Guest Post: A Canadian in Costa Rica
May 13th, 2010
Don Zwicker was a student at our Edge of the World Photo Workshop in Mal Pais, Costa Rica in March. He and his wife Margaret were a lot of fun at the beach, and actually accompanied us to Monterrey after the class was over. Don was nice enough to write this account of his experience for the DphotoA website. All photos on this page ©Don Zwicker…
My photo adventure to Costa Rica actually began in the desert outside of Las Vegas.
How does that work, you ask?
Well, last fall I was in Vegas for Photoshop World, and took a day away from the bright lights to see some of the area around Sin City. I chose The Valley of Fire State Park, about one hour drive from Vegas. I would recommend this day trip to anyone for an amazing shooting location. I ran into Rob Knight doing much the same thing I was. We struck up a conversation about travel and photography. When I said that I was considering some place warm in the new year like Costa Rica, Rob reached into his pocket and pulled out his card and told me that he actually was putting on a Photo Workshop IN Costa Rica the following March.
The rest is now history, some of which I will tell you about now.
After getting into Costa Rica, our adventure began first thing the next morning with a 30 minute flight with “Nature Air” from the Pavas Airport in San Jose, to Tambour on the south tip of the Nicoya Peninsula. The short flight was a lot of fun and the first chance to see this beautiful country from a bird’s eye view and meet some fellow travellers.
We were met at the Tambor airport by a taxi arranged for us by the EOTW staff, then taken directly to Mal Pais and our hotel “Casa Marbella”. Having a taxi waiting to drive the final leg of the journey was a good idea, because you will be spending most of your time looking around at the new sites and wondering what will be coming around the next corner on the narrow roads. I’m not saying you shouldn’t drive the roads in CR yourself, but it does take a bit of adjustment and no small amount of defensive driving.
To call the workshop location “Casa Marbella” a hotel is a bit of a disservice to it, because it feels more like being a guest of a large estate home. The accommodations are both intimate and spatial at the same time.
In March the weather was sunny and in the 30′s C (90 F) everyday, so a couple of dips in the wonderful courtyard pool midday, was a pleasure and luxury. Casa Marbella is located on a hillside overlooking the ocean. There are wonderful sunsets every night, and it’s not “if” you get a picture of the sunset, but how many you want before you call it the “perfect one”.
So the location and accommodations were top notch, what about the actual workshop?
The classroom portions were held in a large high ceiling condo where the instructors stayed. It allowed the students to relax while absorbing the instruction phase of the workshop. I found the classroom portion to be well-organized but flexible enough to meet the wide range of experience levels of the students.
Normally we met for a lecture in the morning and a field trip in the afternoon to put what we learned into action, and hopefully burn into our brain by “doing”. The area all around Casa Marbella and Mal Pais are full of photo opportunities. If you don’t see something to get an image to brag about when you get home it’s only because your camera must be broken! In the evening we met to edit and review the day’s shots.
Some of my favourite images were of the local wildlife, (human and animal), and the various forms of unique vegetation. As I mentioned already there are wonderful sunsets every night and the beach has endless possibilities for the camera. You are only limited by your imagination.
I found the Nicoya Peninsula to be warmer and dryer than the weather reports we got for Costa Rica’s capital San Jose. The area has lots to do for those who want to experience new and fun activities like, zip-lining, swimming under waterfalls, surfing, beach combing and much more.
I would have to say that I saw something new everyday, did something new everyday, and learned something new about photography everyday, even some things that I forgot I knew. The instructors were prepared and knowledgeable.
All in all the EOTW Photo Workshop was well worth it and I’m just trying to figure out how to get back there again soon and do it again.
Don Zwicker
Alberta, Canada
This post was submitted by Don Zwicker.
