Day 43: Tertulia Dance

2026-03-21

Limited permission was granted to use photos taken for these events on this site.

Hello!

Don't mind me, I'm getting lost in the biology of swans. Not for anything specific.

Anyway: on the same day as my basketball photography, I took photos of a different school event: a tertulia.

Families came to serve food and celebrate, students recited poems and speeches, and groups came in to dance and pay respect.

The event organizers connected with other schools in the area to come participate, and brought an Aztec dance troupe to perform.

It was welcoming and fun, as a relaxed celebration for the community. Compare this to the Lunar New Year celebration or the Garba dance that I photographed. It felt like there were more students there, because the organizers packed many events and performances for the celebration. This tertulia was, in contrast, simpler.

For events and sports photography, I've found my style. I pack my camera and two lenses — an ultrawide lens for action (the lens used in this shot), and a big zoom lens that isolates a single subject. Because this tertulia didn't have a detailed schedule for me to follow, I adapted to what was going on around me. I was swapping lenses back and forth.

This doesn't seem necessary at first — why not find one lens that can do both types? — and I've looked into alternative options a few times, but I've come up blank. A lens with a wide aperture lets more light onto the camera sensor than a lens with a narrow aperture, which is necessary to capture images in dim environments like this one.

A single lens that can keep a wide aperture across both the zoom ranges that would replace my two current lenses doesn't exist. It would be heavy and expensive, which would prohibit me from using it.

There are ways to work around the practical limitations of physics and optics, but they require complicated steps and would take away from my familiar style of event photography. Right now, I'm more than happy with the setup I know and love, and so I don't pay too much attention to new and shiny gear.

Finally, the food timeline. I went down various rabbit holes looking for interesting resources last week. Because I delete my web history every few weeks, I don't remember where I got this from. But now you have it!

I've gone back and returned Buyer Aware, a current-issues and economics book I completed a few days ago. Before doing so, I spent a short time in the library and skimmed through a few pages again. It's clear that this will be a go-to resource that I point to for others who want help enacting social change, or who need immediate help in this confusing digital world — I've already nicknamed it as "the green book".

Cheers,
David