A walk along Iguazu Falls - Brazil

A walk along Iguazu Falls - Brazil, originally uploaded by Photomike07.

I have always heard of this special place called "Iguazu Falls." On the border of Argentina and Brazil, this incredible force of nature has been carving is path for millions of years. This little peak into the falls is but a small piece of the labyrinth of rock and water that seems to go on for miles. While on an event in South America last year, I found the time to trek off to this magical place.

As a photographer, I was of course hoping to get the best in lighting conditions, but was presented with, well....., blah conditions at best. I still snapped several exposures....many that still have not even been processed yet, but this one seemed to stand out as a particular challenge. It seemed to have a few things going on...like composition, flow, and energy, but the lighting was awful! I eventually decided that I wanted to create a kind of painterly look to it, so I brushed in some color and texture with a plug in called Topaz, dodged and burned it a bit, and created this. The image below shows a before and after.

A stop along a path at Iguazu Falls in Brazil

Since I am in Boston for the week, I have decided to post an image from South America......

Hmmm, not really sure what the tie-in is here Mike.....

Yeah neither am I...but I'm starved and running out the door in a few minutes...

(My Lord, these posts are getting lamer and lamer!)

5 continents in 5 days - South America - Iguazu Falls, Brazil

Well, here we are as promised, on another continent, this one being South America. (too many commas there I think)

Anyway.....

I know this image is a little lame, but trust me, the lighting was brutally awful when I was there. I still took a bazillion images and hope to find the time to process them someday. This is one that I decided to add a little texture to and try to bring to life. As is so often the case, its quite difficult to capture the feeling of such an incredible place, but here is my shot at it.

The sheer sound of all that water was quite deafening by the way. Quite the incredible theatre of water nature carved into this setting.....a must see for anyone heading to South America!

Well, see you tomorrow....off we go! :)

Lighthouse in Brazil at Iguazzu Falls

Although the sky was awful and the lighting was terrible when I was at these incredible falls in South America, I couldn't resist attempting to capture the beauty of this place I had traveled so far to see. (Geez, long enough sentence or what!?)

Anyway....

Even though the sun was no where to be seen, I captured many images that day.....all in need of alot of work. I knew when I snapped the shutter on this one as I was leaving the park that it had a future. It took a while, but I figured it out yesterday. Hope you like it.

One more thing. Deciding to rearrange my home office....completely rearrange it...at 9PM might clearly be one of the most incredibly stupid decisions I have made in a long time!

The Forgotten Hotel

When the rain finally let up, I decided to wander about the hotel. This one is inside Iguazzu Falls National Park in Brazil. The nice part about it is you can beat the tour busses to the falls and wander down there after the crowds have left! Being off season, it was kinda quiet.....awkwardly quiet. There were a few times I felt like I was staying in the hotel that was in the Shining. Heeeree's Johny!

Octavio Frias de Oliveira Bridge in Sao Paulo, Brazil from the Hilton

The funniest part about capturing these images for this HDR shot was the looks I got from the businessmen trying to enjoy the peace and quiet of the VIP Lounge. Nothing like barging in with a Gitzo tripod and firing off rounds with the D3, machine gun firing style! Aaahhhh, I love it!

The reflections on the left side are from the windows up there. Guess I could have really raised a ruckus and asked the concierge to turn all the light out! I tried to shield them during capture and keep em to a minimum, but I kinda like them now.

Enjoy!

A dismall day at the falls

Photography is all about lighting. If you don't have great light, its hard to have a great photograph. May I present exhibit #1.

I hadn't seen the sun in 2 days, but still tried desperately to capture this natural beauty.

This was captured on a small Canon G9 and then processed a little in CS3 with some dodging and burning to attempt to take our eye thru the image. Not sure how to salvage these shots!

