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Nicaragua - Another Stint

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
PLAYAS DEL COCO, COSTA RICA

We have to leave the country for our visa extension, and so are taking a break in the north west of Costa Rica for a week.

We have actually been spoiled by the beaches in Nicaragua as well as prices that we can afford. Meals and food in Costa Rica are more along the lines of what we would pay in Canada and the United States.

I was shooting the beach area very early this morning, and came across this composition that I found most interesting. The fold out screen on my Olympus E-PL5 allowed me to lower my camera to ground level for better composition.

Another thing familiar to our living in Nicaragua - earthquakes. I was laying in bed with my computer (no chairs or check at the hostel) around 12:30 this afternoon, when the bed started shaking. It wasn't very severe though. I checked on my usual website and indeed there was a 5.4 just off the coast of us.



20150311-EPL54730.jpg


Delightful! Did you take a wider angle too?

But I worry about the stone houses with a 5.5!

Asher
 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
Delightful! Did you take a wider angle too?

But I worry about the stone houses with a 5.5!

Asher

I shot with the widest setting I have available to me on my Olympus E-PL5 - 14mm (28mm) on my kit zoom. I took a shot from waist high that included the water and boats - - - but couldn’t get the full tree (top) included from the distance I was at - in order to allow the boat and kayak to be seen properly (the reason I didn’t shoot from a greater distance with longer lens).


So I got the camera down close to the ground and that did the trick - a bonus being that now all elements stood out against the unobstructed blue sky. Hurray for fold out screens on cameras.
 
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ONCE ELEGANT FORTRESS ENTRANCE

TravelLiteShootHeavy-20150314-EPL55227-Edit-Edit.jpg

I've noticed this in many of your pictures in the downtown areas, that people are sitting in doorways that have very old but incredible huge doors and sometimes large pillars on the sides etc., Very interesting architecture. There was obviously a time when the town was more prosperous and they are still standing as a reminder of that time.
Maggie
 

Antonio Correia

Well-known member
Another great image Robert !

I have - for moments - thought going to meet you there...
In Latin America we just know 3 or 4 countries. Brazil we do of course... ;)
 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
I love this - such a cool shot!
:)
Maggie

Thanks Maggie. The fact is though, that this is a "what I ended up with" shot - not a "what I hoped for" shot.

Here is the story: I was standing in the aisle of the packed bus. My wife Anne was sitting on the window side of the seat next to me, with a local woman between Anne and I. Being Anne had space around her, I handed her my shoulder bag with camera and other valuables.

The bus came to a stop and several people entered in the front door and squeezed by me to move to the back - including the woman with her chicken. For the next half hour I didn't really have a view of her.

As we got closer to the fishing town we were headed to, the bus stopped frequently to let people off. All of a sudden there was more space on the bus and the woman with the chicken was in clear view about 4 rows behind me.

THE SHOT I REALLY WANTED THOUGH was the perfect symmetry of this lady as well as an old white haired Nicaraguan woman sitting 2 rows further down (empty sear behind the young boy) - who had spun her knees to the aisle, exposing 3 stacked flats of eggs on her lap with binder twine wrapped around them.

The irony of the scene grabbed me and I hollered to Anne to quickly get my camera out of my shoulder bag so I could take a picture. Within seconds, the camera was in my hand and as I spun around to take the shot - the bus started slowing, the employee who collects money and helps people on and off, moved past me in the area I wanted to shoot.

As he carried on, the old lady with the flats of eggs had stood up behind him to exit the bus. I just about didn't bother taking the shot as it wasn't what I wanted. Instead, I smiled at the woman with chicken as I moved down the aisle a little and pointed the camera in her face. First shot she looked off out the window,and second shot looked at me to take the photo. I went up to her to thank her and show her the LCD screen of my camera.

Regardless, I am totally pleased with the image that I took. But it's the "what it could have been" that I don't like. Ah, I have many "missed shots" for whatever reason, so it's just another that no one but me is aware of.
 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
Another great image Robert !

I have - for moments - thought going to meet you there...
In Latin America we just know 3 or 4 countries. Brazil we do of course... ;)

Than you Antonio.

Anne and I are heading back to Canada in a few weeks. We are maintaining our apartment in Nicaragua and will return there for a few months in fall. Next on our agenda is to fly down to either Peru or Ecuador for a couple of months at the end of this year, to explore.


It's working out rather nice for me. With my travels for a large part of the year I can photograph to my hearts content --- and when I am home in Canada for the 3 or 4 months, I have several serious and amateur photographers who like my work and style, who are hiring me as a personal trainer to spend part of a day with them analyzing their images with suggestions they can use, helping them refine their camera use and lighting and composition and importantly for most is helping them getting a handle on processing their images for greatest impact. I am looking forward to that.


