I hope I’ve learned. No, I did NOT reformat my card right away. I made sure all was safely downloaded and backed up! Whew! But after double checking, I popped it back into my camera and did my usual formatting.
On the final day of our workshop, we start off with an early-morning boat ride on the waterways of Tortuguero National Park. The variety of subject matter is mind-boggling.
And so, join us on our water voyage before we load our things into the boat to head back to the dock where we’ll meet Paulo and our comfy bus to return to San José.
The flowers are beautiful, some lurk in the shadows, some are partially hidden by leaves, but this exquisite beauty showed us her finery.
Bird life abounds, including many varieties of Heron, Ibis, Spoonbills, Rails, Crakes, smaller birds, and Egrets, including this Great Egret, not to be confused with its dark-billed cousin, the Snowy Egret.
The light is beautiful in the low light of early morning, and I am particularly fond of backlighting. These leaves against the jungle are a case in point.
Fifty-year-old Palms line the river banks. They are thick and bushy, and their leaves run the gamut of color, from coppers to assorted shades of green. Their reflections appeal to me, shimmering and contorted in the gentle rippling of the water surface.
Speaking of textures — the reflections in ruffled water are a form of texture, albeit a liquid one — the wood of the trees and their roots are wonderful. The simple lines of this section of roots appeal to me.
Patterns in my mind go along with textures. I love the pattern of these ferns as they fall diagonally across the frame.
And for another point of view, as we are looking this way and that, this dog keeps a curious eye on us as we near the dock where Paulo awaits our arrival!
On the way back to San José, we stop for a group photo on the entrance grounds of aptly named EARTH University. EARTH is an acronym for Escuela de Agricultura de la Region Tropical Humeda and is considered to be the tops in its field.
Our participants from Costa Rica are delightful, and they invite us into their homes the next day. One man asks us to join his wife and him for a cookout in the afternoon. We will all bring wine (of course) and enjoy time at their house up on a hill with a beautiful view of the mountains. Two other participants, a married couple, invite us to a pre-fete at their lovely house with its orchid gardens and art work. She is a botanical artist of quite some talent who currently has an exhibition in Costa Rica and is also working on a book project.
Once back at the hotel, we say our goodbyes to those we might not see later, and the rest of us meet for the ten-minute walk to dinner around the corner from our hotel. Some of us go to a French restaurant, others to a fish one. Our Costa Rica friends dine at home, weary but excited by their new-found knowledge.
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Margo,
I especially loved your image of the snowy egret. Wonderful!
Arnie B.
Thanks, Arnie B.
Actually, though, it is a Great Egret. Different bill color and stockings!
It was a great trip!
Take care, and thanks for your comment,
TBC
I very much enjoyed a vicarious trip with your photos and commentary. Like many of us who have been there before, Costa Rica cements powerful emotional memories in our noggins. I just have to lean back, close my eyes, and the photos appear. I wish I had taken my camera with me for more permanent images, but I was younger, and in love…
Ronn,
It is always fun when our blogs bring back good memories to those who have visited our locations.
We look forward to seeing you soon!
Take care, and thanks for writing,
TBC
Wow, really enjoyed your blog. The pictures were great and I enjoyed all the variations of scenery, both the closeups and the landscapes. But, what I like best were your fern shots. Every spring, I tell myself, I ‘m going to get some decent pictures of ferns and every fall I am a bit disappointed with my results.
Put,
I am so glad you enjoyed all the photos and their variety, especially after my disaster of Day 6.
As to your ferns, keep on trying. Try different things.
Thanks for your comments!
TBC
I so so hope you read this in time! Like myself, you forget adept organization when a shot is screaming out to be taken, admin and camera bag organization hits the deck. Please don’t take images on the reformatted card!! You can get them back with software, and the deleted files are scanned and voila! they are back (it happened to me on a shoot 2 weeks ago!) Good luck – but THIS WONT WORK IF YOU SHOOT ONTOP OF THESE IMAGES – bonne chance
Emma,
You bring up a good point, and I have one of the softwares, in this case made by my compact flash card manufacturer. I have used it before quite successfully, but in this case, I formatted and started to shoot new images.
Thanks for writing and reminding us all that there is software one can use to recover images, as long as one does not shoot on top of the old images.
Take care, et merci,
TBC
Just finished reading the Costa RIca blogs. A truly wonder rendition of our time spent in this beautiful country. Thanks for including the names of the various places we visited. I started to document them, but gave up when the natural beauty of the surroundings held my attention so strongly!
Thanks again for all of the time and efforts, on many levels, that went into creating this wonderful photo workshop.
Gary,
So glad you have enjoyed them, especially since you and Chris were there with us. I had a lot of fun reliving each day as I wrote the blog, and for me, it also served as a reminder when I labeled my slides in the metadata.
And, as always, it is wonderful to have you two along. You both add so much to our workshops.
Take care,
TBC