Where did this sky come from

I spent 2 days at Iguaccu Falls and was somewhat disappointed in the sky. I didn't even see the sun at all. The sky was overcast and looked like a milk jug. There was absolutely no contrast at all. The whole purpose of my trek there was to photograph it! Well, just as I was leaving the park, I happened to glance over my shoulder and just stopped. My jaw dropped and I shook my head in disgust. This sky, in a matter of about 15 minutes just appeared out of no where! Oh well.

Another cool note is that this was captured with a hand held G9 canon that a friend let me borrow to test out. I did virtually no touch up on this except for minimal camera raw adjustments to the JPEG! Its a great little camera.

A walk in the Brazilian rain forest

"Mike, what is this? This does not look like your typical post. Where is the surreal over-saturated daily picture?"

Well, I decided to change it up a bit for a few days. It does however mean the following. 

#1, I am going down a path of no HDR images for a week. Those of you that follow my flickr stream know that HDR imagery is what I post the most. I love creating them, but want to take a little break. They do take a little bit of time to really get them the way I like them. I have a few in the vault for next week. Not sure what my I am going to post this week yet, more on that later. 

#2, the tread on my sketchers was not quite appropriate for this trail in Brazil. I was slipping all over this thing the other day. I must have looked like a buffoon. I literally fell on my ass 3 different times and saved about 5 or 6 other falls! Always fun when your carrying a D300! Was a nice walk, but man, did I feel like an idiot!

On more thing. My brother asked me upon my arrival what food the Brazilians are known for. I was at a complete lack of an answer. In fact, I guess I still am. They did have a lot of empanadas now that I think of it. An empanada is a pastry filled with various kinds of meat. Mystery meat in a pastry.....in essence....a Hot Pocket! I also recall an incredible bowl of soup from the hotel I stayed at my last night in Sao Paulo. The menu said "Traditional Brazilian Chicken Soup." It was indeed the best soup I have ever had. Those who know me well know me as a soup connoisseur or sorts. I have often been heard saying "once the soup course is over, the rest of the meal is a downhill ride." So Dave, I guess there you have it. Soup and hot pockets.....my favorite Brazilian meal!

Lobby of the Hilton Morumbi in Sao Paulo, Brazil

The night before I checked out, I realized that I really didn't capture the essence or feel of Sao Paulo. In fact, I really didn't capture anything at all! Back down the elevator I went on a shooting frenzie...for whatever I could get! This is a shot of the lobby.....sorry, I was tired!

I am enjoying my last evening in Iguazu falls in Brazil. Tomorrow, my plan is to catch a taxi to the Argentinean side of the falls and explore that side before my evening flight to Sao Paulo.

Ciao amigos!

Iguazu Panorama

Made it down to Iguazu Falls last night. Incidentally, I have seen it spelled about 5 different ways! This area was used in some of the scenes in the recent Indiana Jones movie. These falls are on the Brazil/Argentina border and are quite possible, one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen! I am staying in a hotel within the park, which is great. The falls are right out the front door!

The weather is, well, quite awful. The sky is milky white and it has been raining a little. I processed this a few times to try to paint what I wanted to see. Maybe I overdid it a little...all right, alot! Hoping for better weather this afternoon. 

View from the Hilton Morumbi in Sao Paulo

Upon checkin to my hotel in Sao Paulo, Brazil, I was quite happy when the elevator door opened at the 26th floor to see this view from the business center. If it wasn't for this view, I wouldn't have gotten any real captures at all!

Sao Paulo didn't seem to be a city that one would love to just wander around in, like Paris, New York, or......well.......just about ANYWHERE else. The hotel was great, in fact it was awesome, but it felt like we were in a 5 star fortress with a huge mall attached to it! I have traveled quite an bit, and I love to get "lost" when I travel. It would be a nightmare to get lost in this city....especially with camera gear!

Anthony Bourdain (AKA, the travel channels ultimate traveling Guru) hit the nail on the head when he said "Sao Paulo is a city thats best experienced with an insider." I would have to agree!