"Ximenace Photography"

Last October (2009), I was checking out the El Paso Times and saw an article titled "El Paso-style Loteria: Photographer Rick Jimenez Carrasco Comes Up With Winning Idea"... Growing up visiting my Abuelita's house in the Felipe Angeles Colonia (Cd. Juarez), I'd find Loteria cards scattered throughout the home, mostly on the kitchen table.  I never learned how to play but was always mesmerized by the images on the cards.  The article details how Carrasco, a photographer from El Paso, shot images in El Paso and Juarez that matched the images included in the Loteria cards.

In August (2010), I was looking for a place that would be able to print out a 2 1/2 by 4 photograph of my mother, brother and I for a frame I purchased for my Mom's birthday (August 22nd).  I visited Walgreens, but they were unable to print out the size.  I visited the Sams on Pellicano, but their Kodak computers ran out of paper and were down.  Finally, the day before my Mother's birthday I went by the Sams next to the Cielo Vista Mall.  It was a bit of a wait, and while I waited, I noticed this amazing poster-size photograph of a night-time shot in El Paso.  I asked the individual who was waiting on a few more prints about the details of the shot and he turned out to be Rick Jimenez Carrasco from the El Paso Times article I read about the year before!  I didn't realize this until about ten minutes into our conversation when he passed me his card which displayed the loteria images I immediately recognized.  Being as interested in photography as I am, it was cool for such a random series of events and being on the last hour of purchasing my Mother's gift, to be able to meet a photographer representing the area I was born and raised in and who's work I had a lot of respect for. 

Above I've linked the image to his website and to view pictures from his Loteria collection, you can check them out here: Ricky Carrasco's | Loteria' El Paso   Shout out to Carrasco for representing the scenes and people of El Paso and Cd. Juarez for the beauty that it is.