The Major of Panama City, Bosco Vallarino, decided to light the tallest Christmas Tree in Central America on the Coastal Strip on December 8th. It symbolized the beginning of the Christmas Season for this large cosmopolitan city. The event was scheduled for 6:00 p.m.
Since this would be a historical event, I packed my digital Birthday camera and headed for the Coastal Strip at 6:30 p.m. with ample time to be there before the tree would be lighted up by Mr. Vallarino. This would be an excellent opportunity to test the night scenes of my camera. My wife Aura and our two grandnephews joined me in this photographic endeavor.
My Canon PowerShot A720 IS has three night special settings:
- Night Scene: Allows you to capture human subjects against the backdrop of an evening sky or night scene. The flash is directed at the person and the shutter speed is slow, so both the person and the background can be beautifully shot.
- Night Snapshot: Allows you to take snapshots of people against twilight or night background by reducing the effects of the camera shake without using a tripod.
- Indoors: Prevents the camera shake and maintains the subjects true colors when shooting under fluorescent or tungsten lighting.
I decided for option #2. You decide if I made the correct decision. At six o’clock in the afternoon, in Panama, the day is just winding up and the evening starts. We call it twilight time. A Spanish poet defined twilight as: “Cuando el día ya no es día y la noche aún no llega.” The best I can translate this phrase in English is: “When the day is no longer day and the night is not yet here.” I know the English translation doesn’t capture the true meaning of the Spanish version, but that’s the best I could do. That’s why they say that translators are traitors—in Latin “traductore traditore”.
Through the following pictures, you can follow the flow of light as the day is transformed into night. As an aficionado of photography, light fascinates me. Please follow me in this journey through light at the Cinta Costera in Panama City, Panama. Here we go.
In the middle of the magic Twilight Zone, we started our journey at the Cinta Costera on December 8, 2009. Can you identify Aura and the kids? Panama celebrated Mother's Day on this special day as well. (Credit: ©Omar Upegui R.)
Photograph of the giant Christmas Tree scheduled to be lighted by Bosco Vallarino, the Major of Panama City, Panama. (Credit: ©Omar Upegui R.)
In this picture you can appreciate the soft tones of a twilight in Panama. The camera behaved well. (Credit: ©Omar Upegui R.)
At 6:00 p.m. the people were just starting to show up. Many parents together with their children were present. (Credit: ©Omar Upegui R.)
These are the early bird showing up for the event. I love to see people having fun; its contagious. (Credit: ©Omar Upegui R.)
Notice how the sky is getting darker, and the Digicel balloons start to glow brighter and brighter, adding to the magic of the twilight time. (Credit: ©Omar Upegui R.)
The is the huge stage where the Major would address the crowd and several pop bands would entertain the attendees. Comando Tuborón and Joe Montana are being mentioned. (Credit: ©Omar Upegui R.)
It's 7:30 p.m. and the tree is still dark. That's called "Hora Panameña"; which means we are always late in everything. (Credit: ©Omar Upegui R.)
As I explained earlier, the main purpose of this post was to experiment with a night scene of my camera at twilight time and learn through trial-and-error. In the learning process I took the opportunity to show you how we celebrate Christmas in this warm and friendly strip of land called Panama. Tomorrow I’ll show you some of the friendly faces of Panama during that wonderful evening. Good Day.
