San Antonio, Escazu
Went to the San Antonio section of Escazu yesterday to see what I could see. While the San Rafael section is pretty much gringo-ized, SA is still very much all local color. I took over a hundred snaps but wound up with half a dozen usable. The learning curve continues apace.
It was overcast the entire day, which according to Ed is a photographer's delight in that you get overall soft lighting and no shadows. This he tells me afterwards (thank you skype). I shot 90% using iso 800, which despite the amazing machine at my disposal pretty much softened every shot, and introduced me to the concept of noise.
I have however narrowed my aperture settings to between 9 and 13, and seem to be getting reasonable depth of field. In the continued section below are four of the six 'keepers' for your viewing pleasure.
Note: Remember that clicking on a photo will open a new window with the full size file. The smallest file is 2.9 mb and the largest is 6.9.
I shot this one because I liked the sign that reads 'German Shoe Repair.' I didn't notice the guy sleeping on the sidewalk until I nearly tripped over him on the way past.
Things just seem a little different here in Costa Rica. I stopped to stare at these guys stringing wire and was amazed there were no sparks flying. Then I thought 'you'd have to be crazy to walk under there.' Then I had to run to catch up with my assistant, who was of course walking 'under there' with no apparent sense of danger-or superstition.
We walked a few miles uphill carrying the camera equipment and got a few looks from the locals, especially when the big lens was attached. Liquid was ultimately required, and we stopped at a little soda on the side of the road. These guys were there doing their best not to notice us. They were too cool and I asked if I could shoot them.
Here it is, centro San Antonio, Escazu. Taxi stop, bus stop and center of activity. We called it quits for the day and got a ride down the hill.
