We went out to check the progress of a carpenter making my new desk today, in Chilcapamba. After we had approved the preliminary construction of the desk units, the driver asked if we wanted to see the antennae farm, where there was a panoramic view of the city.  We agreed, and started up a road that I would have sworn could only be traversed by a 4-wheel drive. After nearly half an hour of inching up an almost-road with a shear drop-off cliff the entire way, we finally stopped for a view.  There were at least 50 massive antenna mounted on top of this mountain, which must have included every company in town that has an interest in sending signals.

Evelyn and Lorell look out over the view, while an antenna farm looms behind

This photo of antennae is only a small segment of the hilltop.  I have a dozen such images, covering different sets of them, but this pretty much tells the story.  Note the houses nestled among the antenna. I presume these homeowners receive a rent for their property, and with that many antenaes, I expect they are able to live off that rental income.  Of course, that is an assumption based on North American property laws though, and I do not really know the situation of these people.  Someday I would like to learn Spanish well enough to talk to these people and learn their stories…

Panorama of Cuenca from antenna farm area

The taxi driver was right about the panoramic view of Cuenca.  The view was a spectacular view of the city.

Tonight was the second meeting of the Cuenca FotoClub that I attended, and the first time I submitted images for discussion. I still have to get used to the Ecuadorian way of keeping time…  The meeting was scheduled to begin at 7:30 at La Riera, a restaurant about 3 blocks from our condo.  I was tempted to arrive early, but held off and arrived at 7:28 — only to find I was the first one there.  A couple minutes later (right smack at 7:30), the president and vice-president arrived, and I gave them my photos from my USB stick, ordered a snack, then sat down.

People dribbled in over the next half hour, with 21 members there by 8:00, which is when the meeting was actually started.  That number continued to grow, and was up to 33 attendees by 8:30, well after the meeting started.  I am still on “California Time”, where all but one or two people arrived before the stated starting time of the photo club meeting in Berkeley.  I still have to ease up a bit before I can set my watch by “Ecuadorian Time”… ☺

The FotoClub meeting is entirely in rapid-fire Spanish, so I end up catching key words here and there and try to figure out context.  The meeting opened with the introduction of a professional photographer. I had seen a reference to Photoshop and Lightroom training coming up in the club FaceBook page, and thought this was the person giving those classes.  At the end of the introduction, I thought the president was asking how many people were interested in taking the class.  I was intrigued to see almost every hand went up.  I did not put up my hand, because (1) I could probably teach those classes (albeit in English) and (2) I don’t understand Spanish well enough to benefit from them.

It turned out that Gustavo Morejón was prepared to make a presentation on his scientific photography. He proceeded with an interesting talk.  He was clearly a good speaker, though I wish I understood more of what he was saying.  At one point, he was talking about the difficulty of identifying critters he had photographed, and I understood an almost universal phrase — “Thank God for Google!”  Yep, I guess that feeling is as true in Ecuador as it is in California. ☺

Gustav’s presentation was informative and entertaining at the same time

After Gustav’s presentation, the meeting returned to the standard commenting on photographs submitted by members.  Unfortunately, I was having mental fatigue part way through this section. It was the end of a long day, and I had been concentrating for well over an hour trying to understand rapid-fire Spanish, and I was understanding less and less of what was said.  Several photographs elicited laughter, but I was unable to tell what the source of the mirth was, since the photographs themselves were not obviously funny in any way I could see.

By the time my images were presented, I was sufficiently fatigued that I did not really understand what was being said.  I did hear a couple of gasps, and a couple of “wow!” comments, which sounded encouraging, but in the end neither of my photos was even chosen for the initial round of voting, let alone selected as winners.

After the meeting, I went up to the president (one of three members that speaks fluent English), and admitted that I did not really understand the discussion on my images. I had noted that there was almost no Photoshop used on any of the other photos I had seen in two photo club meetings. He said that the club had decided a couple years ago that Photoshop was to be minimal and never obvious. However, he then said that the club changed its mind last November and had a ‘challenge’ where Photoshop had to be a major contributor to the image.  The club is not really accustomed to the heavy use of Photoshop, and tends not to respond that well to it at this point.

He then stated that he had only submitted one image tonight (he did not win, so I am not sure which was his), and that my images convinced him to start submitting at least one ‘controversial’ image each session in the future.  It will be interesting to see what he shows in future weeks…

One interesting side note.  When I approached him, I did not say which photos were mine, but he immediately identified them.  As I rather expected, my style is sufficiently different from the rest of the club that it stands out pretty quickly.