True Beauty - a photo on Flickriver

True Beauty

            Got back from my Guatemala trip. This was my 3rd year going down to the Antigua area in Guatemala with a few friends and family, to work on an all girls elementary school in an extremely poor area, poor as in families living in shacks the size of a large shed, probably the size of most of our kitchens, sleeping on a matress that is right on the dirt, no kitchen, just a firepit to cook over. 

I went 3 years ago for the first time and the school had a long way to go. It is the only source of education these girls have, and only if their family can afford to take them out of the fields helping their fathers work on the family crop, or selling family made items in the local market...and yes, this is at the age of 6 or 7. So, we spend have the day playing with the girls, which they dont ever get the chance to do, and the other half working on the school, anything from tiling to painting to digging trenches. It was a great feeling seeing the school this year, after 3 years, and seeing how it almost complete, with computers, sewing machines, full blown class rooms...amazing. These girls can wake up on a dirt floor, get to take a break form working at that young age, and go to a school where they can actually use a computer...even use the internet...that is seriously amazing, and everything came from people like me going there to do the actual work, and the funds all coming from donations. We raised over $15k this past December from a dinner we held, which is what paid for the computers, sewing machines, and some other stuff such as paint. 

So this was my last trip for a few years, and besides going to see the girl that I sponsor, I had planned on getting away for a little time to shoot some of the beautiful and stunning scenery, but of course it rained all 3 of the days that I had set aside to get away. So all my plans of shooting certain areas of Guatemala didnt happen, which was definately disappointing, but the trip itself was amazing, spending alot of time with my little girl, and getting a ton of great shots of the kids....in the school as well as in the streets. I need to remember that the photos that mean the world to me may not be very interesting to other people, so I will try to remember that when posting shots from the trip. I got a lot of great shots, but I have over 600 shots to go through and process, so I'll try to post up a couple per day. I appreciate everyone's comments ahead of time, and hopefully you enjoy them, they have a lot of meaning to me, and each shot has a story to it, which I will try to keep brief, or probably wont tell at all after writing all this to bore you, lol.

Hope you enjoy the shots, and please let me know what you think.

Taken on: August 16, 2011

Tags:

Nikon

D90

50mm

f/1.4

Guatemala

Proximos Pasos

Antigua

Mayan

Santa Maria De Jesus

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Sets appears in: • Guatemala

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Camera: Nikon D90, f/1.4, 1/4000 sec, 50mm (=75mm), ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D90
Lens:	50.0 mm f/1.4
Aperture:	f/1.4
Exposure Time:	1/4000 sec
Focal Length:	50mm (35mm equivalent: 75mm)
ISO:	200
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Spot
White Balance:	Auto
Contrast:	High
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.4.1
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