Okay, enough! With the magic of photo-shopping, lets remove her from the picture, shall we.?
Does it still look hot? No? Well it was! It was so hot, that while we could walk on the sand barefoot, we went directly from the water to lie in the shade of the Palapas, palm frond covered tables, each and every time. Only mad dogs, Englishmen and ladies in string bikinis would lay out in the noon day sun. Below are my fair haired son and future daughter-in-law shade bathing, both with enough Irish fair skin to practice safe sunning.
The difficulty for photographers, such as myself, is the hot flat sun. Everything is over-lighted within an hour of sunrise, and each photo tends to lose any depth and colors are washed out unless the lighting levels are changed later by software. Thus my eye was drawn to shadows in taking photos.
This is an early morning photo from our east facing balcony. I never saw anyone on any of the other balconies the whole time we were there. Of course our free condo balcony did face the parking lot!
We spent a good deal of our time seeking the shade of trees and buildings and yet I still came back with a really good tan. Go figure. The other thing that would draw my eye was the shadows beneath large cactus on hikes. Sort of a tempting/not-so-tempting approach to sitting in the shade.
The other respite that was welcome was spelunking. Aruba has a number of caves.
It is interesting to see how many people while afraid of the cave residents (rattlesnakes and bats) did not mind "hanging out" in the cool shade for a while. On the other hand, I tend to neither fear nor want to cuddle with either.
I do not like caves :)
ReplyDeleteRemember sand in Jamica was so hot in August you could not walk in bare feet...
Your wonderful photographs have gotten me as close as I want to be. Do not like extreme heat or bikini clad persons, or rattlesnakes and certainly not bats. So happy for you guys though:)
ReplyDeleteYour pictures make Aruba look better than I remember it. And yes, so very hot.
ReplyDeleteThe work you did with shadows is excellent. Of all your shots they were my favorite. Bats are okay ~ snakes NOT!
ReplyDeleteSuch pretty beach colors. even without the bikini girl. my Parents vacationed in Aruba years ago. They played alot of cards they said- n had to wear hats.
ReplyDeleteAlot of graphic quality in the pics at least!
Great bat close-up! They don't bother me.
You are so fortunate to have such adventures!
What a beautiful beach!!
ReplyDeleteAnd the pic of the bat...so cool!!
Hugs
SueAnn
I know what you mean about getting good pix in flat noonday light. I like these pix though!
ReplyDeleteFantastic holiday, lucky lady!
ReplyDeleteI loe the picture of the balcony. That's good enough to become a postcard.
The balcony arches picture is good enough to hang anywhere, as is the large cactus tree pict. I've been hunting for an affordable bright light filter for my camera. I had them years ago and would have to relearn how to use them I suspect.
ReplyDeleteYes, the sun does wash things out, but you caught the moments perfectly. Wonderful stuff.
ReplyDeleteOh, Aruba looks fabulous! Love your shots too.
ReplyDeletei quite like the shot through all the doorways. i'm feeling a bit cold this morning so a shot of virtual heat was nice ;)
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about the glaring sun thwarted good photos, but the ones you took of the beach scene came out great. I loved them all, really and am only a little bit jealous.
ReplyDeleteIt's too hot for me, just looking at the pics! Wonderful post!
ReplyDeleteThat water is lovely. I would never guess from the photo that the air was hot. When do most people go to the beach in that kind of weather?
ReplyDelete