Even in another language.

Posted by Paul on March 12, 2013
Posted in: Photography. Tagged: , , .

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Afterwards

It was my last night in San Miguel de Allende. Niels and I were standing atop an overlook, taking photos of the city. A few people came, had a look, stayed for a short while, then left. Eventually, a newer model Volkswagen Beetle pulled up. These two ladies got out of the car, the younger one made a beeline for me, her camera photo thrust out and asked me to, in Spanish, to take their picture. She even pointed to where to press the button.

I lined up the shot, using gestures, took a couple of photos, let them see, they were pleased. They got back into the car, admired the photos, laughed a little bit, then took off.

I must be an approachable guy because I seem to always end up with someone else’s camera in my hand, taking their photos, which I love to do. Who needs to understand the words? :)

Almost time to come home

Posted by Paul on March 9, 2013
Posted in: Photography. Tagged: , .

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Abuelo y Nieto (Grandfather & Grandson)
Today is my last full day in SMA. Quite frankly, I loved it here. There is a big expat community of both Americans and Canadians. I’ve found everyone, regardless of nationality to be friendly, open, and accommodating. I’ve enjoyed this international journey so much more than I did to Australia, where, as I mentioned, I found the people rather stand-offish. Anyway, different cultures. :) Of course, I had someone to show me around, introduce me to other people, etc; however, when I ventured out on my own, I noticed that people were just as friendly. I met complete strangers in the Jardin (The central garden in town were people come to hang out.), had conversations, etc.
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I met one lady, Ci-Ci, in the internet cafe around the corner. We’ve run into each other 3 times, so far. This morning, we met again at the Mercado Organico, a weekly organic market where, it seems, most people in town come. I was greeted with a hardy hello and a nice, long hug. This is my kind of place. I’m greeted several times per day, on the street, with: Hola! Qué tal? (What’s up?).

This morning, during my walk, I noticed this grandfather and grandson walking down the street and it just spoke to me about what it is about here. It’s about family, not getting ahead. It’s about community. Over and over, I’ve heard the same story by expats. “I came here _____ years ago, and never left.” or “I came here _____ years ago, now I’m here every year 3 – 6 months”.

Even as I type this, I’m thinking about my return visit. I’ll probably come back, perhaps later in the year, or early next year, stay a month, or so, and work from here. :) I like this place. Besides, I need to work on my Spanish!
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Yellow!!!

Posted by Paul on March 8, 2013
Posted in: Photography. Tagged: , , .

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The other day, Niels invited me to take a trip with him to Queretaro, Mexico, a little over an hour away from SMA. While there, we walked around and did photographer things. You know, take pictures. While Niels and his wife, Claudette, were getting maps of the area, I looked across the street, saw this beautiful, yellow building. I framed it up, but there were only 1 or two taxis in front. I thought, how great would it be to have a whole line of taxis in front. Light change.

The next stop light, my wishes were answered. Add to that, as I was about to take the photo, Niels noticed me framing it and said: Wait! There are some people in red shirts about to walk into the scene. I waited a beat, saw them, and clicked the shutter several times.

I love the shot. The only thing that got to me was the drab, green trashcan in the lower left; however, as yellow and green go together, not an issue. I just didn’t have time to get in front of the can, but that’s OK. Better to have gotten the shot with the can, than to have missed the shot entirely.

I tried cropping the trashcan out, but that removes too much of the street, so, I just left it the way it is.

Photographing dancers

Posted by Paul on March 5, 2013
Posted in: Photography. Tagged: , , .

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Sunday, I had an opportunity to see some Azteca dancers perform in the Jardin. From all around town, you could hear the drumming. Niels and I decided to check out, and I’m glad that we did. We saw them at around 11:00 in the morning. At that time, the sun was pretty intense, and the shadows deep. Most of the shots that I took were, as one might expect, not exactly dazzling, especially the far away shots, lots of hard shadows. However, I was able to come away with a couple of ‘keepers’, by getting closer, such as this dancer, framed between two observers. I like the vivid yellow headdress.

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Later, I came back by the Jardin, and they were still there. This time, the street was in shadow, so no problems with shadows, but it lacked contrast. All of a sudden, I got the idea to try to photograph motion and get the ‘feel’ of it, rather than just static photos. That’s a hit-and-miss proposition, mostly miss, but I was able to get a few that I really liked. The rest of the time, I just watched and had a great time!

Another blogger met!

