Roberto Gomez Torres gives us the chance to plunge into fascinating places, with this series of panoramic shots, taken on a trip he undertook during Eastern holidays 2007, to Chiapas. 
Since it is forbidden to photograph these antique settlements with a tripod, the panoramas are hand held shots. They were taken and are published on VRMAG without any commercial purpose.
Comitan is amongst the best starting point to head to the ruins, but depending from the the time you've at your disposal, you can decide either to move in a more relaxed way, or to start the visit of the indipendant state of Mexico from other places, such as Tuxtla Gutierrez.
Grab the chance to immerse yourself into another place and another time, to spy out the land of your next escape...
The Pre-Columbian city of Chinkultic was built by the Maya civilization, during its time of flourishing from the III century to the IX century. Apart from the step pyramids some other 200 smaller buildings can be found in the nearby, and even a court to play the Mesoamerican ballgame. The site was first archeologically investigated in 1966, by the Museum of Milwaukee, under the careful eyes of the archaeologist Stephan F. de Borhegyi. Located within Mexico's Parque Nacional Lagunas de Montbello, Chinkultic isn't among the most visited Mayan ruins in Chiapas, but it's evidenced by the panoramas here presented that it has nothing because of which it shouldn't be amongst the hits.
click here to view Chinkultic 1
click here to view Chinkultic 2
click here to view Chinkultic 3
click here to view Chinkultic 4
click here to view Chinkultic 5Tenam Puente is another archaeological site in Chiapas, located 12 kms away from Comitán. Built on a strategic position, 1600 meters above sea level, it dominates the plains of the Lagos de Montebello. 2 squared kilometres hosts several different buildings, ranging from religious to civilian architecture, from defensive to sportive, with its fields where the inhabitants once used to play the pelota. The site once was a major Mayan city, considered that its strategical position gave to the inhabitants control of the commercial routes between Chiapas and Guatemala.
click here to view Tenam Puente 1
click here to view Tenam Puente 2We're lucky: Roberto loves to go camping, and he never forgets to carry his VR equipment, costituted by a Camera Nikon D70S with a lens Sigma 8mm F/4, a ball head Bogen/ Manfrotto 488RC0 Midi and a panoramic Head iPix Panoramic, mounted on a Tripod Slik 340DX; and
Nikon 10.5mm full frame fisheye lens, a Really Right Stuff panoramic head and a Novoflex Ball head.
Roberto Gómez Torres from Tiempo Digital, Mexico City, works mainly on his own, usually doing all the job. Occasionally, for bigger projects, he contracts people to help him.
He's a multimedia developer since 1991; at the times of Windows 3.11 and he started shooting panoramas when he bought his first digital camera, a Nikon Coolpix 950. Even though he realized some projects for Toyota Mexico and some Car Auto Shows, in Mexico there's a very low demand for VR panoramic photography. His interest for the technique, by the way, boast him to shoot, even though mainly for self-promotion. At the moment he's very busy in post producing about 50 panoramas he recently shot, but he will soon develop his new website, which will feature a nice user interface and database driven searches, with maps showing everywhere he roams.
Links:
Tiempo Digital
Email: roberto at tiempo-digital dot com
