In life, things don't always go the way we expect and/or plan. Many variables come into play for any given situation and can change everything to the point where we sometimes no longer know what to do. That applies to photography as well. Things like technical difficulties, people's moods, lighting conditions and weather to name some, have an effect on our ability to get a specific job done. It is then when we put into action our "Plan Bs", our abilities to adapt to change and basically have to "roll with the punches".
The images I made, while just ok by my standards, give a viewer an idea of what the size and few details on the vessels and what they may look like, in an artistic, visually-pleasing way. At times, I incorporate other elements into an image to make it interesting or to better tell any particular story.
The sun eventually broke through the clouds, but I needed to get going by then. So things didn't quite pan out as I expected, but I still managed to shoot some frames and was able to see what these huge vessels look like. Hopefully, when they come back next year, I'll be able to block out a larger chunk of time so I can see them sailing across the water, the way they were meant to be seen. Enjoy the photos and thank you for checking out my blog. -Mario
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I had once again, an opportunity to photograph another battle from the Civil War reenactment summer events. This particular one took place in Lombard, IL. The location was smaller than the previous one I attended in Wauconda and because of a big storm the night before, there were less participants as they had to evacuate the park due to the storm. In spite of those challenges, the event went on and I had a great time shooting it. You can see a number of images in the video below and a full gallery of what was photographed, in the following link: https://mariosalazarphotography.smugmug.com/Civil-War-Reenactment-Lombard-/ For additional information on these type of reenactments and their schedule, visit 9thvirginiacavalry.com , 2ndkentuckycavalry.org. Enjoy the clip and thank you for visiting my blog. -Mario
This is my 2nd Video Blog entry. I often get asked by people (non-photographers), what is it like when I go photograph things or places, as it is something that they have either never done or since they're not photography enthusiasts, they've never looked into it. So this is not a tutorial or a way to teach anyone to do that, but rather, my attempt to show a little bit of what that process is like, to an "average" person. When it comes to photography, there is a lot behind a nice photo you may see published online, or a magazine or framed/hung on the wall somewhere. It takes a lot of "prep time" with everything from adequate gear, location logistics, permits, post-production time and many years of education, experience to make those processes look as simple as they do and the photographs as beautiful as many of them are. I'm still rather new to the "video blogging" thing, but I hope you enjoy this clip and the images I made in the process. Thank you to my friends & team mates for their company and assistance in making this happen. -Mario I've decided to add Video to my blogs whenever possible, in the hopes it will add a new element to things I discuss and perhaps inspire some of you to pick up a camera and shoot some more. Enjoy! -Mario The first Spanish settlement in the Pacific coast of America was established in what became the city of Panama, in August of 1519. Given its strategic geographical location, it was of most importance to the Spanish crown because most, if not all, of the gold and other treasures coming from Peru and other South American colonies, passed through and were sometimes stored, as they made their way on to the Caribbean coast, then on to Habana (Cuba) and then proceeded on their voyage to Spain.
Morgan had successfully attacked and overtaken the Caribbean post of Portobelo (Porto Bello) in 1668 with his fleet of 10 ships and 500 men. By January of 1671 and after taking the fortress of San Lorenzo in the Caribbean coast of Panama, Morgan along with 1,400 of his men, descended the Chagres River towards the Pacific coast and Panama City. He skillfully divided his forces which quickly dominated the 1,500 or so Spanish infantry and cavalry defending the city. When locals heard of Morgan and his men hacking their way through the jungle across the isthmus, they started hiding their possessions and some fled in wooden boats to the Azuero region. A lone priest by the name of Juan hatched a plan to preserve Panama’s golden altar. The main parts of the altar were disassembled, and it is said that the golden columns and altar tables were taken out into the bay and submerged. The rest of the altar could not be moved so priest Juan, along with other townspeople prepared a paint mixture made up of mud and black oil, and worked all night to cover the altar in order to somehow disguise it and protect it from the coming pirates. As Morgan entered Panama City plundering, pillaging and burning, the inhabitants fled into the jungle, but priest Juan remained behind, determined to protect the church. The pirates ran thru the city in the early morning hours of January 18, 1671, taking whatever they could find and killing those who stood in their way. Increasingly frustrated because he could not find the golden altar he so vehemently sought, Henry Morgan stepped into the church where he saw an old priest by a black altar and asked where was all the gold, jewels and the golden altar hidden.
