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On today's #marketfriday initiated by @dswigle I would like to show you around the famous Thursday market in El Alto, Bolivia. El Alto is Bolivia's second biggest city and is located above La Paz, which is Bolivia's seat of government (not the capital though).
The ladies in the title photo hiding their faces are Aymara, Bolivian Indigenous people, who believe that taking a photo will steal a part of their soul, so when I asked them if it was okay to take a photo they agreed, but insisted on hiding their faces in order not to lose a part of their soul. No chance of doing portrait photography here I guess.
On the way to the market
Getting to the market is easy, since the local government has installed a system of cable cars connecting La Paz with El Alto, the price is just 3 Bolivianos (about 0,40€) per ride.
View from the Teleférico
Riding the cable car is an amazing experience and a must-do for everyone visiting La Paz! I ended up riding the different lines various times and every time I discovered something new — I saw a military parade below, an accident car stuck in a deep cracks of a giant rock or just got a peek into the ordinary life in La Paz and El Alto.
The market in between brick stone houses
While La Paz is home to the seat of government, the business district and nearly all of the tourist accommodation, El Alto is a rather poor city. The Andean city is located at 4100m above sea level.
Time to go shopping!
The El Alto market is upon the biggest markets in Latin America and you can get anything from clothes over food to books and DVDs, the prices are for western standards very low.
Since the Bolivians mostly have a very slow internet connection and mostly not even a computer, there is no way for them to use something like Piratebay. Instead, they go to El Alto market, where they buy illegal copies of games, movies, series, software and music which are openly sold.
Genuine software? Well..
The price is always the same as it is calculated per CD/DVD/BlueRay, so you end up paying the same amount of money for the free Game Dota 2 as for the current Call of Duty. They even have some exclusive special editions, or have you heard of the "Pro Wolf Edition" of Windows 10 before?
A view on the market
I didn't end up buying something in the end, although I had my eyes on Metástasis, a complete remake of every single episode of Breaking Bad set in Colombia. Instead, I decided to try some street food. If you like food, neighboring Peru is a much better place to visit than Bolivia, but they still have some unique dishes to try in Bolivia.
Visiting the market in El Alto is a fascinating experience that I can recommend everyone who visits La Paz! I hope have enjoyed my short introduction to the market in El Alto.
@jpphotography Thank you so much for bringing such a high-quality content to the challenge. Your post was so well written and the pictures were superb.
I am with you on the courtesy of asking for a portrait, although some people don't. I don't want the loss of a soul on my conscience. Your overhead shots were stunning.
I love the Windows 10 - that is amusing that it is so open and honest about it. LOL You captured the essence of the city and I am so thrilled that you did it for #MarketFriday. Thank you again and i sincerely hope you have an amazing Holiday!
Merry Christmas to you! Upped and Steemed tip!
Thank you for your support and Merry Christmas! :)
Hi @jpphotography! You have received 0.1 SBD tip + 0.03 SBD @tipU
from @dswigle :)
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Hello, I have just featured your image that you submitted to my 7 World's Continents Photo Challenge in today's blue color challenge. Feel free to interact with the post by answering some congratulation comments if you like. What an amazing photo. You ROCK! Have a good one. Tomas
ColorChallenge - Blue Friday - @jpphotography in 7 World's Continents Photo Challenge!
Amazing, thank you!!
What an awesome well written blog, with great photography too! Welcome to Steemit.I wish you much success. You Upvoted my post, which is how I found you! Thanks for that
Awesome! I loved your post, it was very informative. Since I am selling stock photos at various microstock sites I have no way of verifying if a photo is actually licensed or stolen. I really hope the blockchain will bring a solution to this in the future!
There is some talk that there will be a blockchain database. Image theft is a huge problem for me. I've been doing stock since the 1990s - before microstock, and income has crashed big time - stolen work is a factor. They always say that it doesn't hurt because they wouldn't have paid for it anyway, but it affects our earnings because the the most popular images are the ones taken, and it dilutes the value in a customers eyes when they see it all over the place. I'm with some micros too now. Who are you with?
