Night Lights

Rene is a journalist and his friend Juan Cho is a professional photographer. They work together for a magazine about things to do in Costa Rica. A couple nights ago their subject was a little restaurant nearby. Ideally located, the seats on the balcony provide a wonderful view of the city below. I looked down on the rooftops, the streets and the passersby and thought that it looked just like a scene from a movie. Rene and I arrived on time and chatted with the owner for about an hour while we waited for Juan Cho. He finally made it, began setting up his camera, and we set up the restaurant. Four boxes, twelve tree-shaped candle holders, 36 tea cup candles, and 30 minutes later we were ready for the photo shoot.

I stood behind and watched  as Juan Cho masterfully manipulated the camera to produce the desired effect. Brighter, darker, more or less shadow, different areas of focus, different degrees of focus - all these things he used to shoot the exact same shot with dozens of different results.

Sitting and observing, I was suddenly aware that this was the perfect night for such an activity. The cloudless sky allowed us to see the San Jose city lights stretch on for miles. Beyond the city was the soft silhouette of the mountains in the distance. Generally speaking, San Jose isn't a very pretty city. Tonight, though, it could have been Paris.