Today we went to Carambola Gardens, a lush tropical jungle park with flowers, palms, hummingbirds, and forest creatures.
Alfredo was our water taxi and we got more than just a ride. He talked about the water, the island, and then guided us to through the gardens.
Roatan Honduras: So by mid-week we were slowing down due primarily to an abundance of Caribbean Rum and the weather was turning rather stormy. It didn’t matter because when it rains or pours and it is 82 degrees, well so what?
We fell for Cindy and her small curbside cafe and that great ‘Caribe’ accent she had; “Ya Know Mon?”
Day 4 and 5 were wonderful as well chilled a little and hung closer to home. We mixed through West End Village and met many wonderful people, locals and from abroad.
This is a great place where you fit right in with most everybody speaking English. They are happy you are here and frequent their business while others will give a tour around neighborhoods without expecting anything in return.
The highlight of the day was clearly these laughing birds. Not sure if they are parrots or a different tropical bird, but this was fun in Roatan Honduras
Today we went to West Bay and we got there by water taxi. A much faster route then the road and more adventurous as well.
The ride took maybe 10 minutes and you get to see some really nice homes along the way.
As we settled in to figuring out this beautiful island we immediately met many people from the US and England and Canada. The woman yesterday was from Chicago and has been here 33 years. The young couple in Sundowners (the most famous bar in the Caribbean we heard) were from Washington State. It goes on and on.
We were thrilled to visit Eldens Mercado for groceries and find everything we are used to in Safeway at home. See more pictures…
We arrived in Roatan about 36 hours ago and jumped right into checking out the scenery, food, a few bars, and meeting other ex-pats. So far it has all been wonderful and we haven’t seen anything yet.
The people or ‘islanders’ are very friendly and the non-islanders as well. I find this interesting as an American, when you walk down the sidewalk, few people greet you. Neither do I. Everybody’s on a mission. Here everybody greets you for the most part.
While there are some who push their wares on you, it is nowhere near as bad as Cancun and other places. I understand how they need to make a living and I would be happy to oblige if I need something.
I recently photographed my friend Kim and her husband and kids in the studio. This is the first image I processed of Kim herself.
This is what could be called a white on white which is a subject that is very light in tone on a white background. This would be her blonde hair and white blouse on a white background. Here’s the lighting diagram:
On a recent fishing trip to the Florida Keys, we hustled through Miami International Airport and I walked past this cool stained (colored) glass and had to grab this shot.
Let’s face it, smart phone cameras are very cool and allow the opportunity to never miss a shot.
Wow, my Southwest adventure has been awesome. First, I ran into The Lost Dutchman Miner a few months ago, then Rooster Cogburn after that in West Texas, and now Doc Holiday and Big Nose Kate.It has just been unbelievable.
We left Texas as I wanted to photograph the Chiracahua Mountains of Arizona. I have been there before and its beautiful mountain country, so we headed over and captured some images.
Soon we were running out of supplies and headed for Bisbee to stock up on a variety of goods. While there we heard about the infamous shootout that just happened at the OK Corral up in Tombstone.
Something went down that involved Billy Claiborne, the Clanton Brothers, and the McLaury Bros. and they all had a beef with town Marshall Virgil Earp. Confronted at the OK Corral, Virgil was backed up by his brothers Wyatt and Morgan along with Doc Holliday when something sparked and one bad thing led to another and in 30 seconds several were killed.
Now at that time, details were sketchy, but I knew I had to get there and see what happened and try as best I could to photograph as many involved as I could. I arrived in Tombstone the next day and began asking around as to what happened and where I could find the Earp’s and Doc Holliday.
Virgil and Morgan were wounded and were healing somewhere, but Wyatt was unhurt and Doc had a slight wound. Some folks told me they had seen them about. So I waited and luckily that night there was Doc with Big Nose Kate on his arm. He looked as normal as can be and feeling good enough for the two of them to have a night on the town. And Big Nose Kate was ravishing and that made me think “who gave her that name.” Her nose was not big.
I approached and asked if I could photograph the two of them and he grumbled “why not, ever-one else has” so I got busy quickly photographing. They were not interested in posing for long so I did not even set up a flash, which I usually do, and I just shot with natural light.
In processing I created the old western look with sepia toning while leaving a little original color there. I sent them prints, which took 5 weeks by Pony Express.
Learn portrait photography here.
Related Posts: I Photographed Rooster Cogburn, I Photographed the Lost Dutchman Miner
A lot of time there is only so much you can do in camera and that is basically capturing the data as it is presented. It’s when you get into post processing where the magic is and this image is one example.
I photographed Kim and her family last week at their home. We shot in mid-afternoon and this made for lighting challenges. It was hot and humid and bright and sunny, so the light was far from perfect.
There are a million ways to make light work for you but it all depends on how much time you have. You can erect panels that block light from hitting your subject, or in the case of this shoot, work in the shade. Unfortunately there was only a little shade that time of day, so I made it work.
What I like about post processing is that you can go anywhere and everywhere. Here I am experimenting with blended color overlays which sneaks in small amounts of yellow and green in specific spots. It looks sorta like cross processing of days past. More to come once these guys make their selection of images and I process them.
Learn portrait photography here.
