These are the days of Carnival in my hometown of Panama.

From the capital to numerous cities in the countryside, these festivities are celebrated by all panamanians and tourists alike, and they work as a getaway drug to forget about life problems and just drink, dance, and party all day long. Days like these I tend to take it easy, relax, and just be with family and friends.

But being the last day of festivities I thought I could use the opportunity to document how the carnival is celebrated in city of Panama. True, I know it doesn't have the splendor and pomposity of those organized in the countryside, which personally I much prefer, but still a good opportunity to document the colors of the event.

So, if looking for colors, strong colors I might say, it is about going to the culecos. You will see in the pictures below I couldn't just take any camera, it is just what a weather sealed Pentax K5 was built for. Plus lately, I have been testing the color rendering of this old Pentax sensor I have to admit that even though Pentax includes some interesting jpegs presets, I usually find myself shooting RAW to adjust the files to my liking, unlike Fujifilm whose film simulations I have made the case before are just gorgeous.

The Pentax K5 took the abuse easily, it was hot, the camera got rained upon, and still the camera plus its Pentax DA* 16-50mm 2.8 lens kep focusing and shooting with no problem. I understand a weather sealed Fuji can take a similar abuse, but honestly, sometimes you don't know what you'd be up against in these crowds of people.

There is more to our carnivals than what I am just sharing, but still I hope you get to feel the vibe of what I am talking about. Enjoy the pictures.