465 - Catedral de Nuestra Señora Santa Ana
Today’s adventure literally involved bird shit. A lot of it.
It all started as we headed towards our first “real” city in El Salvador, named Santa Ana. We decided we’d take it easy for this adventure with a church shoot at Catedral de Nuestra Señora Santa Ana, which didn’t seem like too much trouble with crutches.
As we entered Santa Ana, things got a lil’ dicey. The Walmart had a cement wall around it with barbed wire, a car wash had a dude standing out front with a shotgun, and there was so much trash on the street it might has well have been a dump.
Driving through, I wasn’t nervous yet- I was more worried about nighttime, which was rapidly approaching. We’d planned on sleeping in the streets that night and waking up near the church for sunrise. As we drove around neighborhoods looking for a promising parking spot, we ended up finding a back street that was near the entrance to two gated communities.
The barbed wire communities each had a guard in front of them, presumably protecting it’s citizens. I figured if we parked out front of neighborhoods, we’d be in their line of sight and probably wouldn’t be messed with that night. Probably.
It worked. We slept with one eye open, but woke up bright and early for sunrise. The world famous church was about 10 minutes away, right in the center of Santa Ana’s not so glorious downtown. We parked about a block away in front of some curious Salvadorans selling bananas and hobbled over to the place of worship.
The church’s architecture was it’s main draw. That and the thousands of pigeons that were actively circling the church like they’d just learned there was a heaven. Catedral de Nuestra Señora Santa Ana was built around 1575, which is pretty nuts when you think about it.
In order to get a picture, I realized I had to incorporate the birds into it. It was almost absurd how many there. At sat there about 15 minutes observing their behavior, then eventually lined up my shot. They would perch on the front of the church, then randomly fly directly away from it, then circle the church 3-4 times before setting on it again. Rinse and repeat:
“Dracula’s Escape”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Laowa 10-28mm f/5.6
[ISO 2000 ~ 10mm ~ f/8 ~ 1/1250s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
It was at that point I realized I was sitting on ground almost completely covered by bird shit. My bottoms were wet.
That was taken on my good ole’ 10mm lens. I don’t bring it out often, but I needed to get as many birds as possible in the shot, so it was perfect. As you guessed, the best moment was right when they decided to take off after sitting for a few minutes. It created the most chaos on the camera, which was what I was looking for. My golden rule is if there’s movement in a scene, find the moment where it is most chaotic.
My first impulse was to spot removal out the birds on the edges that weren’t totally in frame, but then I realized this is what made it look even more chaotic. So I kept them in. Also, I switched the image to Black and White, which is pretty out of character for me. But I didn’t like the color and the B&W looked like something out of Dracula, so I sold myself on it.
I hobbled on.
The best thing in the world for shooting with crutches is the Peak Design Camera Clip. Clips my camera right on the front strap of my backpack, so I can use my hand for more important things- like walking. Simply a recommendation, not sponsored. (I wish.)
My next mission was to get a shot of the church from above… I’d heard from a little birdie that the church was shaped like a cross, which I figured would be sick surrounded by the neighboring streets.
But since we were in the middle of town surrounded by strangers and I wasn’t sure what the drone laws were here, I had to get the drone in the air as discreetly as possible. I needed up sneaking into a nearby alley and launching it as fast as possible. Even for a small drone, the thing is loud as fuck so I just went straight up for a couple hundred feet to get it out of sight.
From above, the church looked sick. Crazy how most people never even realize it’s shaped like this. Here’s the shot I got:
“Hey God, Check Me Out”
Taken on DJI Mavic Mini
[ISO 100 ~ 4.49mm ~ f/2.8 ~ 1/60s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Since the roads were so crooked, I ended up having to warp them in Photoshop to make them look a bit more uniform. I wanted one road to circle the church perfectly, so I transformed it to align with symmetry. Power of Photoshop is real, my friends.
As I began to lower the drone, I noticed a dude bumping LOUD music pass by me for the second time in a couple minutes. Sketchy vibes, kept staring me down, and made a kissy face at Haley as he passed her down the street.
I didn’t want to find out what would happen if he passed me in this alley again, so I lowered the drone and hobbled the fuck out of there. I guess I could hit him with my crutches if it came down to it, but my confidence in that regard wasn’t massive.
It was time to go inside the church. Which is always fun. People were praying left and right, and we’re setting up a tripod in the center aisle. I mean, church wasn’t in session, but it’s always awkward fun.
The good thing is God loves everyone including me, so I got an absolute banger:
“Green Royalty”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Laowa 10-28mm f/5.6
[ISO 2000 ~ 10mm ~ f/8 ~ 1/40s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Had to Photoshop a few people out of there, but hey that’s peanuts for a guy like me. I’ve been doing this shit too long. If someone took Photoshop and deleted it forever, I’m not sure I’d be able to go back to regular old photography. It’s half the fun.
I particularly enjoyed the green/pink color scheme in that place. Not something you see everyday.
And with that, we bounced.
Solid session for the day, and I feel like I’m starting to get into the flow of shooting with crutches. My workflow consists of finding a center composition to put my crutches/bag down, and then I hop around on one leg to perfect the composition. It takes a massive amount of right leg strength, which I am currently building.
By the end of the this I’m gonna be jacked everywhere expect for one leg.
In the next adventure we go to a volcanic lake, so stayed tuned for that. BYE.
I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.
Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.
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