Sausalito

As I was biking near Sausalito on a clear September evening, I paused briefly at an intersection while trying to locate a spot to lock my bicycle. I had been biking for an hour and I needed a pie break. As I looked around I found this colorful line of mailboxes. I immediately pulled out my camera and swapped out the telephoto lens that was fitted. I went on to take about 20-30 pictures. There was a lady who was observing me- probably wondering why I was taking so many pictures.

I looked around but could not locate a place to secure my bicycle. I gave up and propped it against a parking meter and headed inside a store for coffee and a pie. It looked so amazing, I set it down on the table and immediately swapped to my 50mm lens. I had to be quick as the coffee was going cold. I clicked some pictures hoping to capture how inviting they looked. You be the judge.

About the photograph:

ISO 200, 50mm, f/5.6, 1/100

About the photograph:

ISO 200, 50mm, f/4.0, 1/200

The Doors of Old San Juan

This would be the third part of a 3 part series about San Juan. The first two were about the sights and scenes around San Juan and this one is entirely dedicated to the colorful buildings and doors of Old San Juan.There is also a popular poster of the same name.

A day in Old San Juan Part 2

.....continued from Part 1.

Just as you pass under the gate and re-enter the city you will see a bronze statue which was completed in 1971. It is about 12 feet high and commemorates a religious procession carried out in spring of  1797. This procession was carried out by women bearing torches and bells and fooled the British into thinking these were reinforcements.Read more here.

Plazuela de la Rogativa

On the right of the gate is the governors house, it has a beautiful view of the bay. Further up the street on Calle de Cristo is the San Juan Cathedral. This cathedral is one of the oldest buildings in San Juan and second oldest cathedral in the United States. (source wiki). Once again, this make for a great photo-op. I love the blue skies.

Cathedral of San Juan Bautista

 Walking towards the north on the street past Capillo de Cristo, you will get a breathtaking first  view of El Morro. El Morro was designed to guard the San Juan Bay and to defend the town of Old San Juan. This fort is currently a National Historic site and is maintained by NPS. You can easily spend 90-120 minutes in this castle, exploring different sections. They offer some fantastic views

The lawns of this castle are filled with children and adults flying fancy kites. You can buy kites off street vendors.

Castillo San Felipe del Morro

View from one of the watchtowers in El Morro

The views of the San Juan bay from El Morro are unparalleled. Walk up to the lighthouse for the best vantage points.

Explore different parts of El Morro and you will be rewarded with unique views. This fort has 6 levels and levels 2,4 and 6 are worth of a visit. Towards the periphery of El Morro, lies a beautiful Cemetery situated by the sea. The white tombs made for some fantastic contrast in the backdrop of the sea.

Cementerio de Santa Maria Magdalena 

Jump onto the free trolley for a ride from El Morro to San Cristobel. 

Trolley

Castillo de San Cristóbal 

Castillo de San Cristóbal is also part of the National Historic Site and is maintained by NPS. Below is the main plaza. You can walk around here for about 45 minutes and take in the sites and also see El Morro from here. This site has an extensive network of tunnels leading to various areas. Apparently, these tunnels were rigged with explosives to protect the interior in the event of any outsiders gaining access to the boundary walls.

The tunnels make a nice picture if you have a tripod.

And of course a walking tour of Old San Juan will not be complete without mentioning the cobbled streets of San Juan. These streets are narrow and colorful. They are paved with cobbles of a blue stone cast from furnace slag called adoquine. These stones were brought to San Juan by Spanish ships as these were used as ballast in empty ships. The stones were discarded after loading the ships with sugar cane produced locally.

These stones were brought to San Juan by Spanish ships. Over the years, moisture and exposure to elements gave adoquine its distinct color

And of course, the endless rows of colorful houses. I feel obliged to create a separate page for the colorful houses of San Juan but  here are some pictures of the streets.

If you visit in January, do plan to visit the San Sebastian Street Festival. Although the crowd is friendly, use your judgement wisely. The festival runs 4 days long- actually day and night and attracts many thousands of visitors every year. 

The festival is mainly on the streets of Old San Juan and many stages are setup in the plazas. Lighting decorates most of the streets and important buildings. The first two pictures were taken on the day after the last day of celebrations. During the celebrations, these streets and plazas are filled with thousands of youngsters.

Street lighting- San Seb 2012

Night after San Seb

Last night, San Seb 2012(iphone)

 And thus ended our wonderful day in Old San Juan. Of course, no tour is complete without shopping. The wife spent a few hours shopping in the Calle de Fortaleza area. Unfortunately, almost nothing in these shops is locally made. Most of the items are imports from Indonesia and the far east and there is also some Taino art which I believe is a total ripoff because it is not authentic. The only locally made item in these stores was coffee! So after buying a few gifts for friends we were off to the hotel.

