Corpus Cristi Celebration Cuenca, Ecuador

Cuenca, Ecuador 062411 The religious celebration of Corpus Cristi also known as El Septenario include the burning of structures called castles covered with pyrotechnics as well as hundreds of vendors selling sweets. The festival goes on for seven days and it culminates with a procession on the seventh day. (Essdras M Suarez/ EMS Photography) BEHIND THE SCENES: I was in Ecuador to teach several photo workshops around the country. I was in three different cities and taught close to 100 people between students and professionals. The Corpus Cristi celebration had been mentioned to me but it truly was serendipity that I happened to be there on this night. TECH STUFF: two cameras D3, D3S; two lenses a manual 24 2.0 and a 70-200 AF 2.8. I took a flash but decided against it. ISOs vary from 800 to 3200. Shooting fireworks is always challenging since you are dealing with a constant light-changing situation. As most of the times, I started shooting on Aperture priority and then once I'd look at the images I'd turn the camera to Manual mode thus controlling everything manually. This is strictly a trial and error situation.