Since the pirates didn't find what they came looking for, they destroyed buildings and burned the city to the ground. In 1673 the city was moved to the more fortified and defensible area where it is today. The new Iglesia de San Jose was built in this area in 1675 and remains there, along with the golden altar (Altar de Oro), to this day. Above ↑ - Panama City as seen from the Casco Viejo, the location from which the new city was built in 1673. Night view of an area in the very modern city of Panama, at night. It had been a while since I had been out to photograph a 'live' local band. After the end of CHICAGO's ROCK, I was pretty burnt out on the local scene and other than by the same few consistently hard-working bands, there wasn't much I hadn't already seen or that sparked much of an interest in me.
A few weeks ago, I got wind of an upcoming show featuring one of my favorite local bands, a band by the name of Veilside, which was opening for another band which is co-led by one of my good friends Mike Posch and his music partner, the talented Pamela Moore, who some may know as Queensrÿche's Sister Mary. That particular show was on a Friday night at a medium-sized area club. It had been more than 5 years since the Pamela Moore Band (who are from Seattle, WA) had played in Chicago, so with that in mind and the fact that I loved their new album (Resurrect Me), I set out to enjoy some good music and take some photos at the same time. I had a great time at the show. Ran into a number of people I hadn't seen in quite sometime and the tunes were great. While this is one of the nicer clubs, with very decent lights, I wish the lighting could have been done better and really made the bands "shine" visually onstage, but it is what is. I wasn't there to "work" but rather to enjoy the music, see my friends and casually capture a few images. Below are a some of the photos I made that night. Hope you enjoy them and that you too get a chance to go out and check out a band of your liking soon. Until next time! -Mario Well, it's certainly has been a while since I've done an update here. My time has been consumed by non-photography issues for several months now, but I've managed to squeeze some shoots here and there. As I prepare for what is shaping up to be a busy spring and summer season and I review some of the images I created over the past few months, I can't help but be grateful at the fact that #1 → winter is pretty much over, and #2 → that as cold and brutal as it was, it provided me with some great opportunities to create some amazing images and photographs.
I like how the weather changes the landscape in such a way that it seems as though you're in a different world sometimes. Knowing the type of results I get out of these outings, encourage me and make it worth all the layers of clothing that have to be worn to be out there and the harsh conditions we photographers have to endure sometimes in order to "get the shot". I like to look for imagery and interesting formations in the ice, much the same as we sometimes do when looking up at the clouds. Whereas it's ice or trees or clouds, it is very interesting to see the things nature shows us sometimes. Buildings and animals make interesting subjects in the winter also. The challenge they pose (at least for me) is to show them in a way that says something as opposed to something just sitting there. Animals tend to sometimes be a bit difficult to track and photograph in their natural habitat without bothering them, but when it happens, it's pretty cool. I hope you've enjoyed these photographs and images. I also hope you too had a chance to get out and shoot something this winter.
Thank you again for checking out and reading my blog. Until next time...! -Mario I'm back in the Cedar Rapids, IA area on a Christmas visit. After meeting up with family and spending some time with them, I needed some "me" time so I went out for a drive in search for something interesting to shoot. As I'm driving across the Cedar river I noticed this strange cloud formation and a bunch of birds flying in a weird pattern away from the cloud area. I had never seen anything like that before so I stopped to take a better look at this thing. I knew it was a cloud but in the back of my mind I could almost hear that Ancient Aliens dude with the funky hairdo saying "...is it possible that this could be a _____? " It was slowly moving north when I also noticed a rainbow on the inside part of the circle. I was not able to capture the rainbow but I did capture images of it as it moved across the sky. A couple other cars stopped and were also staring at the sky. It was very surreal but yet very cool.
It eventually faded into the distance as it kept moving northward, without any incident other than startling onlookers like myself. I'm still not entirely sure of what it was. Ginger Zee from ABC was telling me it's a "Punch Hole" cloud. I'm sure that's probably what it is, but what if... ;) See you next time! -Mario So I decided to go downtown and do some street photography with a couple of my photographer friends. I wanted to capture some holiday lights and perhaps the pulse of the city as we inch closer to the Christmas holidays. Unlike my last walk out west where it was like being in a ghost town, Chicago was busy with life and activity which made it suitable for some interesting photography. I live in the area and have seen many of these buildings numerous times, but I'm still fascinated by the city's architecture, design and overall look. We didn't see much in terms of "holiday lights" as we had hoped, but still managed to practice some techniques and get some interesting shots as we worked our way through some of Chicago's streets. People are an important part of any cityscape and there were plenty of interesting characters all around as we walked along. As the dark of night set in, we worked on traffic, light-trail and slow-shutter photography. Luckily for us, the Navy Pier was well-lit and since it was cold, not many people were outside so I managed to get some great shots of the Ferris Wheel and the city skyline at night. Hope you enjoyed checking out these images as much as I had creating them.
Until next time...! -Mario |
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