[Brag] Another Creative Photo Winner

Tonight at the Berkeley Camera Club, we had Creative and Nature category competitions.  Creative has always been one of my favorites, while Nature has never really been my strong suit.  Tonight's results followed those strengths.

The procedure for competition at our club is to have the photos projected on a screen one at a time, while a commentator discusses the strengths of each image, along with suggestions for improvement.  The audience (club members, most of whom have images in the competition) sit quietly and listen, only occasionally whispering comments of agreement or not among themselves.  For my creative images, I try to shake things up and get a reaction.  Sometimes I try for a gasp from the audience, if I have something I think is stunning visually, or will instantly make the audience wonder how it was done.  Othertimes, I try for a laugh -- something that will strike them funny enough that they can't help themselves but give a loud guffaw.

Tonight I was trying for the guffaw -- and I got it! :)  There was an immediate loud laugh, followed a moment latter by more laughter as the caption was read.  A double winner this time!

I titled it "In Hot Water Again," and I am happy to say it was awarded 1st place at the Masters level of Creative photography tonight.

The image was actually pretty simple to make.  I put one of our pots on our home stove, added a oil thermometer, lit the stove and shot a few pictures handheld.  I then went into my studio and placed the lights to mimic the lighting in the stove, stood against a white background, and clicked off a dozen images while I made faces that I thought would work here.  15 minutes of Photoshop created the composite.

I also had an entry in the Nature competition, which won an Honorable Mention at the Intermediate level (2nd level of 4).  It is an image I shot of a Red Footed Booby on a trip to Galapagos Islands a few years ago.  Almost all my nature winners have come from that trip.  It is almost cheating using photos from there, since they are so easy to get.  In this photo, I was no more than maybe 8 feet from the bird, who had no fear of humans at all.  When walking, you have to careful not to step on the birds and reptiles that cover the islands.

[Brag] Another N4C Best of Show Plus BCC Winner

Competition at the Masters level of photography at our local Berkeley Camera Club is fierce.  There were 30 entries at that level again tonight, and as always, there were some really spectacular images presented.  This is really a talented group of Photographers.

As such, I am no longer King of the Roost, as I was in prior years at lower levels, and am happy to walk away with recognition for any of my entries.  Tonight I garnered 3rd place with the following image, titled "Shattered":

 

The wine glass for this was created by heating a small area of the glass bowl with a propane torch until it was glowing red, then pouring a few drops of water on that spot.  That caused the glass to shatter, blowing a hole in the side.  I did this to 6 glasses (old ones that we had retired last year), and got 4 with usable holes.  In the studio, I then poured Sangria wine into the glass, while photographing the splashing.  The photo was then cleaned up in Photoshop, and a posterizing filter added.  finally I played with the hue and saturation to get the effect I was after.

In the Journalism category, I am still competing at the Basic (lowest) level.  That hasn't really been my strong suit.  However, our trip last October to Cambodia and Vietnam resulted in several winning photos.  (Click on the October 2011 link on the right panel to read our blog from that trip.) One of the photos that won a couple months ago in our local BCC competition was just announced to have won 1st place and Best of Show at N4C -- our parent photo club competition.  If I keep this up, I'll be bumped up in level for Journalism too...

[Brag] Photo wins Best of Show at N4C

I was a bit bummed out last month when a recent favorite image of mine only received Honorable Mention at the Berkeley Camera Club competition.  I was only somewhat molified by the fact that I felt our judge that night was not very good (honestly -- I had that opinion long before the Masters category I compete in came up for review).

Today we received the results of the N4C Pictorial competition for March.  This is the regional group that our club rolls up into.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that they like the image a lot more than the judge we had that night.  At N4C, this image was awarded First Place in the Masters level, and Best of Show overall.  Yeah! :)

Just more evidence that photographic judging is highly individual and to never be too surprised when something you love doesn't receive the reception you expected in any given competition...

Spanish School Interviews

Today was mostly dedicated to interviewing Spanish Schools for taking lessons when we come back.  But first, we had breakfast at San Sebas, as we had promised the owners yesterday.

We struck up a conversation with a man sitting at the next table, and then moved our meals over to join him.  Jim Becker is a retired 3-star Lt General in the US Marines, who moved to Cuenca a little over a year ago.  We spent the next hour regaled by his stories, and the reasons he chose Ecuador to live (primary was the use of the US Dollar, so no "up front loss of 30% like with the EU").

