A Moment In Time, Rincon, Puerto Rico

Last week the New York Times ran a wonderful interactive photographic project called "A Moment in Time." On Sunday at 15:00 GMT or 11A here in PR around the world photographers were invited to submit images of their place and circumstances. The photographs were placed on a fabulous rotating globe and sorted by topic, location and recommendation votes.

Here is the photograph I submitted:



It was taken with a telephoto-lens just down the beach from the Lemontree... as seen from our main courtyard. Sunday is a slow day here and the morning unfolded quietly. Down the beach are beach houses which have been in families for a couple of generations. A morning of family, calm and tranquility.

You can check out the image in the NYTimes here as well as read about the entire project.

At this time this image has been the most recommended in the Puerto Rico pile.

A Parallel Universe... in Rincon PR

The light that comes to the earth from the sun consists of short wave length ultraviolet light, visible light and longer wavelength infrared light. The largest fraction of light is actually infrared. Our eyes can see only in the visible light range. Existing side by side with what we take for ordinary visual reality is a parallel reality created by the reflection of infrared light, to which our eyes are insensitive. One can use a filter on a camera to block out all but infrared light and then record images that are created by the reflection of infrared light off surfaces.

One of the technical problems with making photographs using infrared light is that it takes a longer time to make such an exposure. Thus, if you use an infrared filter you usually should use a tripod to steady the camera and avoid motion blur from any small movements of the camera.

I have worked previously with infrared exposures of landscapes and I'm sure that you have seen images such as the one below of the Lemontree... taken yesterday using an infrared filter. Usually these images are converted into black and white photographs as you see.



In these images the green foliage is rendered as white because chlorophyll fluoresces the infrared light. Like the tropics with snow?!

Without the benefit of a tripod I also made a couple of other infrared photographs. One a portrait and the other of shaded leaves in a tree.



What is really cool about this use is that infrared seems to hide imperfections and shows the skin with a smooth porcelain like glow. She was looking almost directly into the sun, as you can see from her eyes, and yet the photograph is not blownout and looks rather intriguing.

Finally this last image was taken under the canopy of a large tree on the beach... again hand-held.



While there is some motion blur, what I really like is how the leaves are rendered in white and the veins and termite trails are shown as black. It produces a great design and an almost abstract take on the tree branch.

It is possible to have a digital camera permanently converted infrared. This then makes it possible to capture this non-visible part of the spectrum just like shooting in the visible range. Here is a site that offers tutorials and a camera conversion service. Should you decide to do a conversion and try infrared, let us know how you like it!

Reflected Landscape at Rincon of the Seas, Rincon PR

Today marks the official opening of my (Todd Davis) new exhibition of photographs at the hotel Rincon of the Seas. The show includes 13 black and white images and two very large infrared panoramas. I have been shooting in and around Rincon for several years and this show marks a departure from most of my work. Usually, when we think of the tropics we do so in color... hot and saturated. In doing so, our seduction by the color masks the extraordinary forms and subtle tonalities that are all around us. For those of us who live here full time, we can become habituated to the drama of the changing landscape. So, to return some of the freshness and vibrancy to looking, I have chosen to capture the tropics in black and white. All of the images have been shot in Rincon. I have printed the images on Velvet Fine Art Paper which enables a much richer viewing experience.

The show is noted in the El Coqui and a featured event and runs from December 20 till February 20. You can see the images at Rinconimages.com, look for the Reflected Landscape gallery.

If you are interested in owning a print they are comfortably priced at $99 for a framed and matted image and just $55 rolled. The panoramas are offered at $299 framed and $99 rolled, shipping is additional. To purchase please call 787-546-8858.

Orchid at the Lemontree, Rincon Puerto Rico

Yesterday evening I went out to the courtyard here at the Lemontree and took several photographs of some of the flowers that we have growing. This orchid is not especially large or grand. The color is what attracts most people to these flowers. For me it was the shape. The exotic, sensuous, otherworldly form that caught my eye.

I made a black and white conversion of the above picture and toned it lightly. Here it is:



Take a look at the two images. For me the black and white version, striped of its natural color that shows its form and contour. The eye is not so distracted by the color.

