Half and Half

Was playing around with some effects on these sunset pictures. I wanted to see what they would look like as a black and white photo. I thought the black and white image was a bit dull when compared to color... however, it had some characteristics and character that the color photo did not. In order to get the best of both worlds, I combined the two together. I think it made for an interesting image.

May 31, 2011

Red Cactus in Sint Maarten. 

My attempt at creating a "Polaroid-like" image... retro, analog, and a bit over-exposed. I'm not exactly sure why I wanted to do this (especially with an image taken by an expensive SLR camera). I guess I got sick of looking at perfectly crisp/clear photographs. Anyways, I think it came out kind of cool.

The before image is below.

February 22, 2011

Light and shadows and cliffs and oceans.

February 21, 2011

Immovable rock.

February 16, 2011

A picture I took while eating lunch in St. Martin. If you look to the middle/right of the image, you'll see a little bay with some white water. I went surfing there a couple times. There's also a pretty intense butterfly place just below it.

St Martin is a very beautiful island... you have views like this everywhere you go.

January 23, 2011

Taking a break from the winter photos... Looking down at Anse Marcel on the French side of Sint Maarten. I had a spectacular view of the bay from on top of this mountain. In the bottom/center of the photo, you can see the Radisson hotel that I stayed in (great location... not such a great hotel)... and in the background, you can see a faint outline of the island of Anguilla. Sint Maarten is a very beautiful island. 

January 8, 2011

A strangely unique fence I saw along the road in Sint Maarten. There's 5 different sections that were cobbled together in this specific area. I really like the combinations of colors... beautiful blue sky against a bright green hill... and rusted old barded wire in the foreground.

December 23, 2010

Another empty right point in Sint Maarten... too bad it was so windy.

November 30, 2010

A "blurred out" view of the deserted point break in Sint Maarten. Some really cool cactus plants growing along the mountain... just sucked when you bumped into them.

November 29, 2010

A little bay in Sint Maarten. Looking towards Orient Beach.

November 21- November 28, 2010

Sint Maarten (also spelled Saint Martin) is a very unique/beautiful island. Christopher Columbus originally spotted the island (and claimed it for Spain), but he never landed there... and Spain never made settlement of the island a high priority. However, the French and Netherlands coveted the island (given its location) and jumped at the opportunity to colonize it. The two nations had numerous conflicts over the years, but neither were willing to leave... and the island remains split in half- French in the North and Dutch in the South.

There is no customs control at the border (you can just drive right through it), but there's a HUGE difference between the two sides... and you can immediately tell when you've crossed from South to North. I stayed on the French side and definitely liked it more than Dutch side (better surf spots, nicer restaurants, and less tourists). When I did visit the Dutch side though, I was unlucky... there were 6 giant cruise ships parked in the harbor.

Below are some of my favorite photos from the trip. It was difficult to only pick out 8... however, I'll be adding more of the next couple weeks.

The sun setting over Anse de Marcel. This was the beach our resort was on. Very beautiful... it was surrounded by mountains on all sides (which made getting to the resort very difficult)

Watching planes land at SXM international airport (on Dutch side of island). It was amazing to see the planes so close... little scary at times. More images/videos here: Princess Juliana International Airport landings

A secluded rocky beach that I hiked to... north end of island.

A scenic view on North end of island. This picture was taken right after a little rain squall. Again, this was a spot that I had to hike to (some amazing surf spots in this area).

The red cactus plants were scattered throughout the hills. They looked really cool... just don't touch them.

This was a hidden surf spot I found when hiking through the mountains... surfed here a couple days and was completely by myself. The waves broke really close to the rocks.

Watching the sunset at Grand Case. This little beach community had some of the best restaurants I've ever been to. It's definitely the culinary capital of the Caribbean. A short video of the sunset is here: Grand Case sunset

This picture is looking at a really good surf spot called Petite Cayes. It's a deserted beach on the Northern Coast of the island. It takes an hour to hike to (or 25 minutes by boat)... so as  you can imagine, not many people surf here. I hiked here a couple times... really fun waves.


A link to the full album is here: Sint Maarten- November 2010