Chandler Bondurant Photographs Mexico, Where Landscapes Burst With Heat, Color, And Emotion

On day two of the trip, Bondurant turned his attention to the camera. “The driving force behind the photos was simple,” he explains of his intentions. “Many Westerners come to Mexico and for the most part, I think that their photos reflect their own world views onto the people and scenarios they are photographing, mostly with a bit of negativity,” he says. “I wanted to portray Mexico in a very non-subjective way, and tried hard to create compositions that were unique and emotional.”

Indeed, Bondurant’s photos do not rely on exoticism—it was more important to him to portray emotion through a delicate balance of color, line, and tone. “I wanted to illustrate the feeling of what it felt like to be there,” he explains. “It was hot, the cities and landscapes were exploding with color, and spring was on its way out to make room for summer. The more important visual aspects were the architecture and urban structure of Mexico City, as well as the vivid colors and warm, bright sunlight of Oaxaca”.