Day 31: The End

The final and 31st 30 day beach photo. I was planning to see more beaches, but rain and work made life a little less fun than planned. Typical. As I was post-processing this mediocre photo, the sky completely lit up and told me to spend more time shooting and less behind my laptop. Respect to everyone who at least tried this challenge and thanks to all who commented. Extra respect for Capriccio, since only now I realize the amount of work she put in her churches last year.

iso: 400 (by accident, my nose tends to change that setting way too often)

ss: 1/350

ap: f/11

Day 30: Bikes

It's funny how you can walk to the same beach every day and see something new every time. If there is anything I learned from this challenge, it is exactly that. You really don't make the shots if you don't at least go out there (or stay in, for the 'home' shooters). Yesterday I got very lucky, but being there really increased my chances. Thanks for all the great comments, they made me persist these last days.

iso: 400

ss: 1/90

ap: f/5.6

Day 29: Rain AND thunderstorms

The rain is becoming a real drag, but this time our gods added another spice to the pallet: thunderstorms. I was actually walking to the beach in hopes of a good sunset. But as I saw many a lightning strike above the east-end of the city, I changed that for hopes of lucky timing and a steady hand. I really have to buy a decent tripod. This is for Kimbo, Andromeda and Isabella, who haven't missed a day commenting. 

iso: 800

ss: 1/30

ap: 4.5

(well, and a little help of Photoshop)

Day 27: More rain

After another day of rain I found 'my' beach almost deserted, except for some fishers. Just how I like it. Call me selfish or misanthropic but I prefer to have the beach just for myself. The people in the middleground are merely acceptable for their function as 'added interest'. Sorry for missing yesterday's post, but as I was already 'out', I thought it really wasn't worth it. Had you been here, you would have understood.

iso: 400

ss: 1/100

ap: 5.6

Day 25: Sunset as light source

The sunset wasn't so spectacular today, but gave me some nice orange light to light this shell. I borrowed it from grandma, sadly enough you only find empty cans and coconuts and the end of the day. And they are not nearly as much fun to shoot. Fiddled around with my raw converter to get this look. Basically a lot of shadows and exposure, and compensating that by reducing saturation (-35). The original settings were:

iso: 100

ss: 1/200

ap: f/4

Day 24: Reserva, again

This time I did risk my camera, as it was raining steadily. I was walking to those trees to find some foreground interest for this sunset, when I noticed how this path mirrored the orange clouds perfectly. Later I started shooting close to the kiosk behind those trees, when a man dressed in his undies stepped out. He showed me this handwritten pamphlet about how the New Era had started with Barack Obama, and how he would save the Amazon and more or less the rest of the world. Since I obviously was an alternative journalist he felt I was the right person to share his ideas and wild enthousiasm. I did think about taking his photograph but didn't have the heart.

iso: 800

ss: 1/160

ap: f/7.1

Day 23: Ressaca

Ressaca could easily be the name of a nice beach in Brazil, but it actually means 'agitated ocean because of the weather of the previous days'. It also means hangover, which is easily explained. I know it's not a prize winner, but I guess I just wanted to show you the view from my bedroom :)

At the bottom of this picture you see a person walking, giving some indication of the size of the waves.

iso: 100

ss: 1/400

ap: f/9

Day 22: In Rainbows

Ok, the title is a cheap Radiohead rip-off, but those rainbows were full semi-circles that were just too big for my 17mm lens (oh full frame, where art thou?). They surprised me too, as I stopped my car to shoot the beautiful sunset that was going on on the other side. I'll keep that for a future 'cliche contest'. This is Praia da Reserva again. I was on my way back from a canceled photography course when I saw the sky open up big time. If it weren't for the course, I wouldn't have been in time to shoot the rainbows nor the sunset.

