In Casco Viejo in Panama City there are many 17th century buildings that are open to the weather and tourists. The brick walls are very, very thick and have some really interesting textures. Finding an interesting way to produce and image of them was a bit of a challenge. I wanted something that would give a sense of their age and permanence, something that would put the viewer in the building. It was right around noon so the sky was a very washed out light blue so I was thinking B&W right from the beginning. I walked into a very narrow square room and looked up; the small size of the room made it darker than the open courtyard and the light from the bright sky lightened the window sills providing some contrast with the rest of the room. When I pulled the image into Nik Silver Efex Pro to do the B&W conversion I increased the texture and this also had the effect of giving the skies an almost surrealistic smooth gray. I only wish that I had stepped back a little to allow a little of the sky to peak in through the upper window.

-Russell Berg