Bye-bye, til tomorrow

This visitor at the beach of Grand Bahia Principe Akumal was anything but shy and it came and went as it pleased - which pleased the tourists immensely. They sometimes flew above our heads in groups of three or four and it never ceased to amaze me how such big birds managed that degree of gracefulness. Now I'm definitely a fan of pelicans :)

Time for a snack

This and a few other friendly pelicans became regular visitors at the beach of the Grand Bahia Principe resort. They flew low and right by us and never hesitated to get in the water just to freshen up or fish among the tourists. They didn't mind the many people who flocked (pun intended ;) towards them with all sorts of cameras in their hands, eager to record those funny moments and amazing creatures.

I can say that I am now a fan of pelicans because they don't seem to fear or even mind us :)

Making the most of each moment

Parasailing is always a big thing at the Caribbean resorts. I still haven't tried it but I sure was glad that I had my feet on the ground on this occasion, to be able to take this photo of the colours of the Mexican flag flying high in the stormy sky.

As the clouds go by...

Just chillin' and watching the sky :)

My kind of summer picture

I got back from the Riviera Maya about a week ago and I'm now starting to sort through the 200 or so photos I took during the week I spent there. So, expect a few more in the coming days...

This is one of the beaches of the Grand Bahia Principe Akumal resort where I stayed - a very beautiful and quiet beach, even more so underneath stormy skies.

Wet microburst

This is the kind of thing that brings down planes... This one didn't.

What it did was leave me mesmerized and in awe of the phenomenon... I must confess that I was crossing my fingers in hopes that it would somehow develop into a water spout... As they say, give them an inch and they'll take a yard!
Anyway, in the end I was just thankful that Mother Nature put on this show when I was (for once!) at the right place, at the right time...

Hasta siempre!

The last I saw of Havana was an ample view from the fortress they call "La Cabaña" (The Hut). The sky was heavy with stormy clouds, the light promised an electric storm about to strike and the air was wonderfully charged...
I loved Havana and I plan on going back with more time to explore it properly, the way such a beautiful and interesting city deserves to be discovered.

Hasta siempre!

Impromptu

It was way too hot for me that day... I couldn't convince myself to get up off my beach chair but this photo was just begging to happen...

And here you have it - a hymn to laziness!

Peeking out the window...

... on my way to Cuba, I caught a glimpse of the Bahamas.

This is one of the many photos I took out the window since I was hopelessly drawn to that "red engine casing/clouds in the background" combination during most of the tiresome 8-hour flight...

The thin stripes of land down below stirred up my imagination and look forward even more intensely to the warm waters of Varadero, which I had been missing dearly since 2001.

A few hours later we finally we landed in Cuba - the place to be for great sea- and skyscapes!

Waves on the ground

Very colourful, isn't it?

Well, looking at this photo, one things catches my eye more than anything else: the shadows the wall casts on the sidewalk. Call me weird, but I think they fit the scene very well, since this is a viewpoint above a beach... with waves... :)
If you lean a little over the wall, you can see the "Whale Beach" (Praia da Baleia). It got its name in 1872, when a huge whale got stranded there and it's only one of the many beautiful beaches you can find in Ericeira, which shores are very well know among surfers.

What a difference a focal point makes...

This one's my favourite of the two:

I guess it reminds me of the importance of keeping an eye on the big picture without ever losing sight of the "here and now"...


And this one...

... this one I like because it shows me that one can always focus on what's ahead for a while, comforted by the fact that what's close to us right now is also there to be enjoyed and cherished...

So, if you had to vote (as in really having to vote, or else... ;) - which of these two perspectives would you vote for?

Tags: perspective, focal point, sea, blue, lighthouse, boat

Back with a splash!

At first, I thought I was losing interest.
And I thought it was a temporary thing.
Then, as time went by, I started thinking that I was losing my mind.
My identity. All of a sudden, I couldn't think of myself as the enthusiast photographer I thought I was. I couldn't see myself as an enthusiast. Period. My vision seemed to be blurred beyond repair and that scared the hell out of me.

Then I thought: "I'll be damned if I can't shake this and go back to feeling the urge to have the shutter button under my index finger every time something worth shooting catches my eye..." - which used to happen a few hundred times a day!

And as I tried to fight my way through this mess inside my head (even reading this and other similar articles didn't help much)... it happened. The weather turned. The sea rose in an uproar of fury and I was free again. Free to be myself, to feel in touch with my most inner self and want to go out and shoot.

My beacon through the darkness (of my soul?)...
Always there, under the Sun and the Moon, braving the elements and daring me to go that extra mile... even if just inside my mind.




I always say one day I'll win the lottery or something, buy myself this beauty and just move there :)




Just before taking this, I closed my eyes facing the strong wind, took a deep breath and just listened to the roaring ocean... I could swear I felt it coming over me :)




And when the light is this amazing, all I can do is shoot and shut up.
And that's what I did because I felt that, at long last, I was back with a splash! :)

Tags: photographer's block, weather, ocean, sea, waves