Panorama, Rincon Puerto Rico

This is a panoramic view of three of Rincon's iconic sites. Its a bit difficult to make out from the thumbnail but if you click on the image and expand it you will see on the left at the horizon, Desecheo Island; then, moving to the center, the Lighthouse (its the white vertical) and then on the right, Domes, the deactivated Nuclear plant. I made the photographs which comprise this panorama several days ago, shooting from the crest of the hill on Rt 413, known as the "Road to Happiness." We see these everyday, driving along the coast and yet, here in this picture, I see them anew.

Nature's abstraction in Rincon Puerto Rico

Several days ago I made this photograph on the beach... while looking at the trunk of a nearly fallen palm tree. These are the roots and some trapped leaf litter.

They reminded me of how some contemporary art resembles designs and patterns that we see in nature. When viewed close up, natural objects and collections of these objects, formed by natural process, take on an appearance, which to our eyes, may suggest sensations or other objects far removed from what they were originally. This abstraction via magnification is a common technique in contemporary art. Similarly by taking one aspect of an object in nature and repeating that aspect can yield very pleasing results as well.

I was reminded of the work of Cy Twombly whose "scribbles" as seen below have some


passing resemblance to the imaged abstraction of the roots.

Some of our guests are painters... I wonder what kind of sources of inspiration they have taken back home with them from their time here?

Reef life at Desecheo Island, Puerto Rico

Its been a bit since I have written about the diving at Desecheo Island and so I thought I would remind readers just why it is so well regarded. We have recently had a number of Lemontree guests who have booked a trip to the Island with Taino Divers, which is pretty much the only ticket out to Desecheo. Its a great day's outing for divers or snorkelers. I made this photograph after coming back from a deeper dive out at Candyland. This shot overlooks the sand channel that forms a divide between a zone of seafans and the shore line rock reefs. It was taken in about 40 feet of water. As you can see the reef was crowned with a wide variety of tropicals. Typically, these fish are a bit skittish of large bubble blowing creatures. Stealth and calm were the key for me. In truth when I am photographing the reef, a shallow dive is the best. You use less air at shallower depths, the light is better, and so you have more time to compose and see an image than if you are deeper and working hard to keep up with a tour. If you are a good diver and have a buddy who will hang out with you, some of the best opportunities for photography are right under the boat.

Cats of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

One more post from our recent trip to the Capital. Old San Juan is the home to many semi-feral domestic cats. You will see them, especially at night on the walk below El Moro and in the western parts of the city. They are fed by residents who leave dry food and water out for them. They mostly avoid people but occasionally one will approach. They seem to be territorial and if you frequent certain streets you most defiantly will see the same cats there.

If you drop "cats of old san juan" into Google you will get an eyeful. Flicker streams of photos, a Calendar of OSJ Cats, a book available from the Save a Gato organization... and plenty of politics which pit the tourism folks against the animal rights groups.

From my perspective I like them... I like to see them. I guess I'm in the camp that says its better to neuter and return them rather than to "transport" them.

I made the photograph above using a 135mm telephoto lens. I can't resist a cute cat.

Sunset blue and orange, Puerto Rico

As I was thinking of today's blog entry I got a feeling I needed to see a sunset, not sure why, just did. As I went through my collection of sunset pictures I came to the one above... I thought then, "...hey nothing special about it." Then about a half hour later I came back to it and thought about the "nothing special" part.

This was a great sunset but then here in Rincon, we seem to have lots and lots of great sunsets. What I like about this one is the color fields...the blue and orange. The orange is toned with yellow as one looks towards the horizon and with purple as one looks towards the sky. The sea is blue no doubt... and calm.

Today the ocean was calm... almost glassy in places. We had a small swell earlier and will have another larger one filling in on Friday night. Today was great. A lot accomplished... and then mostly relaxed, con calma. As it should be...

Thoughts on photographing the setting sun, Anasco Bay, Puerto Rico

This sunset photograph was made as a storm, just to the south, was threatening. The storm never actually broke but it did create a very dramatic sky and wonderful colors on the water. Of course, this shot is looking due west. Normally, it is not really possible to shoot directly into the sun as it is just too hot and will blow out all the details, leaving most of the frame in deep, black shadow. This day the sun was partly diffused by the clouds... and I was using a neutral density filter. The filter enables me to capture more of the details in the face of a bright light source.

