Photos

This is taken inside of Columbus's memorial/monument in Santo Domingo with an old Nikon 950 digital. The building is shaped to represent a lighthouse (not in the traditional New England/England/Dutch sense), hence the name "El Faro". It's rather dark inside lit mostly with natural lighting from above and they don't allow flash photography (at least they didn't then). The idea is that the remains of Columbus are here, guarded by the Naval Marines (one on each side of the figure in question...and no, they don't really have any sense of humor--I got a little too close trying to compose a picture and placed the tip of my foot on the upper platform where the Marine is, they probably didn't shoot me on the spot because it would defile the building but the intent was there. Note to self: A little knowledge of Spanish can be very 'beneficial'...remember to ask next time). The memorial also has a very interesting museum that has a lot of artifacts and journals from the maiden columbus voyage as well as other voyages to the New World. This is a must visit if you are ever in the D.R.

The picture was quite dificult as the only light is from open skylights above. The shadows were very dark when compared to the harsh highlights. I let the camera meter the scene normally as I composed it, then used the +/- EV settings on the camera to try and compensate for the shadows. I know that I would probably not get much detail in the highlights and not enough detail in the shadows as well as a lot more noise in the shadows (the bane of digital photography). All in all I think that it turned out OK. It is an impressive monument to an amazing accomplishment for a great man.