Let's Get Lost

Me (Left) and my friend (Right), always adventure with seatbelts kids!

You guys must know me enough by now to know that I love venturing to and exploring new places. A few days ago I decided to get myself lost (or atleast try) in the central part of my country. I drove to Chaguanas on a partly cloudy day and just picked a direction; west. I wanted to find something new and exciting that I'd never seen before and I did!

It was kind of monotonous for the first half hour, but not in a boring way. Mostly agricultural fields, some nucleated settlements. These were areas I had not seen before and I love taking the scenery in, learning the area and appreciating the landscape. It was nice to think about the lives of the people here as well. Their houses and yards being a manifestation of their lifestyles, the souls of whom I might never know; their happiness, their sorrows, successes and failures.

In these bouts of adventure, I go with my instincts, if you will. Making my way through the streets and buildings just by feel. It's an interesting concept to entertain, almost as if I'm relying on instincts used by humans during the hunter-gatherer days to find their way in unfamiliar territory. I don't know how to explain it, when this kicks in, I usually find what I'm looking for, or if I'm lost, I usually find my way back to familiar areas. For any of you who listen to the Mysterious Universe podcast, I vaguely remember them doing an episode exploring a similar concept.

So using this 'instinct' to guide my way, I found a long, straight, north-south road that seemed interesting to me. So I headed north along it for about 10 minutes. I felt like I should keep going and so I did. I began to see mangrove trees! This was definitely something I did not expect to see given the type of scenery I saw before. The next thing I saw was a large river running perpendicular to the the road, lined with beautiful mangrove trees, littered with old fishing boats of brilliant colours!

I immediately saw multiple ideas for shots! I had never seen a mangrove like this near a village where people use it to fish and so on. If this was the only exciting thing I found I would be totally satisfied as it was unexpected and a magnificent find. I took a quick stroll to see what I could take pictures of and got down to some photography! This was too awesome not to document. The boats looked very old and abandoned and I'm quite fond of post apocalyptic scenery (Fallout/ Stalker/ Metro 2033 fans anyone?). Here are some of the pictures I took with my D3400 and a 35mm f1.8 lens. Hope you like them as much as I do!

I just love the weathering on this boat. It tells a story, and the colours are very interesting.

This one is definitely my favourite one of the set. I love the way the ropes look as well as the midtones from the branches they are tied to. The weathering and agedness of the boats as well as the mangrove feel is represented well here.

This is a more clear and wider view of the river itself. You can see it is lined with mangrove trees as well as with boats and the branches stuck in the silt that they are tied to.

Another view of the first boat shown. Love the almost glowing quality of the highlighted colours here.

This one seemed to be recently abandoned and in desperate need of repairs. I think all the holes and cracks add to the beauty!

I managed to catch some fishermen getting ready to head out to fish! I talked to someone nearby who informed me that the seafront was accessible from this river and that was where they were headed.

I loved that I got the moment that the anchor was being pulled up and the little boy was putting on his life jacket.

After my photography session, I got in the car and found my way back to familiar territory. I would have stayed longer but the sun was beginning to set. I was truly satisfied that I was able to find and experience something that I had not seen before. It is hoped that you enjoyed the adventure! Thanks for coming along, cheers!