Thanks for visiting my personal blog! This is the place where I publish photos and ramblings that don't quite fit in with the image of my "professional blog" - AKA "The Light Side". Whatever that means. You can view all my professional wedding, portrait, and business photography portfolios by clicking the 'Portfolio' link above. But if you want to check out Everything Else, read on.
During all my days on the beach there were a constant stream of people taking parachute rides over the beach. I of course wanted to do it and bring my camera, but I saved it for my last day so that in the event of a camera destroying water landing that at least it would be at the end of my trip! But everything went fine . . . here are the photos.
I spotted this busty lady on the second floor of an abandoned building right on the main tourist drag in Zihuatanejo.
Yesterday I went on an offroad adventure with a friend I met at Christmas dinner. We took his Jeep up and over the hill to a remote little beach called Playa Manzanillo. We made a wrong turn and wound up on the roads of some new luxury real estate lots they are developing. Great views though! This shot is facing the south and Playa Larga.
Eventually, we got back on the right track and dropped into Playa Manzanillo, which is a tiny little coral sand beach with great snorkeling.
Walking in and out of the coral on the beach are lot of little crabs of all different sizes. These guys are so funny! When they see you they pull up tight into the shells and hide out. Then the first thing that pokes out are just the two eyes to see if the coast is clear, before resuming their little crab walk.
Here is a big armored beetle that was found in the yard. He’s big and slow and not dangerous in any way.
But it seems that he is on his last legs, so to speak. He isn’t moving around very well.
Yesterday I was hanging out at my usual restaurant after an afternoon body surfing session. 20 feet away there was a wedding about to take place. It was a very small affair, and I noticed that there was no professional photographer present. Well, I couldn’t help myself and I snapped a couple pics for fun!
Here is my attempt at making the location look more grand than it actually was . . .
But really, it was far from an intimate ceremony. The beach is super crowded in the afternoons of this holiday week. Here is what the scene looked like. Pretty funny, no?
Something else that may be interesting for photographer types is that these are the first wedding images that I’ve taken with the Nikon D5000. I arrived right as the bride was walking down the aisle, so I quickly threw the camera in aperture priority and started snapping away. I noticed after taking the wide angle shots that the camera was still at ISO 3200 from the night before. So you can see some amount of softness created by the combination of high-ISO and Lightroom noise reduction. But, I am very impressed that a $600 camera body can capture images this good at high ISO.
The other thing that I noticed is that for the recessional series (shot at ISO 640 BTW), the autofocus did a good job of tracking the subject. Overall, I might go so far as to say that if I had to make a choice, I would shoot professionally with this camera over my old 5DMark1.
I don’t know why. I guess I’ve just never seen a pickup truck full of tomatoes before.
I took a walk from Casa Heidi in Playa La Ropa downtown to La Concha this afternoon with the Nikon d500o & 45mm PC-E body-lens combo. Holiday travelers have descended upon the quiet beaches of two weeks ago.
There is not a shortage of vendors trying to sell you stuff. Fortunately no wedding services have yet been offered to me.
This is the same hotel I took the night photo of previously. The reason for this shot, is to show where I’m headed . . . to the top floorof Bungalows a la Madera. It’s quite a bit of vertical to get up there!
The route featuring the most beach walk involves a trip thru the lobby of the Hotel Irma. This would be a great location for a portrait shot.
OK the next two photos were not actually taken on this day, or with the tilt shift lens, but lets not get into details. This is a great opportunity to show the view shots that I took with yesterday’s great clouds in the sky. This is the view looking downtown from the top of the Bungalows La Madera. Note the tallest hilltop on the right with the houses up the side. You are going to see more of the communities on that hill soon.
Sunset. Nuff said.
Random unfinished buildings are pretty much the norm everywhere.
There have been many performances at La Concha in the evenings. This week’s Sunday edition was particularly well attended. And now for some random shots of random people.
I particularly like the reflection of the tinsel Christmas tree in the truck window.
A quiet parting shot. A family passes the time at their store at 10pm on a Sunday night by watching TV.
All I’ve got is another tropical la-la-land photo for you today. So I tweaked it out in Lightroom for some variety.
I was invited to play with a sea kayak yesterday, so I immediately jumped at the opportunity. Zihuatanejo Bay was pretty chopped up in the late afternoon, so I wasn’t about to attempt any photos while on the boat. But I did take a beach break and snapped a photo of the boat and some great clouds. Cover shot?
A little oceanfront Christmas action here in Zihuat. I was hoping for a cactus with lights on it but I didn’t find one. 
Well, I finally made it out surfing today. I knew it was going to be hard, but I didn’t know it was going to be so painful on the stomach. I’m a softie, need a rash guard. The sunrise was nice! Big holiday dinner party tonight. Merry Christmas!
I told you I had a hankerin’ for some more weirdness! They are not shy about their meat down here. There is no loss of the sense of exactly where that bacon came from.
One last shot of the guy working the meat counter. Funny part is I thought to myself, “I should ask him to pose with the head”, only to have him go ahead and do it on his own. That’s what I call putting your heads together.
A week has gone by and I’ve mostly been spending my days lounging around the beach. As a result, most of the photos so far have been mostly easy scenery shots. I’m starting to get a little bit bored with them. I need some more weirdness. I’ve also been lacking in willing subjects for portraits. The language barrier is intimidating to me. I need to get over it and make a tourist of myself.
There is a place on Playa La Ropa where a natural river meets the sea. They have the area fenced off, so that the crocs have to stay in the river, and cannot exit to the ocean. There is a restaurant right along the river, where there is no fence. It’s a strange feeling to be eating your meal, and then having a croc looking at you 10 feet away.
I had my first big night out on the town last night. The action gets started quite late in the evening. Fortunately for those of us used to rarified air, beers at sea level are a hydrating beverage.
What do you do when you have to go to a party, but you don’t have a sitter? When you are in Mexico you tell the kids to stay in the bed of the truck.
I’ve been sharing the Main House with some Rock Stars from San Fransisco. They played a gig out at the Playa Bar. All the usual suspects were there.
Mexican sound engineering.
Just a typical night view of the downtown area, where all of the world’s supply of mid 90s white Nissans are now taxis.
© 2010 The Dark Side ProPhoto Photo Blog by NetRivet Websites
by Steve Z
6 comments
add a comment link to this post email a friend