fotoferico

From the Dark Room

2011-02-26T13:14:00.000-06:00

These are shots of a night of camping, once again at Krause Springs. There is a drum circle around a fire, and some playing with incandescent sticks to make the lines. They were shot in 35mm film, and my dear friend Kyle loaned his dark room and developed these. The confusing array of upside down people stems from overlaying a few different frames on the roll.

By the Moonlight

2011-01-05T13:53:00.001-06:00

I have been wanting to try this for a while - leave long exposures open somewhere in the woods during a full moon and see what I get. I expected some sort of dim grayish landscape, but instead got a fully colored photo. Note that on the two last shots where trees are close to the camera, there is a red tint on them. This is from the campfire somewhere behind the camera. Also, on the open landscape (1st photo), the stars came out, creating the illusion of a starry daytime. These were taken around midnight.

Here is said campfire that provided that extra red glow on the nearby trees:

Deep in the Night

2011-01-05T13:36:00.001-06:00

A few shots taken late at night by Alexander river, in the Ocala National Forest. The exposures are a few seconds long (a little too long), and the only lighting comes from a truck (front and brake lights, such as the red in the first photo).On the second shot, you can see the bottom of this extremely clear spring fed creek.

How To Start a Campfire

2011-01-05T09:05:00.001-06:00

If bears are a concern, a gigantic campfire can set you at ease ...

This post goes out to Bailey and Zain, to a wonderful life ahead.

Texas Camping

2010-11-30T12:03:00.000-06:00

Time lapse video of a cold night of camping at Krause Springs, in Spicewood, TX.

This one is dedicated to my new born niece, Nila, who came to this world yesterday in São Paulo.

Balão Antigo

2010-11-24T13:45:00.000-06:00

The following paragraph from my (hopefully) forthcoming article explains the video:

The activity had been, technically speaking, criminalized under a 1934 forestry

code. The authorities, however, seldom enforced the law, doing so usually only when a

baloeiro stood out for some reason. As an example, the famous João Ely once made a

tribute balão to Walt Disney, who had recently died. Walt Disney company executives

went to Rio to film the launch. Due to the publicity, a court issued an injunction to Ely

telling him not to proceed. A Disney executive contacted the U.S. embassy, which

mobilized a variety of local politicians to achieve a compromise in order to allow Ely to

launch the tribute balão tethered to the ground. Ely did not keep his end of bargain, since

the notion of tethering a balão would seem sacrilegious to baloeiros, and released the

Disney balão in the presence of a distinguished crowd of politicians, embassy

functionaries, Disney executives and even local police chiefs who came to watch the

launch. Despite Ely’s indiscretion of disobeying official orders, they applauded it. (Bueno and Patrocínio, Balão, Paixão Inexplicável , 108-110)

All the small things

2010-11-23T20:02:00.000-06:00

A few macros shot in a morning at Enchanted Rock

Storm in the Distance

2010-11-13T17:51:00.000-06:00

Time lapse compilation made over one night, seeing some lightning storms in the distance. You will need to play in HD to catch some details, such as a shooting star that zooms by in one of the frames.

This post goes with a dedication: Happy Birthday Rick!

Californian Sunset

2010-11-08T21:40:00.001-06:00

A few sunsets of the Bay Area, as well as some shots from Marin County, CA. I will start with this timelapse of the sunset over the San Francisco Bay, showing the city and the Golden Gate bridge. The video was shot from Berkeley - special thanks to Jeanne and Gary for their warm hospitality.

Stars at the Rock

2010-10-09T21:56:00.000-05:00

fisheye lens, a new moon, and a completely clear night out at enchanted rock, texas

This is an exposure of two different compositions, about 3 minutes each. One composition includes the horizon, and the other is all stars

This 10 minute exposure was interrupted by two drunk hikers who walked into our campsite . You can see their headlamps moving in, and then revealing the tent and my head out of the sleeping bag

A visible milky way, and a large and distorted field of stars captured by the fisheye lens

Reflections on a Texas Wedding

2010-10-04T12:55:00.001-05:00

Dedicated to Hannah Carney and Chris Heaney:

Barton Creek Greenbelt by dusk

2010-09-16T22:43:00.002-05:00

Exposures of anywhere from 10 to 20 seconds of a waterfall at a late sunset. The color on the tree itself is from shining a flashlight in that area during the exposure without shining it elsewhere.

