We don’t often lament our inability to take a decent photograph. Our point-and-click Panasonic and Ruth’s iPhone well enough serve their purpose – not creating wonderful, fit-for-print photographs but collecting a series of aides-mémoire, snapshots to jog our recall of sights and experiences we could never tame with a camera. We trust our memories to fill in the blanks. And in any case, as writers by trade, we’re generally more interested in putting our impressions into words rather than pictures.
However, there are occasions when we curse our hopeless photography. One such occasion occurred last week, during a three-day hiking trip we took through Corcovado National Park. Tucked away on the Osa Peninsula in the southern corner of Costa Rica, Corcovado is a vast, mysterious tract of rainforest that’s said to be one of the most biodiverse places in the Americas. Hiking through it in the company of an expert, eagle-eyed guide, we were directed to all manner of flora and fauna that will never meet our eyes again. Our pictures… Well, let’s just say they don’t quite capture the majesty.
Underside of chestnut-mandibled toucan.
Peccaries in motion. (Action shot!)
We’ll spare this one its dignity.
Half a… Actually, we’re not sure what this is.
Indistinct capuchin monkey. (It was humid. The camera had steamed up. So had Will’s glasses.)
Tapir. Perhaps not its best side.
We can’t remember what was here when we decided to take a picture. But it wasn’t there when we took it.
Should you want to learn what any of these animals look like, please see Matthew Karsten’s more impressive photographs from his own hike through the park. Us, well, at least we have our memories. Somewhat.
from Naranjo, Alajuela, Costa Rica
6 comments
Lynda Kendall says:
Sep 17, 2014
This actually made me laugh out loud.
lily dunn says:
Sep 17, 2014
Thank God you’re both writers.
Ronnie says:
Sep 17, 2014
Ha Ha Haha ha. Having just spent too long trying to focus on a harvest spider in its larder of small flies, I can sympathise.
Jim Moss says:
Sep 17, 2014
That is funny! We have just been to a wedding and have some poor pictures too and that was with a descent camera, so don’t blame yourselves too much!
Jim Moss says:
Sep 17, 2014
or even a decent camera!
J.Jarvis says:
Sep 17, 2014
Love the one of the tree! Maybe best leave these out of the coffee table book you really should write when you get back!