How can we find out the essence of a place?
I keep asking myself this question whenever I walk around a city.

Well, I believe that details can be really helpful to understand the whole.
Sometimes we have to take time to appreciate the little elements in a scene that can tell stories.
Perhaps imagining who could be living behind those doors, what the furniture inside an apartment looks like or guessing what the conversation between two persons is about can help us start noticing the very interesting details that we regard as insignificant, but that reveal incredibly powerful aspects about cities or neighbourhoods.
Which leads me to the next question...Are we looking close enough?

Sometimes we have to let our imagination fly. Having said that, we have to find a way to express ourselves. Photography is one of the activities I enjoy the most and I find it really relaxing to just grab my camera and go for a walk. It allows me to tell stories that might or might not represent the reality. Just as Photojournalist Benjamin Lowy explains: "I had to see something that only I could see and I had to figure out how to articulate that with my camera". 

Maybe the pictures that I chose to post on this article have something to say about the way I see the world. Maybe not. Maybe I'm just sifting through the details that called my attention the most during my photowalk around San Felipe and Santa Ana last Tuesday.
Either way or another, here's the historic district of Panama City through my eyes.

Fritz Lang and his "Metropolis" film in Casco.

A tiny piece of Athens in Centralamerica.

Panama City memento.

So many pretty doors and balconies in this part of town.

Beacon.

Capitalism and the colour red.

A theatre no longer used as one.

The seashells of the Cathedral's towers shining in the midday sun.

Chitchatting about the restoration and lunch.

Ladders in the sky.

Geometric facades.

I would surely like to rent one of these in Italy or here in Casco.

Textures.

Chagall's blue hues.

Details from Santa Familia, my favourite building in Casco.

Romance in every corner.

Symmetries.

A scene from the film "Habana Blues"?

Feierabend for these lads.

Andalusian tiles in Panama City.

Plaza Bolívar from a different perspective.

Tropicalia everywhere.

Have a great start of the week,
Astrid