1º Festival de Balões Ecológicos (Sem Fogo) de São Paulo.

2010-09-10T23:14:00.001-05:00

Fire-less balloon festival in Mogi das Cruzes, organized by the União Artistas do Papel

Caraguatatuba Time Lapse

2010-09-09T12:25:00.003-05:00

Sunset time lapse on the beach, with a few subliminal messages ... Available in HD:

Chopped exposures

2010-09-03T16:07:00.000-05:00

These are overexposed shots of a a sunset over central Florida, taken aboard a helicopter. The vibration of the helicopter created interesting patterns for the light. In some of them you can distinguish the pilot and cockpit, and underneath, traffic on Interstate 4 and two lakes

Hole in the Wall

2010-09-02T17:46:00.001-05:00

Santa Cruz Kite Festival - Part 2 (The People)

2010-08-28T19:25:00.001-05:00

Here goes a continuation of the Santa Cruz Kite Festival pictures, portraying the artists behind the kites and their families.

A bit of secret humor in this witch-kite

This is a kite team, with uniforms and everything

British Gangsters in Brazil?

Flying the centipede into the sunset

This uniformed kite team wins an award!

Flying bugs

2010-08-28T09:50:00.000-05:00

A few more macros of insects, something that has captured my attention more often in the absence of scuba photography in Texas ...

Horsing around with fireworks

2010-08-27T09:06:00.000-05:00

Santa Cruz Kite Festival - Part 1 (The Kites)

2010-08-25T18:33:00.003-05:00

Santa Cruz is the westernmost periphery of Rio de Janeiro. The neighborhoods of this area are still home to many cultural activities considered anathema in the more urbane center of Rio, such as paper balloon launches and kite festivals. The art of hot air ballooning is now illegal, and many of its practicioners find the legal kite festivals to be a safer artistic output - one that does not involve risk of jail time.

While illegal, many of such balloons abound in this area, and one can see plenty of then on any given Sunday morning. Ironically, before these artistic paper balloons dominated the Santa Cruz airspace, this was the territory of German airships. Throughout the 1930's, the Aerodromo Santa Cruz was the final destination for German Zeppelins flying the Berlin-Rio de Janeiro route - now only the paper balloons and kites of the local residents are present.

In the above picture, two kites battle. Their lines are covered with cerol, a powdered glass and glue combination that makes their lines sharp. With the right dive around the other kite, the line is cut.

Cerol has caused a serious side effect - the death of many bikers. The lines of fallen kites get snagged onto motorcyclists' necks, cutting and bleeding them to death. This has led to a particular adaptation, the installation of antennas to catch the lines before they hit the motorcyclist's neck.

Another variant of the cerol bites back at the kite flyers - sometimes they use metal shavings rather than powdered glass in the mixture, which has the result of making the kite line very conductive when it hits electric transmission lines ....

Colonial Puddle

2010-08-20T14:14:00.001-05:00

Paraty, RJ: During the colonial period, the gold mined from Minas Gerais came down the mountains to be shipped out of Paraty. The trail down the mountain is an indigenous path irregularly paved by the Portuguese crown. Descendants of the Brazilian imperial family live in the city, including a prince who owns a 3 star hotel in the historic downtown... These paved streets in the historic downtown are often flooded by the tides.

ANTS !

2010-08-16T14:19:00.002-05:00

A few macros of ants (leaf cutters) taken over a marble floor in Caraguatatuba, SP

The Redeemer's Squadron

2010-08-16T11:08:00.004-05:00

The Esquadrilha da Fumaça (Smoke Squadron) is the Brazilian Air Force's aerobatic demonstration squad, akin to the USAF's Blue Angels. I got a fortuitous opportunity to photograph them in action during a winter afternoon in Rio de Janeiro. I was visiting the statue of the Christ to take some shots of the city from above when I spotted the formation of Tucano prop fighters flying over the Guanabara Bay releasing their smoke trail - they then proceeded to buzz the statue twice at a hair raising altitude. A video compilation of all the photographs follows the photos.