He is a member of the local Rotary Club, and we spent a great deal of time talking about that, and the good works they do in the region.  He told us that most of the local chapter are doctors and lawyers, with very little English and that Jim is the only retired member at the moment.  By the time we split up, he had offered to sponsor me into the local chapter, which I might seriously consider if we ever decide to move here for a longer term.

We visited and interviewed three Spanish schools -- Si Centro, Amauto and Simon Bolivar.  All three had essentially the same pitch and the same price.  Simon Bolivar was the most polished in the presentation, and had their own books (rather than the apparent rip-off xerox of Si Centro and "each instructor has his own book" of Amauto).  We haven't really made a decision yet, but it appears that Simon Bolivar may be our choice to learn Spanish.

Everywhere you look there is construction going on.  Mostly the streets are being ripped up and replaced with nice walkways, and with the old water piped replaced with modern.  This latter is particularly good, since the Cuenca water is good, but the ancient pipes are often the source of sickness.  It really seems the current president is putting the oil revenue to good use in providing construction employment and improving the overall infrastructure.

We had head that you could fish from the Tomebamba river just outside our apartment.  Today we saw it in action.  A middle-aged local was throwing a small net, of maybe 2 meters diameter into the edge of the river, then pulling it out immediately.  About every 3rd toss resulted in a fish. Some small (which he gave to a couple kids that had joined to watch), and some larger which he kept for himself.  Every time he would pull out a fish, he would throw it against a rock to kill the fish, then put it into a small bag.

El Cajas National Park

Today is Ash Wednesday, so the town is about half back to life.  Many people are still taking today off, but tomorrow should return to normal around here.

Efrain, from MIO Tours, picked us up again today at 9:00 sharp, and drove us to El Cajon National Park.  The trip was a little disappointing, through no fault of Efrain's.  The weather was heavily overcast, cold, with frequent showers throughout the day.  Also, we haven't totally acclimated to the 8,500 Cuenca yet, and were today trying to cope with a shack at 13,670 ft.  We couldn't really move very fast, and certainly not do any hiking at that elevation.

As we got back into town, Efrain agreed to help us shop for a satellite internet dongle at Claro.  I was sure that would take more Spanish than I could muster.  At the store, we found that the price was prohibitive, so we passed. ($99 without a plan, plus $5 per 500MB data, or $30/month for 4GB data/month, but with an 18 month commitment.)

Efrain then drove us around some more possible rental areas, including one he referred to as "the 50-50 area," because about half the occupants are gringos and half locals.  Looked like a very nice place to live, and he said a 2 bedroom apt there would run about $200-$300/month unfurnished.

We have seen several 'Costto' stores around, but have not ventured in.  Efrain commented that they are the same as 'Costco' in the states, with the only difference being one letter in the name. Perhaps we will check them out on our next trip.

Efrain next drove us to Paute, because we had heard so much about it and wanted to see it a bit more.  He stated that potato soup was invented in Paute (Wikipedia says it dates to 6000BC though, so we take that with a grain of salt), and that we should try it.  We stopped at Corvel Eventos for lunch, and their version of the potato soup was worth coming back for -- delicious!

Paute is about 5 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than Cuenca, and is a bit lower, so there are birds (and bugs).  We have heard of several expats deciding to move there, but the town seems too small and isolated for our tastes. Move that 5 degrees to Cuenca though, and we would be in heaven! :)

We have heard various things about an international airport being approved for Cuenca, but never anything definite.  Efrain says that the issue was put to a vote and was resoundly defeated.  I can find Google references to it being approved in 2009 if new radar was put in, but can't find any references more current nor to any vote, so am not really sure of the details -- other than it is clear we cannot use Cuenca airport as a port-of-entry at this time.

We told Efrain that we were thinking of returning Nov 1 to study Spanish for a month.  He warned us that Nov 1, 2, and 3 are big holidays (Dia de Muerta and Cuenca Independence Day) and that we should arrive a few days earlier to get settled before the big celebrations.  Sounds like a good plan to us.

Dinner was at Guajibamba, where the house specialty is cuy.  We had the cuy, but I think I prefer the preparation of the roadside vendor on Monday.  The rest of the meal's side dishes were good though.

Another birthday survived... :)