A day in Old San Juan- part 1

A trip to Puerto Rico is not complete without a day in Old San Juan. This historical city has so much to offer and it is all packed into 7 square blocks. Every square inch of Old San Juan is so colorful and full of life.

La Casita

We started at the Old Tourist Center near the cruise ship pier. La Casita is a historic old building- not much of a photo op there.

About the Photograph

ISO 200, 21mm, f/11, 1/80 

From there on, you could walk the tree lined streets- Paseo La Princesa towards Old San Juan Gate.This street is so pleasing to the eye, you can spend a few minutes sitting on this street taking in the sights.

Paseo La Princessa

 About the Photograph (Above)
About the Photograph
ISO 200, 18mm, f/10, 1/60





About the Photograph (Right)
ISO 200, 169mm, f/8, 1/80 

At the far end of Paseo La Princesa, you will walk past the Old San Juan Jain, now the home of Puerto Rico Tourism Company.

Old San Juan Jail

About the Photograph -Old San Juan Jail

ISO 200, 18mm, f/18, 1/80  From here, you should also be able to see a beautiful fountain designed by Luis Sanguino. The fountain, set in the backdrop brilliant blue skies is a great photo-op.

About the Photograph - Fountain
ISO 200, 18mm, f/18, 1/80 

You can walk along the outside wall of the city till you reach the Old San Juan gate and then walk into the city and continue towards the El Morro. The walk along the wall offers wonderful ocean views. This pier opened out into the blue ocean and cloudy skies.I really wish the cones weren't there.

About the Photograph 

ISO 200, 18mm, f/22, 1/100 

All along the walking tour you will see beautiful colorful sights such as this one here.

About the Photograph

ISO 200, 21mm, f/14, 1/100 

..............continued in Part 2

Lower Antelope Canyon, Page AZ

The previous post that covered upper Antelope Canyon, this post covers lower Antelope Canyon. The Lower Antelope Canyon is a self guided tour. I believe there is a fee to enter. There is a 2 hour limit for most people here. But here is a pro-tip: if you can bring your DSLR along and may be a tripod you can request a photographers pass which will let you be in the canyon for any amount of time. Also- its gets cold in there dress in layers.

This canyon is best visited in the summer months when the sun is directly above the canyon. However the canyon is wider at the top and may not get the same rays that the Upper antelope canyon gets. This canyon however is just as beautiful and a lot less crowded. There are some stair and some narrow sections where only one person can pass. The canyon is long and narrow- get out if you see overcast clouds or even at the first sign of even light drizzle.

Here are some pictures of the Lowet Slot Canyon. Below is the entrance to the canyon. It gets much narrower than this as you go deeper inside the canyon. This was shot late afternoon in December.

Entrance to the canyon

About the photograph (Above)

ISO 400, 18mm, f/13, 1/10second

The range of colors from bottom to top is best experienced with the eye.

About the photograph (Above)

ISO 400, 18mm, f/13, 1/4second

The canyon runs for many hundred feet

 About the photograph (Above)

ISO 400, 18mm, f/13, 1/4second

Canyon Wall close up- makes a great desktop wallpaper

 About the photograph (Above)

ISO 400, 33mm, f/13, 1/4second

Bokeh shot (I would redo this if i could go back)

 About the photograph (Above)

ISO 400, 54mm, f/13, 1/10second

One side of the canyon gets light, the other doesnt

 The canyon colors are dictated by the light that bounces off the walls.

About the photograph (Above)

ISO 400, 50mm, f/13, 1/5second

The steam makes for a great shot.

At first I was bummed at the thought of all that pollution, thankfully this is just steam coming out of the chimneys. This was shot from the car when it was moving.

About the photograph (Above)

ISO 400, 25mm, f/22, 1/125 second  (CPL)

Next Post- Horse Shoe Canyon

Upper Antelope Canyon, Page AZ

Slot Canyons in Arizona was our first stop on our Utah  National Park tour. The Upper and Lower Antelope Canyons are located in Arizona near Page. The canyons themselves are on private Navajo land. It is impossible to have gone without seeing atleast one wall paper or poster of this location.
Winter is not the best time to visit as you will not be able to see the suns rays filter through the canyon. How ever, there is still plenty of light to illuminate the colors.

