Continued...

Fuji F30 Point & Shoot underwater Galapagos

Along with my D2x I took my Fuji F30 point & shoot with an underwater housing. The sea life at the Galapagos was the most dense i've ever seen. The Fuji was okay but nothing special underwater. The shutter lag made for alot of guessing with the fast moving animals. None-the-less it gave me a cheap way to bring home some diving pictures without a $4000 housing. Enjoy, JP.

The Shot "I" Got - Surfing Sea Lions

The last shooting day of the Galapagos trip our guides stopped us at the break of the jetties off the Island of Espanola for a special shot. As seen in the Galapagos series National Geographic recently aired the sea lions ride the waves into shore in small groups and as the wave begins to break they either ride speed under the break or periodically jump the face to have some fun. This shot was extremely difficult. Not many of got the shot and those who did freeze the action in time had time getting in focus. I have to say I was fortunate to have a long lense on my camera and have my teleconvertor handy. This shot was taken at 460mm with my D2x's crop factor. Enjoy, JP.

Simply Pleased...

I don't know how but one of my favorite 3 photos from the Galapagos slipped my mind yesterday. Maybe its cause the rest of the photos took so much work. The other photos needed to be developed very carefully. The climate there makes for very challenging photographs. Black lava, white sun, and mainly black or dark animals make for tricky metering. Although this photo had to be stopped down about 1.25 EV it was simple. One thing that the photographers on the trip had talked about is when they did other assignments they had a vision of the shot they wanted to capture. Most people had trouble this trip cause we didn't know what to expect.
The one photo i've always wanted is a breaking wave. Not a wave with a surfer. Or me surfing. Just pure liquid curl. Slick and clear with a perfect curve. This one had some added drama with a 20mph blowing the top of in the opposite direction.
I guess its easier to find what you're looking for if you know what it is you are looking for... JP

Galapagos 2007

With months in between posts i'm guessing my regulars are all but gone. Since moving to Key West i've filled my life with so much activity that anything computer or camera related as been taken off the back burner and placed in the icebox. Just under a year after booking a trip with Andy Biggs Photo Safari's the time has come... and gone. I have to say it was by far the most amazing thing i've done yet. Being that it is really the only thing i've done by myself that wasn't college or baseball related shouldn't be surprising.
The trip started by landing in Ecuador. The next morning the 18 of took a flight to the Galapagos Islands which arrived at around noon on Sunday. From that point on we jumped from island to island till the next Sunday morning when we flew back to Ecuador and stayed the night in the Grand Guayiquil Hotel. Tuesday morning we went our seperate ways and the rest is they say is history. And well documented history at that. Being on the conservative side of the group I snapped off right around 3700 photos.
The Galapagos Islands are the most amazing place I could imagine anyone would go. Anyone who likes nature anyway. I didn't intend for this post to be a recap of the trip. I want to give the basics and the rest can be backed by the pictures (which I am getting considerably better at developing).
I hope everyone enjoys the photos and I promise that the posts will become more frequent. I promise. Enjoy, JP.

6th Annual Pig Roast

Its been a full year since the last pig roast posting (and almost as long since my last posting period!). After a few years that were starting to get dissapointing we had thought that every year would follow this pattern and by 08' it would be just 4-5 of us. I guess Key West always has a surprise ready for us. The pig roast was one of the biggest group of friends we've had together in quite a few years. And the pig, well, most said the best tasting of all 6 so far. I have to give it up to us. It doesn't matter what happens the whole year, there are just a group of us that won't give up. We stay consistant with what we want to happen and in the end somehow get all of our closest friends from years past one more time. And the group photo, probably the largest photo of friends in about 10 years. I knew the 8K in camera equipment would pay for itself somehow. Thanks to all my friends. JP

Haulin Ass and Wastin Gas...

International Boat Races came to Key West again and it was the first time i've seen them in about 5 years. I had no clue what was going on as far as points, championships, categories... It was worse than pro wrestling. I love boats and pictures, the two came together, I was there. Period. I set up on the north side on the beach of Ft. Zach and snapped about 200 photos in a quick 45 minutes. This experience was then capitalized by a man next to me (who noticed my enormous D2x) and offered me a view through his old Hassalblad manual medium format which let to a valuable 15 minute talk of photography. As you can guess, he "hates" digital. Can't agree with him since he took two pictures and I took 200 but his view was nothing short of spectacular. Enjoy the speed. JP

Ready to go.

Its been quite a while since the last post. It seems all my time on the computer has been committed to the new site which has left no time for blogging. Well the time is finally here. Strocomphoto.com is finally up and running. All the photos that have, over the past year or so, been posted on this site are available for sale as stand alone prints or with high quality frames. The products range from $60 - $400. I will most likely make this a personal (only) site now and leave the photos off. You have to check strocomphoto.com to enjoy those now. Thanks for you support. JP Castro

Antique Marina, Sailing Star, Mini-Marina

Its been a long time since I posted a photo and even longer since i've taken my D2x out of the Tamrac it lives in. I go through phases with most of my hobbies and interests and when I just get brain dead trying to think of what to do with them sometimes I will just sit down a play till something I used to do brings back a breath of fresh air. I was going through my photos in Lightroom again and once more found some shots that are months back. Some from last year. For some reason I never like the shots I take. I can't even see what it is the picture means, or what I wanted it to mean until it gets an inch of dust on the file. I'm not sure why this happens. When I take a step back after a shoot, I just feel as if i'm trying to give the picture meaning it doesn't have. As if I am faking the meaning to create a photo, and not just a snap shot.
When I go back later, I start moving levers. Bringing out shadows. Over exposing or changing the attitude. Lowering contrast. Vignetting. A number of items I just don't touch after a shoot. Maybe the time I spend shooting gets me sick of looking at the results. Maybe i'm just not used raw files and expect so much out of the camera I forget to develop it. Not sure what the reasoning is but it is what keeps me from being one of the "photo-a-day" bloggers. Not a bad thing but for the people who follow my photos I like to keep them around. So... if its been a while, thanks for coming back. My reasons, although difficult to commprehend, are what make my resulting photos what they are. Its the character in all of my prints. I guess I am just a slow developer. All more of reason to keep interest in whats coming next... Kind Regards, JP

Island Nights

These two were takan last night on a full moon. They were taken at the beach with some fast moving clouds and wind. Nikon D2x both shots at 30sec.