A sunset photo is a requirement of a tropical vacation. So is this photograph above just a cliche? One of thousands of such shots. We have all seen them and taken them. I took this photograph because I was fascinated by the rays, by the color fields and especially by the path the light carved on the water. I like the composition... the three broad fields... the way the eye follows the sun path all the way to the sun... and then the rays of sunlight shooting from the sun both up and out.

So is this just cliche? Or, perhaps that is not the right question. Here are better ones. Does this photograph make you, the viewer, feel something? Does it trigger thought? Is it a good starting point for you in thinking about the world and your place in it? If you have had any kind of reaction to the image then perhaps it is something more than just another cliche sunset photograph.

The Sea at Night, Puerto Rico

I came across this poem recently about the sea:

The grey sea creeps half-visible, half-hushed,
And grasps with its innumerable hands
These silent walls. I see beyond a rough
Glimmering infinity, I feel the wash
And hear the sibilation of the waves
That whisper to each other as they push
To shoreward side by side, --long lines and dim
Of movement flecked with quivering spots of foam,
The quiet welter of a shifting world.

I think... besides the beauty of the words and their music, the poem is about the sea as a link between our world and a transcendent world. And, what about that word... "sibilation." I had to look that one up. It means a kind of indistinct, unintelligible or hissing sound... perhaps the kind that the sea makes as it moves up on to the shore... and then recedes.

I made the photograph one very dark night... I saw the lights and the people on the beach... heard the "sibilaton" of the gentle movement of the tide mixed, perhaps with the sounds from down the beach, perhaps the sounds of the "night birds" as well ... all connected in some way that I really don't understand... probably never will. But perhaps its enough now to appreciate the rough glimmer, caught in a side glance, of infinity.

At Pools Beach, Rincon, Puerto Rico

Pools Beach is a north facing Rincon surfing spot that seems to attract surfers and their admirers. Its a pretty safe surf break and there is plenty of sand to stretch out on. This morning the clouds were thick and threatening but the rain held off until later in the afternoon. Perhaps the word for the atmosphere today was "unsettled." Plenty of promise, much to see... and a possibility that it could go either way.

El Convento in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

Many of our Lemontree guests travel to Puerto Rico through San Juan. Because of the arrangement of flights, some find it convenient to spend a night either upon arrival or the day before departure in the San Juan area. When they do, one of the hotels we recommend that they consider for a night is the El Convento hotel in Viejo (Old) San Juan.

When we want to remind ourselves of the pleasures of urban living we stay at the El Convento. This is simply the finest hotel in the city. It is charming in an old school way. The service is superb and the appointments of the accommodations are sublime. Its location is where you want to be when you want to see Viejo San Juan. Dining here is pure joy with the food well prepared and the service unrivaled. The El Convento is a wonderful venue for a destination wedding and we have had the pleasure of seeing the preparations in progress as well as the charming tropical weddings themselves.

On this page you will see the Blurb badge for a small photo book I made of the hotel. The colors and feel of the hotel reminded me of an Italian fresco and so many of the photographs were treated to give such an effect as well.

Snorkeling at Steps Beach

One of the fun things we like to do here at the Lemontree is take guests out on snorkeling safaris. Our favorite beach for snorkeling has some of the best off-shore sites in all of Puerto Rico-Steps Beach. It is located off Carr 413 and is marked by a blue whale sign (Playa Escalera). Park anywhere along the little road leading up to the beach from 413.

From the small dirt lane emerging out onto the beach turn left and walk down the beach about 30-50 yards or so. Although tempting, don't try to enter the water over the beach rocks... find a sand channel. Once in the water, swim to the right and you will see the reef. It curves and you can either follow the curve into about 15 feet of water or swim directly over the top of the reef in about 4 feet. In addition to healthy coral, like the elk horn pictured above, there are schools of tropical fish, turtles, and gently swaying sea fans. Take it nice and slowly so you will see everything...snorkeling is for dawdling! Go with a buddy and stay close enough to each other you you can share the experience.

Stay out until you think you might become tired (remember you have to kick back to shore) and then come back in via your entry point-again, not over the rocks. If you bring a towel and some drinks and find shade on the beach which is fringed by palms, its a nice place to set up for your "unwinding after the snorkeling" time. You can also take a break and then head back out.

