Rainy morning

It was a rainy morning and we decided to go shopping for souvenirs. We hopped on one of the little carts that take people back and forth between the various stops inside the Grand Bahia Palace complex, and got out at "The Hacienda".

Sure enough, there was a downpour on the way and we didn't have to wait long to witness a rainshower of epic proportions! This photo was taken just a few minutes before we had to take cover - luckily, we were already almost done with our shopping of "truly Mexican recuerdos"... :)

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.

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!

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

Wrath of the gods

My passion for severe weather was satisfied the other day during what I can only call a true orgy of clouds just before a magnificent thunderstorm.

The colours, the shapes, the way the wind moulded them before my eyes... a real feast - and I thank the gods for it.

By gods I mean Mother Earth and her weather leprechauns, elves and pixies... of course ;)

These photos don't do justice to the event itself... but I had lots of fun taking them. I was especially glad to be able to capture the faint flicker of a lighthouse caught in the middle of that raging storm.

A green flicker of hope for those who feel lost and scared when witnessing these "arguments" from up above. Very faint and distant from where I stood... but there, without a doubt. There's always one of those, no matter how dire the straits we may find ourselves in... you just have to really look for it.

Tags: storm, weather, clouds, sky, Canon, EOS, 40D, CarlaFrancisco

Almost... and that's fine

Is almost better than nothing?... Sometimes I wonder.
Being used to watch the skies in search for the worst possible conditions (like any respectable severe weather freak ;) I sometimes have trouble dealing with the possibility that never came to be... Like this stormy sky that came over me the other day in Alentejo, as I was shooting these amazing castle ruins.
The cherry on top of that cake would have been being caught in the middle of a thunderstorm in such a fitting setting... But, alas, that did not come to be. As if frozen in time and space, the grey stormy skies just hovered above me, taunting me and never evolved into what I wished they would...
You can't always get what you want, right? That's quite debatable, I know, but let's just leave it at that for the time being... ;)

Anyway, even if this left me wanting more (wind, thunder and rain - go figure! lol), it allowed me to get this (and other) photos... Way better than some boring blue sky shots. It's something I've learned through photography and it serves me well in my life: rather than bitching about not getting quite there (in any endeavour...) it's always better to look on the bright side (insert Monty Python's little tune here ;).

Just a little of something good can leave a bitter taste in your mouth... But if the alternative is nothing at all - which would you choose? Would you rather enjoy and cherish what little you got or would you prefer never having to regret not getting all you wanted?

Tags: clouds, storm, sky, carlafrancisco, Alentejo, castle, ruins, Portugal