[Catch-up Post]

Collected a few shots from a brief visit to Turning Earth Farm on Saturday.

Thistles
Exposure: 1/1600th at f/4.0
Focal Length: 70mm, cropped
ISO 200

Trail
Exposure: 1/50th at f/3.5
Focal Length: 24mm
ISO 200
Sharpened in Photoshop

Drove to the Gulf city of Progreso where the weather was perfect and the ceviche was excellent. This was followed by an evening of dinner, music, poetry and dance at the nearby Santa Lucia square. It was a magical day.

Pelican
Exposure: 1/250th at f/16
Focal length: 200mm, cropped
ISO 400
Sharpened in Photoshop.

Dancers
Exposure: 1/125th at f/5.6
Focal length: 200mm
ISO 6400
Sharpened in Photoshop

Uxmal is an ancient Mayan city on the Yucatan penninsula. It's one of the largest ruins on the penninsula.  Apparently, in its heyday, it was a university for the children of the elite in Mayan society.  Lots of astronomical correlations in the architecture.

Wall Engravings
Exposure: 1/500th at f/9.0
Focal Length: 48mm
ISO 400
Sharpened in Photoshop

Pyramid
Exposure: 1/1600th at f/8.0
Focal Length: 130mm
ISO 400

After an early morning safari, we worked our way back to Cape Town.

Tree Scene
Exposure: 1/1250th at f/9.0
Focal Length: 90mm, straightened 
ISO 400

Elephants
Exposure: 1/1000th at f/3.2
Focal Length: 200mm
ISO 100
Sharpened in Photoshop

Here is where I'm really paying for forgetting to set my time zone. We crammed many adventures into a couple of days.  From spelunking in the Cango Caves to visiting three different wildlife refuges. Many great shots that will be posted later.  In the meantime, here are a couple of samples.

Cave
Exposure: 1/25th at f/4.5
Focal length: 42mm
ISO 6400
Sharpened in Photoshop

Cape Buffalo
Exposure: 1/1250th at f/3.5
Focal length: 185mm, cropped
ISO 160

These aren't great images since they were taken from a moving car, but they are unusual if you're not from that part of the world.  We went on a road trip east of Cape Town.  The scenery varied from "Africa out of story books" to "this looks like eastern Washington state".    Some of the wildlife and not-so-wild life was definitely not familiar to North American eyes.  Ostriches are raised like cattle and many of the wide spots on the road have signs exhorting you to beware of baboons.  

Baboon
Exposure: 1/320 at f/9.0
Focal length: 27mm
ISO 400
Sharpened in Photoshop

Ostriches
Exposure: 1/1600 at f/5.6
Focal Length: 135mm, cropped
ISO 400
Sharpened in Photoshop

Here are a couple of gentlemen who were sitting on the corner chatting in the colorful Bo-Kaap neighborhood in Cape Town.

Exposure: 1/250 at f/8.0
Focal length: 20mm (cropped)
ISO 400
Some exposure tweaking in Lightroom.

As I attempt to catch up, I'll generally make a post for each "day".  The "day" boundary can sometimes be a bit fluid if I've forgotten to update the timezone setting on my camera.  This was the case for most of my time in South Africa.

At right, I believe is Lion's Head, near Cape Town. This was shot from the Green Point area where our apartment was located.  Kind of gray for this shot, but spectacular, nonetheless. 

Exposure: 1/320 at f/5.3
Focal length: 90mm
ISO 200
Sharpened in Photoshop