These 'aint no KPrince shots... Haiti.

[MattinSTL]

You guys all have such great shots that these aren't going to impress you technically, but I still like some of the photos I got in Haiti. I wish I could have afforded a decent digi SLR prior to this trip... but B&H wouldn't take bottles and seashells... anyway, these are quick snaps from a G6.

Our truck was overheating climbing the mountain to the Citadel... this boy is actually nearly 20' overhead... he and another boy were spying on us and we never heard them arrive... finally they started laughing and I looked up... this kid was standing on that rock and I zoomed all the way in to get him.

Orange moss on the Citadel.

Another view of the Citadel... top of the world baby.

Walking a 3' wall w/o a safety rail... was a little odd.

Most of the photos I have which include myself are "arm's length self portraits"... sure they aren't perfect, but there was rarely any time to set a shot up... so it was snap it or lose it. I think the kids here look like they belong on an album cover.

 

[kprince]

Hey Mattin, nice shots, I'm really diggin' #4 I could spend all day sitting on that wall. Must have been an amazing experience.
And what's this about B&H not taking bottles and seashells!! No wonder my order is taking so long!

 

[Rick Meyer]

Matt-

Thanks for sharing your pics and your experiences. This trip seems to have a profound effect on you and its great of you to share that with us.

Now, I don't know how your photoshop skills are, because I've never seen 'em, but I know KPrince is a master...I'd love to see what he could do with one of your pics...

Rick

 

[SilverWolf]

Me too bless us Kprince

 

[MattinSTL]

Hey Mattin, nice shots, I'm really diggin' #4 I could spend all day sitting on that wall. Must have been an amazing experience.
And what's this about B&H not taking bottles and seashells!! No wonder my order is taking so long!

That's my favorite pic out of the entire lot. Unfortunately I don't have even ONE tripod shot... so they all have some cam shake. I took a lot of pics, but I only really like about 20 or so. Every day was so packed with our shoot schedule that I just watched once in a lifetime shots slip by non-stop throughout the day. It was heart-wrenching because I couldn't say "Stop the truck! Let me out!"

If you see some of the footage of the Citadel you'll see that it was like we were on the amazing race or something... this was a little side distraction that we had very limited time for, but I'm glad they took that time. Had I found out later what I missed I'd have been bummed.

The whole time all I could think is 5d with the Tamron Xi glass (close enough by memory... I'll get the same glass as you KP)

Most of my shots are moving shots bouncing along in the truck... and "bouncing" is no exaggeration... it was nowhere NEAR as smooth as the Back to the Future simulator at Universal Studios... nowhere NEAR that smooth... so I set my cam for 1/2000 shutter and just winged it.

 

[MattinSTL]

Another view of the Citadel... can you believe there are about 200 canons in this thing?

Zoom in of the same pic as above. God I'd love to have 12megs to do this with! This is only 7.1...

Another "arm's length photo". The boy in blue... his name is Demunn and he was my "neg-pah"... means "my pal"... he was with me almost the whole time in this community... I think he really liked being the center of attention when I wasn't shooting something else... he had tons of personality and he was very intelligent... even though he couldn't speak he wrote his name in the dirt to introduce himself.

Bumps and potholes in the road as deep as the tires are tall... sometimes deeper! Dumell was an expert driver in these conditions... we may get up to 35mph for 10 seconds and then he'd lock 'em up as if an animal was in the road... and he'd get through this stuff and then gas it again... I hung my arm out the window and this is another fast shutter shot.

 

[vidled]

BREATHTAKING stuff, Matt! Simply amazing.
They sure had enough cannon balls in them first two pictures!

 

[Jeremy Ordan]

Great photos Matt. Brings the trip to life, and I'm amazed. Still jealous you weren't able to get me on board though. Great stuff though.

-Jeremy

 

[Texture]

Amazing remnant of French Colonialism, as is for better and worse all of Haiti.

Really cool shots!

E

 

[MattinSTL]

Great photos Matt. Brings the trip to life, and I'm amazed. Still jealous you weren't able to get me on board though. Great stuff though.

-Jeremy

Thanks Texture, VIDLED, everybody... yeah it's crazy to think that Haiti is the ONLY country in history to mount a successful slave rebellion... in 1804 they said "F this" and killed some 8K+ white/french men, women, children and took the country back for themselves. As we were there in the streets on flag day I had that on my mind a lot as I tried to pay the utmost respect.

Jeremy, I'd have given anything to have you there man... the whole experience would have been x10 with a fellow DVXuser like yourself.

This trip had the potential to be 50/50 work/fun because it was so nuts... but I was the most lighthearted person there (except for Dumell... thank God for him...) It would have been great to have a like-minded person right there with me to take the edge off.