Costa Rica Day 3/ Arenal

Here are some images from our first day near the Arenal Volcano. We stayed at the Arenal Observatory Lodge which is the prime place for capturing night time images of the lava boulders tumbling down the mountainside. The volcano was particularly active during our stay and several times I nearly had to change my pants after an outrageous "WHOOOOOSSSHHHH!" of smoke was expelled from the cone. It was truly incredible to hear such a powerful force of nature. The gardens are beautiful and full of photo ops of flora and fauna, especially birds. There are several photos of the group in action here as well. The snake is a fer de lance. One of the most dangerous snakes in the world. It's not so much that it's venom is the most deadly but the snake is very agressive by nature and does not hesitate to bite when slightly threatened. Needless to say we never walked around at night without a flashlight and a slight quiver in our gait!

This was taken of our local naturalist guide, Pedro, during a mini-flash workshop before leaving Villa Blanca. I set the ambient tungsten light to around minus 1.5 stops and the shot Pedro with an off-camera flash through an umbrella.