Posted by Paul on March 4, 2013
Posted in: Personal, Photography. Tagged: , , .

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This week, I am in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, or SMA. While following Niels Henrikson, on Facebook, I noticed that he was going to leave Toronto, Ontario, Canada in early December and head down to SMA for a few months, until the end of March. I contacted him and asked if he would mind if I made a visit to SMA. He said that he’d be glad to show me around. So, here I am, some 3 months later.
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Niels suggested which airport that I should fly to, which shuttle service to take from the airport, and even gave me a few suggestions for hotels. Everything went off without a hitch. The flights were on time. The shuttle service pick up was where expected, and my hotel reservation went off without a problem. The first morning, though, I didn’t have hot water and the water was extremely cold, muy fria, very cold. :) I asked the lady at the desk, in my best Spanish, and was understood. She said that she’d have someone look at it. Later, when I came back, she said that it was working fine, but I just hadn’t waited long enough. I need to wait for 15 minutes for the water to make it to my room because the heater is a long way away, the pipes are filled with cold water. Also, as I found out, the pressure is pretty low. At any rate, when I went to take a shower in the evening, after waiting about 10 minutes, I had plenty of very hot water. The shower felt nice and was appreciated even more.
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Though this is only my second, full day, I’ve found the Mexican people to be very nice, kind, and helpful. Most of the them in the ‘centro’ speak at least some English, but I’m more than willing to butcher Spanish and have no problems getting my point across. But, I’m getting better and have no problems asking how to say something: Como se dice “just looking”, en español? Solomente mirando. That’s what I learned to today. :)

I’ve seen Azteca dancing, mariachi bands, street performers, and a little bit of everything in this brief time. It’s been a blast, so far. And, what can I say? … the food here is wonderful and very inexpensive. I’m probably spending about $25/day, with tip. for two very filling meals. Basically, the sidewalks are rolled up around dark, and everyone eats their last large meal of the day, before 5:00 PM.

Do you research, or meander about?

Posted by Paul on February 26, 2013
Posted in: Photography.

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White Sands National Monument – Planned to coincide with the full moon.

I just read a post by Jay Patel, entitled: Am I an Effective Landscape Photographer?

Effective: Successful in producing a desired or intended result.

In his article, he talks about his preparation before going to a new place, such as getting information on sunrise, sunset, weather, moon phase, tide, seasonal colors, etc, in order to maximize his picture taking effectiveness. At first, when I read this, I thought: Well, that kind of takes the fun out of discovery; however, all I needed to do was look at my iPhone to see what little “helper” applications I have:

Sunrise/Sunset – Lets me know, by my current location, when will be sunrise/sunset.
Moon – Lets me know moonrise, moonset, phase, location, date of full moon, etc.
Tide Table – For those coastal areas, it’s nice to know when the tides are a comin’ and a goin’.

Also, I will admit that I like to arrive about a day, or at least 1/2 day early to have a look-see of the area, take out my compass, see where the sun will rise. As a matter of fact, Monte and I are in the midsts of planning for a trip to Arches National Park. We are planning it around the full moon. :)

It would seem that about the only thing that I don’t do that Jay mentions, is contact other photographers in the area to pick their brains about good locations to shoot. For that, I think that I like to meander about, choose my own view of the place, and get some amount of discovery. My last trip that I planned to coincide with the full moon was in February, 2008. Kate an I planned for the full moon and paid extra money to be allowed into White Sands National Monument, 2 hours early. It was well worth the extra effort.

How do you prepare for a trip to place that you’ve never been? Do you have any applications that you recommend that you’ve found especially useful?

Water

Posted by Paul on February 25, 2013
Posted in: Photography. Tagged: , .

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This photo of the Ashley River, near Summerville, SC, was taken in October of 2008. I had just arrived in Charleston 2 months prior. This was a time of exploration and, as this river was only a couple of blocks from my apartment, an easy walk, I was there quite frequently. I’m seriously drawn to water. :) Sometimes I like to go back through my photos of that time, August 2008 – February 2010, and look at all of the photos that have. The vast majority of them include the rivers or the ocean, with a few people and buildings thrown in for good measure.

I’d never considered myself to be a fan of the beach, but during that time, I developed a great affection for it. Being near water, whether it was the ocean, a lake, or a river, has a calming effect on my mind and my spirit. Even now, I live right down the street from a large lake. There’s nothing quite like a walk near a body of water.

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