A blockchain database would be amazing, but I think it will take some years until this becomes reality.. Also, a decentralized Stockphoto agency would be amazing, preferably one that doesn't take as much commission from sales (Getty/iStock is giving me only 15%!).
I am using a software to submit every photo to various agencies with no extra cost, so I signed up with multiple sites, among them Shutterstock, iStock, Fotolia, Bigstockphoto, Alamy, Pixta, Depositphotos, 123rf, Dreamstime and Colourbox.
The payout per photo is mostly ridiculously low, once I saw one of my photos printed quite big in an advertisement in a German newspaper (ciclulation of 490.000), I got 25 cents for that.. But in the end it adds up and for me as a student stock photos provide a great passive income, but it would not be enough to make a living from it.
Wow! What software are you using to submit to them all at once? That would be a huge help! Photography has become so cheapened these days. I have had images on many many book covers over the years, and it was not unusual to make over $1,000 for a book cover. Even with my regular Getty stock, that has been drastically reduced these days.
And what I get from the micros is ridiculously low. But that is just a bit extra, as you say. I find that I have certain photos that are daily sellers though, and that helps because it does add up.
Good for you being a student and making some money on stock on the side. You should do well on here too - better than microstock by far!
I'm with most of the micros too now. I find that my best sales are through Fotolia/Adobe, Shutterstock and istock.
The software is called Stocksubmitter, it is free for up to 33 per month per agency, for more you need to pay, but 10€ for 250 photos is very reasonable. In case you have a mac, need to use the Windows version on Windows since the Mac version is not working really well. I might do a post about stock photography soon where I will recommend this software, it does safe a lot of time since you can also do all the tagging and categorizing within the software.
My photos are by far selling best on Shutterstock, also my earnings from Fotolia/Adobe Stock have been growing recently. Istock is on place three, but Alamy is catching up.
Hello @jpphotography nice to meet you post here sugestion from @czechglobalhosts to supporting you. I really love you photograph.
Thank you, I always appreciate when people see my photos featured somewhere and then visit my blog :)
You're welcome. I just appreciate the hard work from steemit friends.
amazing photographs, you have my follow :D
wanna visit my blog? I have some photographs, too :)
@jpphotography
Thank you/Danke! Ich folge dir jetzt auch. Viel Spaß in Thailand!
Awesome market and great photography work always makes me happy to see how other people around the work set up shop and sometimes in the most amazing locations like this one great work capturing all this and sharing. Cheers :)
Upvoted and following you now !!
Thank you! Markets are one of the most amazing things to see when traveling, right?
Yep your right about that :)
Check out my marketfriday if you like. Cheers :)
https://steemit.com/marketfriday/@hangin/marketfriday-initiated-by-dswigle-christmas-shopping-in-gaysorn-mall-bangkok
I have, your market is very different from the one in Bolivia haha! When I was in Bangkok I actually got lost in some of the huge shopping malls, I think it was actually it the very same shopping mall, Gaysorn Mall and Centralworld!
I have done some impressive street markets also but i did the Malls because of the Christmas decorations was just the atmosphere people were wanting to see it is interesting to share different function of malls around the world and your right i been here for awhile and i still get lost in these big Malls :)
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What a unique and beautiful experience!
Totally, El Alto is a really unique place to visit!
Wow!!! Wow!!!! go to the market on the cable car is great !! very interesting. photos are wonderful !!!! sorry for the people that they do not even have a normal Internet
Glad you like my post, feel free to check out my new photo documentary about Cuba that I just released: https://steemit.com/travel/@jpphotography/trinidad-cuba-two-faces-of-a-city-a-photo-documentary
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The cable cars look like great fun! I love travel journals, and your commentary gives life to your beautiful pictures. Following you, and look forward to more of your work.
Thanks you for following, there are many more posts to come! The cable cars are amazing, the view on the city from above is superb!
Thank you!