Shall I bore you again? Nicaragua 2013/14

[Robert Watcher]

Thank you Doug and Antonio.


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[Maggie Terlecki]

SPECIAL 38'th ANNIVERSARY FOR ANNE

One cool thing about being in a country like Nicaragua - - - is that everyone goes out of their way to help with any special request one might have.

That was the case with Le Turon - a wonderful French Restaurante here in Leon - - - where I requested a special setting for the 38'th wedding anniversary of my wife Anne and I, this past Friday evening.

Unfortunately it poured rain minutes before we got there at 7:00PM - and so all the work they had done to set up in the outdoor garden area - where they had the walkways lined with candles and flowers strewn everywhere - was all in vain, and their disappointment was evident.

Nevertheless, they quickly moved everything into an equally romantic private area beside the garden area, where Argentinian Champaign and Red Roses, as well as "LOVE OF MY LIFE" written in flower pedals - - - made for the most special evening we could have imagined here in Nicaragua.

Most important, was Anne's appreciation for the extra effort I put into giving her something unique to remember. This was our first wedding anniversary where we were not at home in Canada.

For the above pics, I had my camera set on a tripod and 12 sec shutter delay so that I could take the shots. The setting was very very dark - requiring slow shutter speed at high ISO.

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A comical part of organizing the dinner, was attempting to find Roses in the city of Leon. I was told that I wouldn't be able to.

I finally came across a flower shop that was part of a main street funeral business where you walk through the large selection of caskets that are visible from the street - to pick the flowers out and place your order.

Considering the fact that I know little Spanish - I managed to communicate what I wanted as well as a delivery time and location so that the restaurant would be ready for our arrival.

For the static shot of the roses on the table still in the poorly lit area, I set the camera to a slow 200 ISO setting, with multi-second long shutter speed, wide open and closed down a bit for a couple.
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Robert,

So romantic. I think her heart must have melted all over again, just like when you first fell in love. Nice to see this after so many years. You are both so fortunate to have each other. Congratulations on your obviously very successful union.


Maggie

 

[Robert Watcher]

Thanks so much Maggie.


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[Robert Watcher]

ONE HOUR - THREE BLOCKS

I had to wait for my wife for about an hour tonight - and being the sun was getting low in the sky, I figured I may try some different techniques and just play around on 3 blocks of the Main Street, close to where she was.

My methods ended up being lots of really slow exposure stuff - all hand held - - - some shots of people standing in their doorways as they often do at night - - - and using the of the Art Filters on my Olympus Pen camera - which ended up being the Dramatic Tone filter.

ANOTHER GOAL I SET FOR MYSELF - - - was to shoot so that I would not crop any of the images used. So these are all uncropped - not even straightened in the tiniest way.

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One of the slow shutter speed with movement setups. I sat on a curb beside a Gas Station, and aimed at the wall across the street. As people and vehicles passed by, I shot them. I happened to take four shots of this woman and her babies passing by the wall. Instead of choosing one from the selection - - - I combines the human movement from all four and added some motion from a car that went by.

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[Robert Watcher]

As I walked along the street, I noticed this man sitting in his doorway on the other side of the boulevard. He glanced at me when I took the first shot, and then turned his attention to what interested him more. A little farther down, the woman in the doorway, never really noticed me shooting her from across the street.

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AND HERE ARE A FEW USING THE DRAMATIC TONE FILTER. It worked OK in this type of street lighting.

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[Robert Watcher]

One more from last night that I forgot to include - - - a little girl peeking around the corner of her front door:

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[James Lemon]

ONE HOUR - THREE BLOCKS

I had to wait for my wife for about an hour tonight - and being the sun was getting low in the sky, I figured I may try some different techniques and just play around on 3 blocks of the Main Street, close to where she was.

My methods ended up being lots of really slow exposure stuff - all hand held - - - some shots of people standing in their doorways as they often do at night - - - and using the of the Art Filters on my Olympus Pen camera - which ended up being the Dramatic Tone filter.

ANOTHER GOAL I SET FOR MYSELF - - - was to shoot so that I would not crop any of the images used. So these are all uncropped - not even straightened in the tiniest way.

​

One of the slow shutter speed with movement setups. I sat on a curb beside a Gas Station, and aimed at the wall across the street. As people and vehicles passed by, I shot them. I happened to take four shots of this woman and her babies passing by the wall. Instead of choosing one from the selection - - - I combines the human movement from all four and added some motion from a car that went by.

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Fantastic set of images Robert! I am curious to know a little bit more about the first two are those folks vendors?

 

[James Lemon]

As I walked along the street, I noticed this man sitting in his doorway on the other side of the boulevard. He glanced at me when I took the first shot, and then turned his attention to what interested him more. A little farther down, the woman in the doorway, never really noticed me shooting her from across the street.

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AND HERE ARE A FEW USING THE DRAMATIC TONE FILTER. It worked OK in this type of street lighting.

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Another home run! One of my cameras view finder has outside frame lines and it certainly helps me when composing. Regardless these are excellent street shots.

 

[Robert Watcher]

Fantastic set of images Robert! I am curious to know a little bit more about the first two are those folks vendors?

Thank you for sharing your thoughts James.

I suppose that they are likely vendors. Funny thing is that probably every other doorway someone is operating a business from their home. So these were just people carrying on life after dark - with family and passers-by.


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[Robert Watcher]

GUESS WE'RE NOT EATING OUT TONIGHT

We planned on having our last meal before heading back to Canada early tomorrow morning - - -in one of our favourite digs called Bar Baro located in the busy centre district of the city of Leon, Nicaragua.

Only problem is - that it, along with 3 other neighbouring restaurants and bars, blew up from a gas explosion early Sunday morning. Having no knowledge of what had gone on, I was walking around town last night, and as I headed up the street they are situated on - I couldn't figure out why there was so much this dirt on the road blocks away - - and it was floating in the air so much so, that it was hard to breath and was stinging my eyes.

As I came up beside Bar Bara, I noticed the roof missing and then looked in the non-existing doors, to see people hovering around inside - taking pictures. I didn't have my camera with me of course - - - and so headed out early this morning at 5:30AM to grab a few shots - hopefully being able to include some human interest in the images.

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[Robert Watcher]

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[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Hi Rob,

Excellent!

Cheers,
Bart

 

[Robert Watcher]

MORNING COMMUTE

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Finally - - - - my last post on this eight month long experience. Thank you to all for your comments and replies.


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[James Lemon]

Well documented Rob! I have enjoyed your images very much. Have a good trip home!