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I think it was around 4:00 PM when after a long post-lunch nap, I saw my old Nikon D3100 camera bag hanging in the corner of my room. I was immediately reminded of when I bought it in mid 2011 and how I enjoyed taking pictures with it. I also thought about how I haven't used it for quite some time, so I took the small bag and proceeded to check it...

📷 01- ARANTXA'S PORTRAIT

Looking at the camera I noticed that it had my old AF-S DX Zoom-NIKKOR 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED lens which I had almost forgotten about. This zoom lens was bought by me along with this camera as I remember. I proceeded to check everything and noticed that the front glass of the lens has a small mushroom near one of the edges. But I think I saw it there too the last time I used it and gave it a UV bath, so it didn't seem to have grown since then. Also, taking the lens apart and cleaning it is not something I want to do, I'm a bit too old for that now.

📷 02- CHAT AT CAROLA'S KIOSK

I rotated the power knob on the camera and WHAM... Everything turned on perfectly and the battery was even half charged!.... I never cease to be amazed by this brand's equipment, I confess it. That little camera is about to turn 15 years old and it must have exceeded 200,000 shots by far... And it still works quite well!

📷 03- COLLAGE IN FARRIAR STREET

Then, with that little DSLR turned on in my hands, I felt a great deal of nostalgia. So I decided to clean up the old lens a bit and go outside to shoot some pictures. I confess that I wanted to feel a bit like those old master photographers who made lovely pictures using relatively limited cameras. Maybe my old Nikon D3100 is not so basic to be considered an elementary tool, but I thought I'd manage to use the least amount of automatic settings in this photographic exercise I'd do this afternoon...

📷 04- UNEXPECTED CROWD

Outside in the street, the unusual bustle of people, cars and motorbikes could be heard. Apparently the people were "in an uproar" due to the payment of "bonuses" by our populist and corrupt ruling regime. I still find it pathetic the way people seem to "wake up" moved by such mechanisms of social manipulation. But that is another matter and not exactly something to comment on in a post about photography. What is certain is that there were more people in the street than usual in this town.

📷 05- HERACLIO AND LUIS IN THE SQUARE

In addition... It's afternoon!... And in this town people are a bit lazy and like to go out more in the evenings, when the weather is cooler and there are more people to chat with. As for me, I'm a real hermit in the making and I prefer the streets with few people in the mornings a bit sad... But I was ready for this photographic exercise so I decided to go ahead!

📷 06- COMMERCE AVENUE

Another fact that has generated this unusual number of people on the streets is that today "gasoline has arrived in town". Yes, just as you hear it, in these villages in the interior of the country, we can be weeks without fuel at the only existing service station. So, when the fuel arrives... It's a new occasion to make "social life" here (I'm being ironic)! :(

📷 07- LIFE IN THE FUEL QUEUE

But, in spite of all these annoying things I have told you about, I felt quite good doing street photography in those conditions out of my "comfort zone"... Some people even greeted me jokingly while saying things like: "The crazy guy with the camera has changed his schedule"... And I would reply: "And you are there like a fool wasting your day to buy expensive fuel in the country with the most oil in the world" he he he :)) (I lie, I am incapable of saying that to someone here, as I might hurt their sensibilities more than you think)... But I usually think it without saying it! :)

📷 08- ARMANDO

Well, once I got back home I downloaded the photos onto my PC and looked at them.... I was using ISO 800 so there was some noise. The capabilities of the Nikon D3100 in the limited light of a cloudy sunset are typical of a cheap DSLR released in 2010, i.e. quite limited. The same applies for my old 55-200 mm zoon used with f/5.6 aperture. So they were pictures with certain shortcomings, but I found many of them frankly beautiful. So I set out to do some editing according to these images, selecting sepia with an attenuated 5% blue layer. I like the result when I do this, as there is something "vintage" about it.

📷 09- "DUNGEON TYPE" WINDOW IN MY OLD SCHOOL :)

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Thank you very much for your visit and appreciation!

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_{ADDITIONAL TECHNICAL NOTE: Photographs captured with my Nikon D7000 DSLR camera in RAW format, then processed in Adobe Camera RAW for adjustments regarding light, sharpening, contrast and depth... The pictures are then exported to JPG format on which minor modifications such as straightening and adding watermarks were carried out using PhotoScape 3.6.3. and/or Photoshop}

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Montalbán, Carabobo, Venezuela.