From every series of shots, there is always that One Shot. The One. The one that makes you think, even if I lost all the other shots and was left with just this one, I would be ok with that.
November 16, 2015
drop it like it’s hot
Ever heard of a drop snake? Me either. Until our trip last year to Costa Rica. Basically, they (guides) know you are coming. They know what you are looking for. And they look for it before you get there. And find it. And make it seem like you found it. Sneaky huh?! They also may collect things, and bust out the collection for you to photograph before releasing them back to the wild. Which is what occurred in our case. Our friend Miguel works at a lodge we visit, and we contacted him in advance, letting him know of our arrival date. He then goes hunting. And drop it like it’s hot! Look at all those snakes! We then have a lovely photo session and my mind is officially ruined forever when I look at wildlife photos…how many are staged like these?!
more coming soon…
October 26, 2015
Well THAT’S just silly
You know how you avoid the dentist? Your tooth is aching. You start chewing on the other side of your mouth. You resort to eating nothing but oatmeal and jello. But dammit, you are not calling the wretched, evil being otherwise known as the dentist. Well people, that is me with editing my images. I have a weird allergic reaction to the idea of sitting at my computer and doing this rotten task. I bore easily. I get excited by an image, and then I see something shiny out of the corner of my eye and…..
And so, here I sit with images from my most recent trip to that wonderful place called Costa Rica….and I haven’t even finished editing the images from the last trip! Clearly there are far too many shiny objects in my surroundings. So maybe in approximately three years I’ll share them all. Until then, look at the friend I made!
July 27, 2015
no friends for jack
Red next to yellow, you’re a dead fellow. Red next to black is a friend to Jack.
Jack has no friends here.
July 26, 2015
in the eye of the beholder
Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. – Confucius
July 20, 2015
keep your head up
I have recently started on a new journey of trying to become a healthier version of myself. I had a frightening realization that I am no longer a spring chicken WHAT?! and I have opted to not go down the road of aging without a fight. And so I am fighting. I have two mottos that I carry with me when I am in the middle of a workout that I am sure was designed to send me to my death, when I am sure that I. Absolutely. Positively. Cannot. Finish. I repeat to myself the words “Keep your head up” and “Finish strong”.
And on that note, you really should always keep your head up while vacationing in Costa Rica, as you never know what you may find up in those trees. *So totally and seamlessly brought those two topics together, didn’t I? No? Listen people, it’s a real struggle, this whole blogging thing. Take what you can 😉
June 29, 2015
Drop Sloths
I have visited Costa Rica on three occasions now, and on each occasion I head home with eyes that are exhausted. Because during the trips they are busy busy busy hunting for the one critter I absolutely adore. The sloth. These little stinkers are So. Hard. to spot. Unless you live in CR apparently. Then you can see them without trying, while speeding down a highway, while they are hidden atop trees, tucked into the greenery. Seriously. It seems they are always just out of my grip.
On our first visit we visited a botanical garden and when we informed our guide of my desperate desire to see a sloth he got incredibly excited and rushed us to a particular spot where there is always a sloth. I was giddy with excitement. I was going to actually get to see a sloth! FINALLY!!! Except apparently today was his poop day. And he took a trip down from his usual spot. To poo. *sigh*
On my second visit I did get to see a couple sloths, but they were always just a touch too far away. I couldn’t get a good picture. I couldn’t see them well. I wouldn’t be greedy, I was still thrilled to actually see one in the wild. But.
So when we told Geovani that really, all I wanted to see was a sloth, and he said he guaranteed he would get me so close that I could touch one, I balked. While driving around with him, he quickly pointed out a three-toed sloth travelling along a power line. Three-toed sloths are harder to find, so this was pretty exciting, and honestly, I was pretty excited to have seen it, even though it was out of the reach of my camera. And then we carried on with our day. And saw lots of stuff. Minus one thing.
Until we were charging down a busy highway. “Stop! BackBackBack. My friend, I have found you your sloth.” Wait. Wha? Where?
Now imagine going 65ish down a highway, and being able to spot this from afar…
HOW I ask? HOW?
Geovani gave me exactly what I wanted, and then some. I could not believe we were thisclose to a sloth!!!! GAH! He was awesome and grabbed hubby’s phone in order to take video for us…it is one of my favorite pieces of memory from this trip…hearing Geovani’s voice sweetly talking to the sloth, and the sloth just looking so intently at the camera ♥
He helped my climb onto a barbed wire fence and balance precariously in order to get some of my favorite photographs I have ever taken…
As we finished up Geovani said, “Now let us see the baby sloth.” Ummmm. I’m sorry…..wha? He walked us further down the highway where he had seen a baby as well while we were driving by. I MEAN.
This little bugger was MUCH harder to photograph (I may have walked away bleeding from being attacked by a tree and barbed wire) and in the end I had to walk away satisfied that I was able to spend time with him, even if I couldn’t be in love with the images.
June 8, 2015
froggy dust bunnies
So here’s a confession. I sometimes say I have a love/hate relationship with photography. Honestly though, I am head over heels in love with the actual process of taking a photo. I love how, the moment I look through the viewfinder, the rest of the world is lost to me. I only see what is on the other end of my lens. I love the challenge of getting The Shot. And knowing the moment when I have got it, then pushing to get something even better. I love all of that. I could make out with it on the couch for hours. I just would like to break up with all that comes after.
I hate loading the photos into the computer. Culling them. Editing them. Cropping. blah blah blah. I despise sitting at the computer for hours on end. I just want to snap my fingers and be done with it all. And I have the need to point out that this is not to say that my images require lots of editing…I am a firm believer that if an image requires any significant amount of time to make it look presentable, than it should just be deleted. But raw images need some basic attention. And when you have a gazillion to edit it sort of makes me want to run away. Which is apparently what I did with our vacation photos from *cough* eight months ago *cough*
I didn’t even realize my avoidance game was so strong until I went to blog about a day from our trip…and realized that I had only edited about 15 of the hundreds of photos I had taken from the trip. oops. So I have busted our the Swiffer and I am evicting these wretched dust bunnies. Have you ever tried getting dust bunnies off of frog skin?! Not easy.
May 30, 2015
oh my god, becky…
…look at that baby croc on the sidewalk!
Walking back to our room after dinner one night, I saw something up ahead in the dark. When vacationing in a country that has so much nature to offer, one always is prepared. So out came the flashlight. And the camera. And BOOM! Just call me the crocodile hunter, because this girl found us a croc!
We were SO excited, and introduced ourselves to our new friend. I am not sure that he was totally thrilled to be distracted from his peaceful evening, maybe we came on a little strong, but we just couldn’t help ourselves. We showed him around our room. He loved the curtains but felt the artwork on the walls should be updated. We discussed his plans for the future and decided that though he desperately wanted to meet our friends the following morning, we felt he may not be the best roommate Costa Rica had to offer. Plus, the cleaning people may not appreciate his stay with us too much either. So we swapped phone numbers and made plans to meet at some other time, and then gave him directions to the river bank out back…
Until we meet again!
kulik photography 