I have the worst luck when it comes to weather on the weekend. It has poured rain all day! Pity me! So I stayed indoors and tried my hand at some B&W conversions.

These are all images I took last year in Nicaragua. Most are snapshot portraits and one of a farm house. The country might be in not terrific shape due to certain natural disasters and political unrest, but the people of Nicaragua are great! In fact, in spite of their rather bleak situation they remain quite positive about the future.

Anyway, here are some conversions from colour to B&W. I like B&W for portraits.

CC is always welcome.

Each one of these pictures could come with a paragraph or two of explanation, but I'll spare you the travelogue and let the images speak for themselves.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

[Heinrich Lohmann]

Very nice series Jeff, thanks for sharing it. BTW, I do like your signatue line did you live in the Yukon by any chance?

Take care, Heinrich

[J.Scott]

Very nice series Jeff, thanks for sharing it. BTW, I do like your signature line did you live in the Yukon by any chance?

Take care, Heinrich

Thanks Heinrich.
Nope, never been to the Yukon.

Very nice Jeff, I love the smile in #3

Yeah, me too! We were wandering around this tiny farming community in the hills north of Esteli. This girl and some of her friends were talking and giggling amongst themselves and staying on the fringe of our group. I moved in with my camera and kind of caught her by surprise. She tried to look away hoping I would ignore her but I am not that easily discouraged. She scrunched up her eyes hoping (I'm guessing) that the big gringo with the camera would just not be there if she couldn't see me. But I can be persistent!

i really like the cropped version of #7.. you really did capture the moment didnt you!!

Thanks DV. That whole trip was great! When ever I was 'allowed' to take pictures, especially in crowed factories like that one, I took quite a few shots. No one was really looking at us - a group of 'Gringos' wandering through the place - but this fellow was different. He was really glaring at me so I couldn't resist taking a pic! To me his eyes were saying, "Piss off gringo! Just go back from where you came from and leave us alone!"

no8 is my favourite, it really cuts it for me...

Nice work Jeff.
Some of those portraits are great.
I do like No.8 myself, just the shaft of light and the atmosphere does it for me.
Well done, mate.

Love the whole series. # 8 is my favourite, i love how the light bounces back up into the roof. The whole scene reminds me of my grandmothers 'kitchen' on the farm when i visited her in the islands as a child.

Thanks for the kind comments. Like a lot of people we saw there she looked dog-tired! Some one in our group was telling me we should get moving and we should ignore her as she was not 'friendly'. I turned around and took a quick picture through a gap in the wall. She had just stopped sweeping the dirt floor and with the sunlight pouring through the holes in the roof it made for an interesting picture.