Lrntn's Blog

Beads and such

15Apr12

I’m back from a short visit to see a friend I first met three years ago (in Buenos Aires of all places. Oh, and it was in a tango shoe store. Of course).

I decided at the last minute to do something “radical” on this trip, photography-wise that is. At least for me it was. I left my digital SLR at home and just took my manual film camera, with a single 50m lens, which is the only lens I have for this camera anyway. My DSLR always feels too bulky for my taste, even though I almost never carry more than a short zoom lens with it. So this time I wanted to go really light. I did hedge my bet a bit and also brought my P&S, and here are a few photos from there.

I think it’s fairly obvious from these photos what city this is, probably at least for my American friends. Too many late nights here at too many cool music venues (not that I’m complaining), and photography wasn’t a big focus, though I did manage some. It’s one of those places you hear about all the time, but for some reason I’ve never made the effort to visit. And now that I have, I’ll just have to come back more often.

I’m waiting for my two rolls of film to come back, so we’ll see.

Filed under: Travel | 6 Comments
Tags: photography, travel

Shadows

10Apr12

Just a few quick remaining ones from Valparaiso.

Do you sometimes wish you knew what you were doing as you’re doing it? I certainly do. Take these photos, for example. I only realized after the fact, when viewing them on my computer, that I really like the harsh contrast between light and shadow. I think I only half saw the potential at the time and so didn’t look for more opportunities. But that’s what makes photography so fun. Always something new to learn, and always a next time — same place, or another place.

And WP just told me that this is my 250th post. Sounds cool I guess! Till next time.

Filed under: Chile, Travel | 4 Comments
Tags: Chile, photography, travel

Valparaiso street art

05Apr12

I’ve been behind with everything, including this blog. So I thought I’d better post the remainder of my Valparaiso photos before another six months go by.

I hope you enjoy these photos almost as much as I did taking them.

Have a wonderful weekend ! See you in a week or so.

Filed under: Art, Chile, Colors, Travel | 10 Comments
Tags: Chile, photography, street art

Crisscross

28Mar12

As you can tell, I loved all the electric power lines crisscrossing everywhere in Valparaiso.

Till next time.

Filed under: Chile, Colors | 13 Comments
Tags: Chile, photography, travel

Walking the empty streets of Valparaiso

20Mar12

After my last post on Valparaiso, someone commented that it looks remarkably empty and asked whether that’s really the case. Yes, it definitely felt that way. I’m not sure why that was, considering that Valpo has about 270,000 people, plus it’s not like I was wandering around at the crack of dawn. In fact, I got to Valpo around noon or so on both days of my visit . . . despite my good intentions to get an early start (I stayed in a nearby city and took the train over). I kept away from the port area near the train station, which was fairly busy, but otherwise didn’t deliberately set out to avoid people. Yet often there was no one around for many blocks but me, and stray dogs — some friendly and some not so much.

At first it felt a bit strange to see so few people, but I came to enjoy feeling like I had the entire city to myself. I did get jolted out of my happy exploratory mood once though, when a man yelled out from his car “camera, careful not to get robbed” or words to that effect. Yeah, thanks . . . you’ve just announced to any would-be robber within earshot that there’s a potential target nearby. No, it was very nice of him to be concerned, though I’m sure I was in far less danger of getting robbed than of getting bitten by the few rabid dogs I saw along the way. I can report that it’s all perfectly safe — and I have no dog bite or robbery stories to share. Anyway, here are a few four-legged friends along the quiet streets of Valpo.