Upper Antelope Canyon, can only be accessed through a tour operator and is frequented by visitors more than the Lower Antelope Canyon because there is no climbing required and the canyon is a little wider. How ever, this means fewer photographic opportunities. I believe there are two tours- take the longer tour of the Upper Canyon as the shorter tour does not allow anytime for creative photography. A tripod is a must if you want to take any pictures as there isnt much light in the canyons to bring out the nice colors. The tour is usually guided by a Native Indian who zips through the canyon and back to ensure that the next tour company has their space. And these tour operators are really rude- they act like they own the land. Well, in theory they do  but I did pay for a visit. On my way out I almost ended up quarreling with the next tour company's guide as she was hurrying me out.

Dress in layers- it can get cold down there. Be prepared to get dirt on your clothes- get down on the sand for those perspective shots. Here are some photos from upper canyon.

About the photograph (Above)

ISO 400, 27mm, f/4.0, 1.3 second

Upper Antelope Canyon- looking towards the exit

Inside the Canyon

About the photograph (Above)

ISO 400, 18mm, f/3.5, 4 second

The guide creates this effect by throwing some sand which cascades like a waterfall

About the photograph (Above)

ISO 400, 18mm, f/3.5, 1 second

Upper Antelope canyon - The Face

About the photograph (Above)

ISO 400, 18mm, f/53.5, 4 second

Upper Antelope Canyon- Inverted Monument Valley at Sunset

This looks like the 127 Hours poster

Lower Antelope Canyon is covered in a separate post.

Monument Valley, Utah

Monument Valley in Utah is characterized by many sandstone formations called buttes.These rise up from the plateau and the tallest one rises 300m. They are quite the sight to see. This area is privately owned by the Navajo nation and there is only one hotel to stay in if you are visiting this place. 

Hoping for a sunrise view, we woke up at 5:30am and were outside in the cold waiting for sunrise by 6:15am. Temperatures was about 22deg F but the windchill made it unbearable. While we waited, we saw a faint predawn glow. Here are the buttes in the backdrop of the glow.

Pre Dawn

 About the Photograph:

ISO 1600, f22, 18mm,1/6 

(Thinking about it now that is a pretty high ISO; the previous night  i was trying to shoot stars and probably forgot to correct it)

East Mitten Butte

About the Photograph:

ISO 1600, f22, 119mm,1/15

As we continued to wait, I was getting impatient and i was playing around and came across this idea. I just created two more buttes. Take a guess as to how this was done. It made for a pretty cool picture. Remember, you saw it here first!

The five buttes

About the Photograph:

ISO 200, f22, 23mm,1/15

The sun came out to the right of the monument, which was not optimal because it did not illuminate the butte. There was a bigger butte which was illuminated.

  

Red rock Formation

About the Photograph:

ISO 200, f18, 33mm,1/8

 

Sunstar

About the Photograph:

ISO 200, f20, 22mm,1/20

After snapping a few more pictures, I rushed back to a warm inviting bed and within minutes I was sleeping like a baby. Later that morning, we drove around the valley on the dirt roads. There is a loop which goes around the buttes and it gets pretty dusty.  While driving around there, I found this family that was chilling out by their Ford Edge, one person was reading while the other was taking in the view. I think this makes for a great advertising photo for the Edge but Ford wont accept any unsolicited material!What a shame.

Ford Edge, Drive Anywhere!

 About the Photograph:

ISO 200, f16, 35mm,1/40

PS: I am in no way associated with Ford or Ford Edge.  

At all the viewpoints, you will find native Indian people selling  jewellery and some interesting fridge magnets made out of burnt wood.

After driving around the buttes, there are fantastic views of the buttes from behind. This view was probably better for sunrise too, although the sun would still rise from the left in this picture.

The buttes from behind

 About the Photograph:

ISO 200, f20, 23mm,1/40

As we completed our drive, we came back to the starting point and the views from the front were pretty dramatic too.

Buttes from front

 About the Photograph:

ISO 200, f20, 18mm,1/80

And so we concluded our visit to Monument Valley, we headed out for the classic Road shot. We drove out on 163. As we started driving we went up a small incline and as we reached the top, we came upon a wonderful view of vast desert lands beyond.

Looking away from Monument Valley

  About the Photograph:

ISO 200, f20, 92mm,1/80

The classic road shot is usually taken from Mile 13 on Rte 163. There are countless posters of  this shot. As we drove there, it dawned upon us that it was too late in the afternoon to take this shot. The sun was behind the buttes and was now just creating a silhouette. Usually, this photo would be like the one above with the buttes in the horizon. I was extremely disappointed but nevertheless clicked some pictures. I usually do not like sunflares and was annoyed even more. Long after my trip, I saw a similar picture that a friend had taken and loved the effect. I edited my photo, increased the shadow such that the only thing visible was the road and the buttes. I love this effect - thanks (Mahintha Chandramouli).

 About the Photograph:

ISO 200, f22, 76mm,1/80