My Best Day in Costa Rica

I was recently in Costa Rica with a group of students from my school. We had an awesome time, but the best moments from my perspective were during an afternoon visit to a small rural school on our way to Monteverde.

Our visit started with a group of students from the school performing several traditional Costa Rican dances for us. The school building was in very poor condition and basically consisted of cinder block walls and a cement floor. There was a skylight in the roof which provided some very interesting lighting. During the dancing I set the exposure on my camera to 1/1250th of a second, f/5.6 and ISO 400 to ensure that the action was stopped and that the background was dark. When the dancers moved through the shaft of light from the skylight the light was beautiful. In the above photo at left, one of the boys looked at me just as I released the shutter.

After the dancing, the dancers changed out of their traditional costumes and then hung around in the shade while the older kids got involved in an impromptu soccer game. I had a great time, taking photos and trying to communicate with the boys. What a great afternoon.