant on a hill near Mexico City in 1531. Throughout the day I followed the Hispanic population of Leadville, lead mostly by the youth dressed in colorful Aztec attire, as they marched from the trailer park two miles outside of town, to the Catholic church, and ultimately to the 6th street gym, dancing nearly all day long in celebration of their most popular religious and cultural symbol.

If you happen to come across a man walking his horse down the main drag in order to “freak out the tourists” and enjoy a beautiful evening, it would be wise to introduce yourself, because chances are he’s quite friendly and will let you ride said horse.

A random spattering of pictures taken around town this past week.

I’m currently based in Leadville, Colorado for a few months to work on a project about the town I started back in 2008. I’m excited to be able to experience the first real winter of my entire life, seeing as I was born and raised in the central valley of California, where the winters are anything but snowy. The snow is beautiful and makes the colors in the town pop, but lordy, I am not used to -25 with a windchill. Hard to get motivated on the bitterly cold days as of late.

Here are a few scenics I shot after our first snow earlier this week.