Oranjestad

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Every year during this time of the year, I like to go back through my images that I’ve captured and pull them together for a ‘best of’ post. I capture so many images in a year that it can be a little difficult to narrow them down so I like to divide it them into two days, one for travel and one for just Washington DC images.

This image did not make the cut but it reminds me of one of the more memorable trips of the year. My trip to Aruba with all my girlfriends. It was so much fun to have that girl time and to spend a long weekend at the beach. I stayed in a room with my friend, Sue. It was perfect because we both just naturally wake up early and she is very patient with me when I want to stop a million times on the way to breakfast just to take pictures. She’s patient because she’s probably taking a million pictures too. LOL.

This image was taken on our last day. Sue and our friend, Neena woke up in the morning to get breakfast and do some last minute souvenir shopping for our loved ones back home. Andrew’s always the easiest person to shop for because he doesn’t necessarily want any of the touristy stuff you can get. I usually just go to a local grocery store or convenience store and buy a whole bunch of different snacks and treats that we don’t have back home but look interesting to try. We have a good time trying them together. So while I was waiting for Sue and Neena to shop, I saw this rooster just walking around. I loved the colors behind him so I took a quick shot before he ran away.

My camera settings for this image is F7.1 at 1/500th sec and ISO 400 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom.

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The first morning we were in Oranjestad, my friend Sue and I walked around the city. It was so cute and every turn had something new and unexpected. I loved all the colorful buildings and homes and this house was no different. It was the pink flowers that originally drew me in but then it was all the cracks and tears all along the facade that really made me want to photograph the house. I just loved all the details and really wished that I was able to walk onto the porch but there was a gate blocking us from doing that.

So I captured this image with my 16-35mm wide angle lens. As we were walking around more I felt like I wanted to capture more detailed shots of the house. I opened up my backpack, trying to dig out the 70-200mm when I noticed a cat was sitting on the porch! I had no idea it was there when I first took the picture so I tried to remain calm and quickly put my 16-35mm wide angle back on the camera before I went any further. I’m not sure what happened but the cat quickly got up and ran away 🙁 I was kind of disappointed that I wasn’t able to capture the cat like I wanted to but went back to review my images and I’m so glad I was able to capture this. It’s so funny because I didn’t even know he was there in the first place. He was a tiny little guy so I wouldn’t be surprised if you missed him the first time you looked at this image too. LOL.

My camera settings for the image is F8 at 1/800th of a second at ISO 320 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

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Always looking for new framing ideas, this one was taken right after I finished eating breakfast on the Renaissance Aruba Resort and Casino’s private island. Luckily my camera goes everywhere I go while traveling. But the private island is great. It’s just a quick boat ride from our hotel and you could literally spend the whole day here. Theres a great restaurant where they serve you wayyy too much bread and on the other side of the island you can play and interact with flamingos.

Almost immediately after we got off the boat onto the private island, it started to downpour rain. We ran to shelter and figured we would wait it out by eating breakfest. Thank goodness for Caribbean weather because the rain did not last long at all. By the time we ordered our food, the rain had basically stopped. I walked closer to the edge of the restaurant to capture this view. You would never have known that it was raining just by looking at it.

And that hammock looks so inviting.

My girlfriends and I ended up spending all morning here taking a million and one pictures. Sad to see another summer go but summer 2018 was a BLAST. I’m so glad I was able to spend some time out in the sun and on the beach. I feel like it’s been a while since I had taken such a relaxing vacation where most of the day was spent not doing anything at all. So if you’re looking for a great place to visit with great weather, I’d highly recommend Aruba.

My camera settings for this image is F4.0 at 1/5000th of a second and ISO 500 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens handheld. Shhhh… I didn’t even bring a tripod on this trip 🙂 That’s just how relaxing it was.

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This is a good story. Or at least I think it is.

So at any given moment you can catch one of these brown pelicans hanging out on a rock in the ocean. They’re pretty cool to look at since we have nothing like them in the DC metro area. So my friend Sue and I decided to just sit down, watch the pelican and relax for a little bit. We actually copied this idea from another couple who were sitting fairly close to the pelican. But once they got up to leave, the pelican started acting funny.

At first Sue and I did not know what was going on, but then saw that he was actually spitting up something on to the rock. He had stored a whole bunch of little fish in his lower bill. So I guess when he thought the coast was clear he felt freedom to start eating them.

That’s when the seagull came.

And it was literally a fight for the fish. It was hilarious. Especially with Sue’s commentary in the background while I was taking the pics. She would be like “uh oh, get your own fish” “oh no, it’s a battle!” “*gasp* he fell into the water”. HAHAHA I actually got some of it on video because I was recording parts of it for my youtube video (coming soon) and that’s the only reason why I remember what she said. But I could not stop laughing in the moment and watching it back on video. It was literally like watching the nature channel in real life.

I don’t remember exactly what happened afterwards, but I do know the seagull ended up flying away after a while.

End story. HAHAHA

My camera settings for this image is F4 at 1/1600the of a second at ISO 160 with my Sony a7II and 70-200mm lens.

 

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While in Aruba, we stayed at the Renaissance Resort and Casino. I’d recommend it if you really want to go to Flamingo Beach and stay in Oranjestad. I liked it because the location was really convient to a lot of shopping, restaurants and bars. It made life so much easier when you could just walk across the street and get the best dutch pancakes on the island.

This image was taken on our first morning in Oranjestad, just like this one. Apparently Sue and I had a great photowalk because I got so many images that I am happy with including this one. This building is right by our hotel. We could actually see it from our balcony everyday. If I remember correctly, it was a church. But I just loved the vibrant yellow color with the black trimming on the windows. It made it a very unique looking building. The red sign was just the focal pointed need to make this even more interesting. It took a couple of frames for me to get it just right but I love the way it turned out.

I hope you’re liking these Aruba images because I still have a ton more to go through. I’ve literally just scratched the surface. I’ve been pretty busy lately working on a couple of projects here and there but hopefully I’ll have some time to work on those images soon as well as an Aruba vlog! I can’t wait to check out the gopro footage of when we went snorkeling in the ocean 🙂

One last reminder, if you’re not busy tonight, come join me, my friends Geoff and Focus on the Story International Photo Festival for an Evening with the Monuments. Click here for the details.

My camera settings for this image is F8 at 1/1000th of a second at ISO 320 with my 70-200mm lens.