Orton Technique

The Orton Technique was orginally done back in the film days by overlaying two suitably exposed slides for a nice artistic blurred effect. Now using digital technology we can get a similar effect with much less effort.

Rather than cleaning up my office (it is such a mess I've actually temporarily moved to the dining room... wow it's starting to look like my office in here...) I'm playing with Photoshop tonight. Something I haven't done for a while but with the upcoming website revamps I'll likely have to use it again... but enough of that... a few examples of the Orton technique on some of my shots.


In order of appearance: Mooney Falls(Havasu), Grand Canyon, River Walk(Zion), & Mooney Falls again.

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Cuatro cervezas por favor

We wanted to take a family vacation for Eric's senior year so we kicked around some ideas & the only time we could all go was Christmas, which is "we've got them by the balls" season for travel companies. We decided on an all inclusive resort (Barcelo Colonial Beach) just south of Playa Del Carmen on the Maya Riviera. Cool breezes off the Caribbean Sea, lots of sun & not too hot (high 20's to low 30's.) We had a wonderful time.
It's a big complex with pitch & putt golf, tennis, fitness center, shopping, restaurants, plus numerous pools all moments away from white sand beaches. Shannon thought she could use this angel in the courtyard outside our room to help find our way. Turns out they are everywhere! We all had a turn at getting 'lost' at some point.
The outdoor nativity scene with a Mexican twist.
Gotta have a chicken!
It was easy to forget it was Christmas time. An occasional familar tune played in a restaurant or a tree in the lobby. It all seemed so out of place. All we needed for Christmas was our little foursome... leave the trees in the cold north.
Pool-side.
Beach activities include snorkeling, scuba, sail boats, wind surfing, jet skiis, parasailing & kayaking. Extra fees for some of those activities.
Michael gets a tow.

Oh who could be behind the hand? "I'm not too worried about it."
Eric especially enjoyed himself because of his status we had to bring him drinks. Just so you know Eric, I drank out of every single one first (partly so I wouldn't spill on my self stumbling back to the chairs)

I am prone to slurpy headaches & I got one so bad from a daiquiri it went right into my chest... that was not fun. Well, it was for everyone else. I had one afternoon where I got my monies worth out of the bar, otherwise I behaved myself. Turns out that "Your shout" & "Half in the bag" aren't terms in current use. Now you know how we feel Mike, never knowing what you're talking about.


Would you believe they actually left me here "But its still light out!!"

I spent much of our pool / beach time vegetating... which is so not like me. I think it helped though, felt much more energized after the trip. Shannon with her beach book (above)
We did three side trips (blogged seperately) & went into Playa Del Carmen one evening to see what all the fuss was about. Shopping & had a bite at a local restaurant. H1N1 kicked the crap out of them but they are making a comeback after some very slow months. All the locals & resort staff we dealt with were very helpful & friendly. But tourism is the major industry there. They probably laugh about us at the end of the day. "You should have seen that boy eat!"
We ate out at the themed restaurants for seafood, thai, mexican, & steak. The steak place was funny with the waiters dressed up as cowboys & Alan Jackson playing over the speakers. I went with the lamb. This is 'classier' than the buffet so gentlemen must wear long pants, collared shirt, closed toe shoe. "But I'm on holidays!!!" Ladies, just not a swim suit. WTF!!! Anyway, all dressed up for dinner in front of the big gingerbread house display by the restaurants.

All in all we ate like kings. Pineapple with every meal... what's not to love?
Hammock time before heading back to Calgary -18.

A word about the shoot'n. All these shots with a Canon G11. I read the manual & tried a bunch of the features but didn't get too 'into it' on this trip. I think deep down I really needed to unplug, & it helped. But none of these shots are all that great. On a happier note my Rebel is back from the repair shop ready to be picked up so I can start shooting basketball again. Yay! So between the two cameras there will be some better shoot'n soon.

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Mayan Snorkeling

This was a three sites in one snorkeling tour which began in the lagoon pictured above. My first experience snorkeling so I was dealing with contacts (which I haven't worn for at least 15 years) & masks & flippers. It had the makings of an epic but actually it went really well. I'd totally do that again. The photo above is the lagoon at our first stop.
There were two other couples along with us on this tour so with a guide a total of nine people. We saw some Rays & a variety of smaller fish. A few people saw a small baracuda, apparently it showed its teeth for a moment. The above photo is the launch point.

