Las Vegas (2009)

Candid camera

My aunt and uncle from Quebec came to visit us in Atlanta, GA.  My uncle brought with him his Canon Digital SLR.  I fell in love with it.  At the time, I had a Nikon point and shoot and was quite comfortable with the Nikon and its features, but when I saw the simplicity of the Canon I fell in love all over again, and literally with photography.  My aunt tried to sweet talk my uncle into leaving me his camera, but try as she may he was too attached to his toy and after playing with it, I couldn't blame him.  I wasn’t above having the means of acquiring my own, so I did some research and landed on a deal that afforded me two lenses along with the camera body.  

Now since I came to the US I have traveled all over, unfortunately, not always with a good camera in hand.  I have been to New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Connecticut, Washington DC, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, California, Nevada and of course Georgia. Having this new toy I wish that I could retrace my steps and capture some of the beauty of those cities.  It's not that I do not have shots of these cities, I do.  These shots however, are mostly with my family, friends, or co-workers, no intended sceneries or landscapes, although I do have the occasional animal.  

I have been told that photography is not based on the equipment but on composition, lighting, aperture, depth of field and shutter speed.  Equipped with this knowledge, one can secure very nice photos with a camera phone or regular digital camera, otherwise known as 'point and shoot'.

I would like to take the time to showcase some of these travels and cities as seen through my lens, my eyes, my emotion, my feel, my touch.  Please indulge me.  

First stop – Las Vegas

I traveled here in September 2009 for a work conference.  We were able to get out and about in the streets mostly at night.  These are a few random shots as the others show coworkers and parts of the conference.  This is just out and about photography, not always of the highest quality because of the instrument at hand, because remember my high resolution toy never came until 2012 and I was only now beginning to crawl up the hill of an undiscovered art.

These are all taken with my Nikon point and shoot.

We walked along the main drag because we wanted to see the dancing waters in front of the Bellagio, it was beautiful.  The cascading waters moved to the beat and timing of the music piped out along the queue via outdoor speakers.  Many folks were lined up against the railing for the water concert that ensued.  The city’s architecture is also notable, some buildings copied major historical cities of Europe, others had modern sharp edges or rounded curvatures.  The buildings are colorful in the day time and brightly lit at night, all this adding to the aura of the city.

Another thing is that I found myself in constant need of lotion.  This city is very dry, drying your face, skin and depleting your body.  You must consume water by the mug full, to stay hydrated.   

On a different note I had to also applaud this city for honesty.  I lost my IPhone on the shuttle that brought us from the airport to the hotel.  I called the shuttle company off of the receipt given and after 2 days without a phone, got my phone returned to me at the hotel. As you can well imagine I was an extremely happy camper.

The strip...

© 2013, Odette M. Lawrence and NorDean Canvas. All rights reserved. The use and/or duplication of this material without the express and written permission of this blog’s author and/or owner are unauthorized and strictly prohibited. 

Lopinot

Lopinot is located north of Arouca on the southern slopes of the northern mountain range.

It was founded by Charles Josef Compte Lopinot de la Fresilliere.

Compte Charles De Lopinot, Knight of the Military order of St. Louis, Lieutenant General of the French Army and Brigadier General of the Military of the Colony of Trinidad, was born in France in 1738.  He arrived in Trinidad in 1800 and from 1806 to 1819 lived in Lopinot.  The tombs of the illustrious Compte and his wife Marie Cecile Dannoy are located at the Historical Complex in the village of Lopinot. 

Compte De Lopinot served the French army in Louisiana USA and when that province was ceded to Spain, moved in 1776 to settle in Saint Dominique, where he became a successful planter.

A Royalist, he lost all his possessions in Saint Dominique when in 1793 he fought alongside the English. After the battle, he requested from the King of England a grant of land as compensation for ‘war services’.

Travelling via Jamaica, the Compte arrived in Trinidad on April 29^th, 1800 with his family and 100 loyal slaves.  He settled for a while on the Orange Grove Estate in Tacarigua and with his slaves explored the Valley of the Garden River.  The land was eventually granted by the King and he received 478 acres located in the beautiful hollow plain as if it were scooped out of the mountain.  There he dedicated himself to the growing of Cocoa and he called his estate “La Reconnaissance”.

We visited this site as a church group excursion trip, on Indian Arrival day, the day after Corpus Christi, the Friday of the long weekend.  We saw lots of foliage at the Historical site and enjoyed splashing in the river.  Also featured was an old time dirt oven, a cocoa house and many fruit trees.

We got cocoa off the trees much to my daughter’s delight and cooked a wide assortment of food right at the river.  We then ventured for a walk downstream.

We had a fun day and took our tired bodies back to our places of abode.

Here are a few memoirs from our trip.

Mountain view

Cocoa house with wash station

Cocoa house

Decorative fauna and wood work

Inside of cocoa house

Main house

Another view of main house

Caption explaining site

Local xzora flower

Cuatro used to play parang music

Old dirt oven

Close up of xzora flower

Palm tree with a kiskedee up in it

Local lily

Sign indicating that its closer to get to the west coast than the east even though we were in the east

Toco, North eastern most point

Tree on the property

Sexy bark

Mountainside

Bananas

Water fell in a pool here and my son enjoyed bathing right in that pool

Cocoa the fruit of chocolate

Cocoa close up

Inside the cocoa fruit after my daughter had eaten the inside pulp

Sweet cocoa nectar

She scraped it clean

Cocoa busted in half

Top of cocoa fruit

The tip of the cocoa fruit

Cocoa just showing the inside

Look at the drippings of the cocoa nectar

p.s. will update plant and flower names as I get them  :)



© 2013, Odette M. Lawrence and NorDean Canvas. All rights reserved. The use and/or duplication of this material without the express and written permission of this blog’s author and/or owner are unauthorized and strictly prohibited.