Central America - David Mathre Photography

Tuesday (31-May-2011) — New Jersey

I am resisting NAS (Nikon Acquisition Syndrome) Today.

While reading the commentary on Thom Hogon’s site today, I saw that B&H (and other vendors) had received new Nikon 500 mm and 600 mm f/4 VRII Super Telephoto lenses and still have some available for sale. These have been in short supply for a long time, and may be in even shorter supply for an even longer time since the earthquake in Japan. I held out and did not place an order (and thus didn’t help the economy by spending nearly $20K). This was hard, since I missed many great photo opportunities while on the Semester at Sea, Spring Enrichment Voyage — Ultimate Travel Photography Workshop (UTPW-II) earlier this month. Several of the folks attending the workshop had the larger 500 mm and 600 mm lenses and were able to get some great images that made those of us with lighter kits (70-300 or 80-400) jealous.

Wednesday (04-May-2011) — Nicaragua

Gone to See Central America and the Panama Canal. Semester at Sea Spring 2011 Enrichment Voyage on the MV Explorer. Ultimate Travel Photography Workshop II with Michael Mariant. Day 8: Leon, Nicaragua.

One of the more interesting places that Juleo took us in Leon was The Museum of Traditions and Legends. This used to be a prison before the revolution where Juleo spent some time as a teenager.

Prison Mural. Museum of Traditions and Legends in Leon, Nicaragua. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 360, 35 mm, f/4, 1/160 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Prison Mural. Museum of Traditions and Legends in Leon, Nicaragua. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 360, 35 mm, f/4, 1/160 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5.

Prison Mural. Museum of Traditions and Legends in Leon, Nicaragua. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 800, 35 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Prison Mural. Museum of Traditions and Legends in Leon, Nicaragua. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 800, 35 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5.

Prison Mural. Museum of Traditions and Legends in Leon, Nicaragua. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 100, 35 mm, f/1.4, 1/400 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Prison Mural. Museum of Traditions and Legends in Leon, Nicaragua. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 100, 35 mm, f/1.4, 1/400 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5.

Prison Mural. Museum of Traditions and Legends in Leon, Nicaragua. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 800, 35 mm, f/8, 1/80 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Prison Mural. Museum of Traditions and Legends in Leon, Nicaragua. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 800, 35 mm, f/8, 1/80 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5.

Hanging Skeleton Doll. Museum of Traditions and Legends in Leon, Nicaragua. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 140, 35 mm, f/2, 1/160 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Hanging Skeleton Doll. Museum of Traditions and Legends in Leon, Nicaragua. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 140, 35 mm, f/2, 1/160 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5.

Skeleton Doll. Museum of Traditions and Legends in Leon, Nicaragua. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 80, 35 mm, f/1.4, 1/30 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Skeleton Doll. Museum of Traditions and Legends in Leon, Nicaragua. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 80, 35 mm, f/1.4, 1/30 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5.

Native Mask. Museum of Traditions and Legends in Leon, Nicaragua. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 100, 35 mm, f/2, 1/500 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Native Mask. Museum of Traditions and Legends in Leon, Nicaragua. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 100, 35 mm, f/2, 1/500 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5.

Tuesday (03-May-2011) — Guatemala

Gone to See Central America and the Panama Canal. Semester at Sea Spring 2011 Enrichment Voyage on the MV Explorer. Ultimate Travel Photography Workshop II with Michael Mariant. Day 7: Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala.

We had to get up early in order to depart for the Tarrales Bird Watching field trip at 05:30 AM. On the bus ride to Tarrales I got a grab shot of some school girls waiting for the bus to school. A good fraction of the folks on this tour were part of the Road Scholar contingent attending the Enrichment Voyage. As such the average age was higher, and we knew that we would not be hiking as far as we did yesterday to the volcano. Even though we left early, it wasn’t early enough for best bird viewing. Also, my 70-300 mm lens did not have the reach to get good images of the birds we did see. Our guide was good at finding the birds in the canopy. I only have one image of a midget owl, and it is a crop zoomed to 100%. It would have been a bit better if I took my D3x body with double the sensor size vs. the D3s body. I took the D3s because of the better low light capabilities coupled with the 70-300 f/5.6 limits. Jon got some better images with his 400 mm f/4 + TC.

After the Owl, I then switched to my 105 mm f/2.8 macro lens and focused on closer objects. In addition to close-up images of insects and flowers, the 105 mm lens is also great for people. The remainder of the following images are of a small girl in Tarrales, a local jail, a close up of a China Berry, and of a flower with a bee. Then images from the bus ride back to the M/V Explorer. A school girl, Guatemalla mass transit, a coconut vendor with his machete, limes at a produce stand, woman walking past a produce vendor, a cross-eyed guy next to a “Prohibido Estanciona” sign, woman vendor cutting coconut, her son, and several images from an open market produce vendor.

Individual images in the slide show can be viewed and/or purchased here.

Monday (02-May-2011) — Guatemala

Gone to See Central America and the Panama Canal. Semester at Sea Spring 2011 Enrichment Voyage on the MV Explorer. Ultimate Travel Photography Workshop II with Michael Mariant. Day 6: Guatemala.

We arrived at San Francisco de Sales, a small hamlet in Pacaya Volcano National Park. As soon as we got off the bus we were mobbed by children selling (or renting) wood walking sticks. The price started at $1 US per stick, and quickly dropped to 2/$1. Before starting the hike we had lunch (chicken or beef with rice and vegetables). We were also given the option to ride a horse for $10 US. I decided to take this option since I had a good experience riding horses earlier this year in Patagonia. Unlike the ride in Patagonia, each horse had guide lead the horse up the trail. My guide was Antonio, and the horse I rode was named “Champion”. Much of the trail was in the clouds. Each time the group stopped to rest, the horse guides without riders yelled “taxi taxi”. Rob soon decided that he needed a taxi. At one point it started to rain, and I got to wear an authentic poncho. Near the end of the trail, we got off the horses and did the remainder of the trail on foot. We went past some hot vents — warm enough for some of the folks to roast marshmallows. There was another large tunnel that the more adventurous entered. When we got back to San Francisco de Sales, the kids that had earlier sold the walking stick looked to get them back. There was a real pecking order, with the larger boys retrieving more of the sticks. Some of the passengers did take the walking sticks back to the ship. There was a concern that the kids guiding the horses and selling the walking sticks should have been in school.
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