Starting out in shallow calm water we eventually at one point were right out in the open ocean before looping around to our starting point again. Turtles are often seen here but this isn't the season for them & we weren't lucky enough to see one.

The second stop was a closed cenote, but we didn't go in far enough to need lights. Fresh water, so the creatures were different, I saw some small catfish, but it was cool to see the underwater formations as well as the stagmites / stactites above the water level. At this point we were joined by a photographer for a family shot.
After an excellent lunch we went to an open cenote where they have a zip line & a 15' high jumping platform.


In this shot (Everything prior to this shot were taken by the tour photographer) just at the top of the frame there is a bridge. Beyond that is another connected cenote that we explored with the snorkelling gear & it was teeming with tropical fish. Shannon found a mother protecting her young which was pretty cool. We all really enjoyed this outing. We never got around to the 'relaxing in the hammocks' part of the tour but we had plenty of that back at the resort.

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Rio Secreto

This was a really cool trip I highly recommend it. Now you're used to seeing my photography here but all these photos were taken by the photographer who accompanied us on the trip. We weren't allowed our own cameras. So bonus on this post, you get to see me in a wetsuit... try to restrain your enthusiasm!!

We begin with a short hike thru the jungle. MMMM the smell of sweaty people in neoprene.... which way to the water?
The whole Yucatan Peninsula is limestone (flat like a cracker, full of holes like Swiss cheeze) so there are no above ground rivers. It all runs below ground in what they call closed cenotes or on occasion there are open cenotes where the top layer of limestone collapses. This was a fairly recent discovery & has only been open to tourists for I think I was told a year & half. We had an excellent guide who impressed upon us how important is was to make as little impact as possible. We were not to touch anything & follow along exactly were he went. Our group was nine people plus a photographer & a guide so very managable.

We learned all about the stalagmites & stalagtites, how all this was formed plus we had plenty of time to marvel at the sights. We had headlamps on our helmets plus in a few places there were spotlights. These were fairly limited & largely served to help the photographer get more dramatic shots. He also had flash units placed in strategic places too. Ok, I notice such things...
For part of the way we sloshed thru shin deep pools & up & over things (now we are going to walk like little men...) but for part of the way we had to swim. The water wasn't that cold but the wetsuits helped. Shannon wasn't sure how she was going to make out since she's a little claustrophobic but it was fairly open & air moves thru it so she made out fine.


At one point he had us sit & turn out our lights & be quiet for a few moments. With all the noise constantly around us this was a rare event & much appreciated, almost necessary to get the full effect of where we were.

A shot of D'Aristi (anis liqueur) at the end was a nice touch. A light lunch & back to the resort so a good way to spend half the day.

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Coba Mayan Village

This was the last of our three outings we did from our resort on the Mayan Riviera. Here's Shannon with some kids in the village.

We took a coach to the Coba site, climbed the pyramid & our guide showed us around the ruins, lunch at a roadside restaurant, a visit to a Mayan village including inside their homes, & lastly a swim at a cenote. A fairly full day.

There are several sites one can visit in the area if you want to see ruins. Chichen Itza or Tulum were our other choices but at Coba we could climb to the top of the pyramid temple thingie, the highest in the area. Most of the land is very flat (flat like a cracker) & this structure is built on a natural highpoint then an additional 45m or 120 steps to the platform at the top. Our guide told us within a year or so they will likely close access to climbing to preserve the structure. It's pretty polished up under the rope provided to assist tourists.



They have only carved a fraction of this site out of the jungle & of that only restored a fraction so there is still much to be discovered here.

I found our group a little on the large side on this trip. A lot of wasted time getting on & off the bus etc. plus at the village it just wasn't suited to a group that big. (Our other trips were with vans so much smaller groups). It was also geared toward being more 'touristy' than what we are used to allowing some time on a bathroom stop for shopping & they made us wear PFD's in the cenote. Things to ask for next time. No waiver to sign though, maybe that's the sign of a good trip!

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Happy New Year!!!

Seems like 2009 went by all too fast... where did it go?


Well, I was starting to pull together a quick recap of 2009 & I actually got up to quite a few things (besides spending several thousand hours working.) No wonder my brain was so badly melted that on the recent trip south it welcomed just being shut off for a day or two. "What's our room number again??" I know what you're thinking... "he got into the tequila"... well, yes. Just a little ;>)

I'll recap our Mayan Riviera trip upcoming. In the meantime I'm just going to enjoy a last few hours of R&R before I drive Mike back to Edmonton today & go back to the grind mañana.

¡Felíz año nuevo!

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