By the way, for those of you who don't believe that it can rain here too: here are some photos from yesterday's local paper.

iso: 400

ss: 1/125

ap: f/5

Day 21: It's raining again

Rain and beaches don't go very well together, but as long as you stay in your car it's all good. This cowardly kite surfer walked the shore for so long that he eventually just walked right into my frame. This cowardly photog shot him from a distance, closed his window and smiled back home.

iso: 100

ss: 1/250

ap: f/11

Day 20: Back @ Home

This may have been the last sunny day of the week. As we speak, it is raining again so if I get out the coming days it will be for some darker shots. That's as close as we get to seasons here, maybe I should just enjoy it. I'll try to show some new beaches again, but since the weather is not cooperating and I have loads and loads of work coming my direction... Btw, I realize he needs some more trunks ;)

iso: 100

ss: 1/200

ap: f/9

Day 19: Piraquara de Dentro

So I failed. Plenty of reasons and excuses, but in the end I was just enjoying myself on some of the most virgin beaches of Brazil. This one is from Piraquara, a beautiful beach that is sadly enough only minutes away from a nuclear power plant (zoom out). No three-eyed fishes, but a slightly elevated water temperature due to warmed up cooling water. The kids didn't seem to mind. 

iso: 100

ss: 1/320

ap: f/9

Day 16: Sunrise

Just a quick one in the morning, before we head off for the weekend. Only one entry to upload, but it has to be from a boat, ankering in front of a desert island. Sounds idyllic? It is, but not during a 30 day contest! Luckily the captain (read: father in law) seems to have some way to connect to the web, you'll find out tomorrow!

iso: 100

ss: 1/400

ap: f/11

Day 15: Halfway

Our home beach again. I hope it doesn't bore you, but it definitely doesn't bore the kids! Tomorrow we're off for an even more astonishing region. Although it might rain, I should be able to take some nice shots, and introduce you to new beaches. Uploading may be an issue, so I might temporarily drop out of the challenge. Let's see.

iso: 100

ss: 1/400

ap: f/4.5

Day 14: Sunset Blvd

I know sunsets are such cliches, but isn't that exactly because they are so pretty? When the sun goes down and the only people left on the beach are lovers and desperate salesmen (and vice versa), our beach is at its prettiest. People that comment about the seemingly lack of garbage at our beaches should see the amount of cans and coconuts that are left for the nightly cleaning crew. Just set your ev compensation at -1 and only beauty remains.

iso: 400

ss: 1/200

ap: 4.5

ev: -1

Day 13: Home Beach, end of day

Not every day is another beach, but these days every is at least some beach. Even if that means getting out at 6 in the afternoon when almost everyone has already gone. Come to think of it: that's even better. This weekend I'll be showing some more remote beaches. For those of you who can still stand it. Sorry...

iso: 100

ss: 1/160

ap: f/4.5

Day 12: Grumari, Rio de Janeiro

Grumari is the most western municipal beach of Rio. Like Prainha, it has no buildings and is almost completely wild. The western part of the beach is protected by some big rocks and is a popular place to visit with children. Must sleep now.

iso: 100

ss: 1/320

ap: f/7.1

Day 11: Home Beach

A bit more personal as we went out to our 'home' beach with our son (front) and nephew (back). It's never fun to see your mother take off into the deep with another kid. I liked the drama in this scene and also didn't get further then taking family shots today. Here is another one I liked.

iso: 50

ss: 1/400

ap: f/8

Day 10: Reserva, Rio de Janeiro

The Reserva is a nature reservation in Rio where no buildings are allowed. So far, there is only one. I am priviledged to have it in my view from my home. So when I saw this great sunset and realized I still had no decent shot for today except maybe some of my son (and the nephew) on the beach, I ran out and took some quick shots. I wonder what you guys have to say about the crop.

iso: 100

ss: 1/500

ap: f/16

Day 9: Barra da Tijuca from Pedra Bonita

I'm having a nephew over so we do a little sightseeing. Instead of taking a cable car like yesterday, we hiked up Pedra Bonita, about 700m high. A big victory for my 4-year old son and a big view to the western part of Rio. This (almost unedited, except for some sharpening) photo shows Barra da Tijuca and my nephew. My goal was extreme depth of field and my hyperfocal distance card told me the following settings were ok for a focal length of 25 mm.

