This morning, after finishing the first blog in this year’s travelog series from Belize, we went to breakfast. As I was munching on fresh mangos and melons, the unmistakable Lightroom screen caught my eye at the next table. Caye Caulker is a place where one easily strikes up a conversation, and the photographer responded that he loved LR3.

As we got to talking, we found that Scott Pasfield was a fellow professional photographer who shared with us, among other things, his book project, Gay in America. Arnie and I perused some of his images with him and were struck by the nice, soft lighting and elegant simplicity of the portraits.

After breakfast, the light was still good in the shadows, and we made some more photographs. Julio, the gardener here, is always helpful and pointed out this and that. He also showed us a youngish alligator resting amongst the mangrove roots, waiting until lower light when the birds come in to roost.

Meanwhile, Arnie and I did some macro shots of the plantains. There is something about the different colors in the blossoms that attracts us. Whatever it is, we never tire of making new images of them.

Shrimpy was there today at his usual time, and after snorkeling and spotting this or that fish or ray down at The Spit, we got some BYO and went back to his place to enjoy some of his delicious fare. I had one with honey mustard, the other with ginger, while Arnie went for the garlic with hot chili peppers along with a ginger.

We sat in the shade of the palms, heard about Shrimpy’s adventures on his sailboat, and chatted with various others who stopped by.

Returning to The Spit, we lazed around for the rest of the afternoon. Later, however, as the light warmed up, we both were ready to do some more photography and headed back to the hotel.

The light was gone for flowers, so we went over to the dock where there already was a group anticipating a beautiful sunset.

Indeed, this one was lovely, and a lot of people were photographing it. Not I. That was not what caught my eye.

What attracted me instead was the way the light just after sunset reflected off the clouds into the water, turning segments of it into molten lava.

As it got darker, everyone headed off for supper, and we were no exception. Before we left, however, Arnie, who had been photographing over to the side of the main area, came back to get me.

He had left his tripod in the room, and I had mine with me. This scene was dark enough that a tripod was definitely necessary, and he was generous enough to give me the shot.

After supper, we watched the moon and stars and remarked at how clear it was. As some of you know who follow this blog, we like doing night skies.

I only had my little tripod with me, but I decided to give it a try. There was much more light than I would have thought, even though I was photographing away from the moon,

Lying down on the dock, looking sideways through the viewfinder (I’ve always preferred that to the display on the back of the camera), trying to get everything set, then holding the little Leica tripod so my camera would not tip over in the awkward position I had put it in was, to say the least, challenging.

I was pleased with the results. I found it interesting the way the pale-blue wooden boat picked up some warm lighting from somewhere along the shore.

There is a lesson here for many people, and a reminder to others. Just because the sun has set does not mean that you cannot go on photographing, if you choose. Three of these photos attest to that fact.

Tomorrow, we head down to Toledo, the southernmost district in Belize. There, we will scout for a couple of days, then welcome our next crop of participants to the workshop. Some are alumni; others are new to us. We really look forward to working with them all.

We always enjoy comments.
We hope you will LIKE this blog (just above the blog title above) and SHARE it (below) with those interested in photography and travel along with the following:

• Barefoot Contessa Photo Adventures
• Facebook page
• YouTube videos