With luggage and camera gear packed in the van by 8 in the morning my new friends and I on my photography tour are off to our first destination, promising to be an outstanding adventure. The excitement is high with everyone getting to know each other and talking cameras and pictures on this their first day.
Arenal, an active Costa Rica volcano, is our destination but first there are a couple of photography stops along the way. We go first to the little Tico community of Sarchi where brightly colored, decorated oxen carts are made in an old water powered factory. The second stop is nearby Zarcero, which has, as its focal point, an old wooden church and a double row of lovely topiaries leading up to it. Many memory cards are filled just photographing these two places with the magnificent colours and patterns of Sarchi and the incredible shapes of the topiaries in Zarcero.
The roads in Costa Rica are famous, not only for the magnificent land which they traverse but for their condition. Our driver, Luis, knows that we will encounter many potholes so he is cautious and as a result we are passed by most everything on two or four wheels. Many drivers here, from the ubiquitous taxistas to truck drivers, think they are Formula One drivers. Indeed, reportedly there is a bus driver whose passengers frequently find religion on his overland route.
Lunch in La Fortuna follows and we are now approaching our lodge in Arenal. The road up to the Lodge is a continuous pothole because the rainy season has just ended and most roads are in horrible condition. Our road is unique because it was constructed with crushed lava.
In rounding a curve we come upon a clearing at a river and behold, there is Arenal Volcano! The majority of my group have never been face to face with an active volcano and this perfectly shaped volcano is an awesome sight.
We see that the peak of the cone is shrouded in puffy little white clouds against a cerulean sky. The sight is picture perfect and we stop and everyone quickly descends from the van in the process of attaching cameras to tripods. Some of us wade into the tropical river to capture the incredible image from a different perspective and others are shooting from the riverbank.
Of course being this close to an active volcano could be very dangerous but Arenal is quite predictable, a low risk. The lodge is only one and a half kilometers to the base of the volcano and two kilometers to the top of the cone and needless to say, any activity attracts your attention.
What a surprise that while we are unpacking and settling in, Arenal comes to life again! It roars loudly as smoke and gas shoot many hundreds of feet into the sky and rocks tumble down the slopes. Mantled Howler monkeys hoot loudly following the eruption but we really do not know if they are hooting in protest or howling in support.
While sitting in the lodge dining room enjoying our dinner Arenal speaks again. Everyone had been told of the many photo opportunities in Costa Rica but who would imagine eating dinner and having something like this happen? And this was only our first day of the tour!
For the next two nights most of us get very little sleep as we find comfortable chairs in the common area outside our rooms, mount our cameras on tripods and attach a cable release. I had already decided to use an 80-200mm lens set at 80mm and an aperture of f8, the camera shutter set at "B" for time exposure.
With the activity of the small flare-ups at the cone and the lava flowing down the opposite side I think a time exposure of more than twenty minutes will produce an ugly yellow blob of light, so if there had been no eruptions after this length of time I will close the shutter and start another exposure. Using a cable release makes these exposures very easy and Arenal puts on quite a display while we are there.
Arenal volcano was the first adventure for my photography group in Costa Rica. Everyone is looking forward to the next eight days and the marvelous and exciting photo opportunities they will have. Pura Vida!
About the Author:
Frank Scott writes from sunny Costa Rica where he is a professional Costa Rica Photographer offering unique photography tours. Some of his work can be seen in Costa Rica Vacations, a very popular travel guide to this unique country.
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