Our favorite time to go is in the morning... about 9:30 or 10:00 a.m.. The morning has the least wind... which means the calmest water. The morning time means that the sun will be up enough to give good penetrating light to reef but not so blazing that you will be uncomfortable. Don't forget to sunscreen the backs of your legs and back!

For more on a Rincon holiday, Rincon Puerto Rico.

First Morning

Slept in a bit, till 7:45, and then got up some coffee and tea and then a walk down the beach. This morning the sea was flat calm, almost glassy in places. The walk along the beach was serene and tranquil. Not many people were up and the only sounds were those of the gentle waves lapping the shore.

Truly... if I had a New Year's wish it would be that more people could have had the comfort and tranquility of a morning walk by the sea on this the first day of the new year.

New Year's Eve, December 31 2008

I am writing this in the last hours of the the last day in a difficult year. Tonight we will all celebrate the birth of the new year, reflect on the past and come to resolutions for the new year to come. The usual resolutions frequently concern our appearance and health, reforming unproductive habits or caring for others.

For a different take, I decided to see what some others thought about New Year's Eve Resolutions. Enjoy.

"The New Year, like an Infant Heir to the whole world, was waited for, with welcomes, presents, and rejoicings." – Charles Dickens

"For last year's words belong to last year's language. And next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning." – T.S. Eliot

"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year." – Ralph Waldo Emerson

"But can one still make resolutions when one is over forty? I live according to twenty-year-old habits." - Andre Gide

"I made no resolutions for the New Year. The habit of making plans, of criticizing, sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me." – Anaïs Nin

"We meet today, To thank Thee for the era done, And Thee for the opening one." - John Greenleaf Whittier

"Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account." - Oscar Wilde

Of these I think we will close out the year with Robert Burns:

"Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot and days of auld lang syne? For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne."

Happy New Year All

Footprints in the Sand

Today, we are again, seaside...living by the ocean. This morning I went for a walk along the water's edge. Not a long walk, not a therapeutic walk, not a power walk, not a walk for health... just a simple walk. A walk to clear my mind, a walk to center me, a walk that reminded me why I am here.

I have made the walk on the Lemontree Beach many times down towards the Rincon Beach Resort, about 20 minutes away. Today I brought a pocket camera and at one point turned around, knelt down and made the photograph you see here. I use the camera as my minds eye to help me see. To see more clearly through the clutter and to remind myself of the basics, for focus and to see again, and sometimes, I'll actually press the shutter...

Solitary walks have a meditative quality... quite different than when one walks with anyone else. There is a strong reflective and spiritual possibility in these walks... and I am reminded by a meditation you can read here.

Sometimes these walks just feel right, for the body and the mind. This is what happened this morning.

A Night Poem

I want to say something about the night here. The photograph was made when the moon was full but obscured by the clouds. In this view we are looking east towards the lights of Mayaguez. To the left on the hill are the lights of several restaurants and by the water are the lights of residences. This was an especially bright night with the moon creating a "moon river," perhaps not as wide as a mile but silver bright. On bright nights here, one can sit out on one's terrace and take in the points of color... much more interesting to me than looking due south out into the ocean. On darker nights the stars and planets are visible and exciting to find. Up in the north we become so used to a "light polluted" sky that we just don't have an appreciation for the subtleties of dark. Here, night is not just simply night... it comes in varied hues of black and gray and silver.

This image reminds me of a poem by Robert Frost... about the night:

...And further still at an unearthly height
One luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.

The night is to be savored as much as the day.

Ah... Winter at last in Rincon

Well, not exactly. This is more or less the same view that we posted yesterday but not quite the same. Surely its not snow which covers the hills of Anasco... or the palm trees down the beach.

What it is are several photographs taken with an infrared filter (IR) and then stitched together in Photoshop. The IR filters block out all but the otherwise invisible infra red wavelengths of light and so what you have is a photograph of the world as out eyes can't see it. It happens that the chlorophyll in green plants is a great reflector of IR light and so they show up as white. The sea, absorbs light and so it produces very little reflected IR light for the camera sensor to pick up... hence its dark color. This is not a converted black and white photograph. It is an IR photograph with the color temperature set to 5,500K which is the temperature of sunlight. If you are interested in IR photography the web is full of resources. You can begin here.

We get so used to seeing the brilliant greens and the varied blues of the sky and sea... Its quite novel to see the world with a different set of eyes.