Travel Photography Costa Rica for Travel Guides

Travel Photography Costa Rica

Travel Photography Costa Rica

Last month I was lucky enough to shoot some travel photography for one of the biggest names in travel guidebooks in the United States.  They contacted me about taking some pictures in the town of Puntarenas, Costa Rica, and the island Isla Tortuga.  I jumped at the chance, as travel photography is a passion of mine.  It also sounded like a great challenge because Puntarenas, lets say, is not thought of as the most picturesque town in the world.  It is actually a small kind of run down city, but along the shoreline it retains the charm of a small fishing town.

The guidebook wanted scenic photos of the island and sunset as well as typical photos of people in Puntarenas.  One of the pictures I took was of ofrendas, or offerings, at the Catholic Church.  A tradition here in Costa Rica is to make offerings to the church to ask for something in your life.  So if for example you have a bad leg and you want it to get better you give a small little metal leg to the church.  The church had a little locked box of all the offerings through the years, and you can see little miniature metal houses, legs, arms, eyes, even babies.  Another scene I loved in Puntarenas was of the fisherman in the afternoons reweaving their nets.  They just hang the nets from a couple of palm trees and go to work, the shuttles weaving back and forth at light speed.

Lastly, the guidebook asked for some photos of people in traditional dress dancing or doing other traditional activities.  As people in Costa Rica don’t just don their traditional garb and take to the streets on any given day, I just included some photos I had taken during the last Independence Day, and the eve of Independence day where the kids walk around town with their farolas.