iso: 100

ss: 1/100

ap: f/7.1

Day 8: Praia Vermelha & Copacabana

Today I went to the Sugar Loaf that gave me a nice view to Praia Vermelha (bottom right) and Copacabana. Because they are the first two beaches outside the highly polluted Guanabara Bay and because the rain of the last days had spilled a lot of dirt into the water, this was about the right distance for them to look clean. I can't wait to go to the Costa Verde next week (fingers crossed), to shoot some pristine beaches there. 

iso: 100

ss: 1/125

ap: f/6.3

Day 7: Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro

HDR is like a new motorcycle. How can you not fully open the throttle at least once, to see what she does? I expected some critique on my last entry, and I agree with it. Partly. I will keep on playing with my new toy, but tune it down at least for now. This is my kid Marvin, on my beach Barra da Tijuca. Barra means something like 'land strip between two waters' and if you look at Google Maps you'll understand why. The sun returned, so we had a refreshing dip before 9 a.m.

iso: 100

ss: 1/250

ap: f/8

Day 6: Prainha revisited

Unhappy with the settings of my previous shot but intrigued by the HDR possibilities of this place, I decided to come back to Prainha on another rainy day. This time I would try a bit more 'over the top' effect. This photo is taken from the other side of the beach, coming from Macumba. I had to remove some raindrops off my lens in post processing and put in a new sky. The original one was way too impacted by the tone mapping process. I would flip the image horizontally, but that would make it appear too much like the one from yesterday.

iso: 400

ss: 1/160

ap: f/13

Day 5: Prainha, Rio de Janeiro

Another day of rain so I went for a more traditional landscape shot of Prainha, "little beach". One of the more remote beaches and an excellent surf spot. This is one of the two beaches in the city of Rio that has no buildings, except for a small wooden restaurant hidden between the trees just off the left of this photo. They serve fresh fried fish, stupendously cold beer and a stunning view (see my Worth entry Restaurant at the end of the world). This is an HDR of one image.

iso: 100

ss: 1/400

ap: f/4

Day 4: Pepe Beach, Rio de Janeiro

I knew that whenever there would be some wind, I would go to Pepe Beach. I just didn't expect it to be rainy. Pepe was a world champion hang gliding, a local horse riding champion and one of the best surfers in the world in the 70's. Until he died in Tokio in 1991, during the world championship Free Flight. So it's no coincidence that Rio's Kite Surf Point is at the beach that has been given his name. The girl on this photo waved at me right after this shot, so I took that for a "yes, you can use my picture".

iso: 100

ss: 1/200

ap: 9

Day 3: Jardim Oceanico, Rio de Janeiro

I didn't think I would find something decent today. I rode about 12 km with my bike till I saw this guy watching over the surfers at the pier. The beach is the beginning of Barra da Tijuca, or Jardim Oceanico. It's a fashionable neighbourhood with only low buildings, as opposed to most of the other areas in Rio. The hill on the right is one of the only ones without slums, and also the home of the rich and shameless: Joa. Our hero is unscrupulously turning his back on them.

iso: 50

ss: 1/100

ap: f/4.5

(with my Konica Minolta Z3)

Day 2: Macumba, Rio de Janeiro

Macumba is a beach that is generally visited by longboard surfers and the inhabitants of the nearby favela (slum). Reason for me to not show my DSLR too proudly, and shoot drive-by-style. I so prefer my beaches empty. Macumba by the way is also the name of the second biggest religion in Brazil. It has similarities with voodoo and is the reason why people dress up in white for new year, and make offerings to the goddess of the sea: Yemanja.

iso: 100

ss: 1/320

ap: f/10

Day 1: Recreio, Rio de Janeiro

I shot this late in the afternoon with a hammering hangover. This beach is about 8 km from my house, its full name is 'Praia de Recreio dos Bandeirantes'. The mountain in the background is Gávea, and should not be there because I flipped the photo horizontally. The date in the post says january 2, but that's because I switched to Blogger to enable commenting.

iso: 400

ss: 1/250

ap: f/10