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Robert Watcher

Well-known member
EVERYONE LOVES A PARADE

This one just happened to be in small town up in the cool hills of Nicaragua.

These 3 shots represent me moving through the crowd, grabbing shots. The head of the little boy on the man's shoulders in the second shot, is visible in the first. As I walked by, I turned toward them and then back to shooting down the street as the princess had her procession.


 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
I find interesting that no one pays attention to me as I am shooting away. I'm walking through the middle of them and only feet away when firing.

The value of my small unnoticable Olympus Pen cameras I'm sure, but beyond that why aren't they noticing the big white guy - only one of them there in this small remote rural town in the mountains. I guess they love their parades and traditions so much that that's all they are focused on.
 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
Are you shooting at waist level ?
Do you ever take your camera to your eye ?
Is it silent ?


I do shoot at waist level at times. That is a favourite way to shoot. I also hold my camera at eye level using the LCD screen (there is no viewfinder on my cameras). But you will also recognize from the shot with the horses in the background, that I am holding my camera over my head with the LCD screen tipped down for viewing. I have no standard procedures - whatever it takes to get my shots is how I handle my cameras.

The shutter is not silent. When I am shooting in town and passing by people, I am careful to shoot when there is noise that can mask my camera sound. I may move into an area where there is more sound, for my vantage point.

I'm quite experienced with that from my wedding and event shooting days, where I had to take pictures in quiet of silent areas or without disturbing a play or a movie set. I time my firing the shutter with peak actions or louder bursts of sound. So I don't just fire indiscriminately. There are times though when I must get the shot, and I have to ignore that and people do notice the sound when I'm in close.
 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
COLOUR STREET An answer to all who claim that a long lens is not useful for street photography. I use long focal lengths all of the time (along with wide angle views)


TravelLiteShootHeavy-20131207-PC071675-Edit.jpg

246mm

TravelLiteShootHeavy-20140527-RSW72824-Edit.jpg

250mm

TravelLiteShootHeavy-20140408-P4080777-Edit-Edit.jpg

300mm


 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
BLACK AND WHITE STREET An answer to all who claim that a long lens is not useful for street photography. I use long focal lengths all of the time (along with wide angle views)


TravelLiteShootHeavy-20140527-RSW72857-Edit.jpg

300mm

TravelLiteShootHeavy-20140409-P4090967-Edit.jpg

CLUTTER & HEELS 300mm


 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
SELFIES EVERYWHERE

Doesn't matter whether they are liked or disliked - - - selfies are a part of modern culture. An everyday occurrence, even in the poorest of countries.

This group consisting of poor families of fishermen along the Pacific coast in Nicaragua, were having a sunset swim in the salt water, to clean up and cool off - and then took the mandatory self portrait with their phone while sitting on beach:

TravelLiteShootHeavy-20150406-EPL56706.jpg
 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
NEED SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVING YOUR TRAVEL PHOTOS? - - - Tweet your photo with hashtag #tvphotocritique


To Follow my Travel Twitter account : @tvjournal

https://twitter.com/tvjournal


I am heading home to Canada in less than 2 weeks, so will end this thread now with my busy schedule of wrapping things up at our home in Nicaragua. Thanks for following!!!



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COLOUR STREET An answer to all who claim that a long lens is not useful for street photography. I use long focal lengths all of the time (along with wide angle views)



TravelLiteShootHeavy-20140408-P4080777-Edit-Edit.jpg

300mm


[/CENTER]
Ha, when I first saw this, I was thinking.. man, that guy really likes garlic, then a second trickled past and I realized he was selling them. Now that is what I call a mobile shop! :-D
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
COLOUR STREET An answer to all who claim that a long lens is not useful for street photography. I use long focal lengths all of the time (along with wide angle views)



TravelLiteShootHeavy-20131207-PC071675-Edit.jpg

246mm

TravelLiteShootHeavy-20140527-RSW72824-Edit.jpg

250mm

TravelLiteShootHeavy-20140408-P4080777-Edit-Edit.jpg

300mm




A film director would gasp at such sights. I merely shake my head in disbelief and the beasuty of the people and streets!

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
COLOUR STREET An answer to all who claim that a long lens is not useful for street photography. I use long focal lengths all of the time (along with wide angle views)



TravelLiteShootHeavy-20131207-PC071675-Edit.jpg

246mm

TravelLiteShootHeavy-20140527-RSW72824-Edit.jpg

250mm

TravelLiteShootHeavy-20140408-P4080777-Edit-Edit.jpg

300mm




There's feeling, color and patina of struggle and endurance!

A film director would gasp at such sights. I merely shake my head in disbelief and the beauty of the people and streets!

Great job, Robert. I am fully "dosed" with inspiration for my day!

Asher
 
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