Kids in a Mexican Parking Lot

Mazatlan, Mexico is the place where my partner grew up and a wonderful sunny, beachy place to have relatives to visit!  After struggling to communicate with an extended family in my terrible Spanish,  I grabbed my camera and went out into the night to engage in a visual language that I could understand.  I was searching for areas that had interesting night light that I could photograph time exposures of.  Rolando, my partner and guide took me to beautiful places overlooking the city showing the many night lights of Mazatlan.  Later, we got a little more up close and personal and just walked along the streets.  Then I saw them.  Three kids just hanging out in an empty parking lot.  It did not appear as though they were playing or waiting, they were just there; showcased by the colourful mix of orange sodium lights and fluorescent.  I felt the need to capture this image but I had to talk the the kids first.  They needed to stay still for a time exposure plus, it would be a bonus to place them exactly where I wanted them.

Rolando did the talking for me, and we placed them in a way that echoed the architectural lines of the roof structure.  The little girls pose is filled with strength as she looks to her left, while her brothers appear slightly pensive.  It gives the feeling that something is going to happen.  They stayed very still for the 1.6 second exposure.  Very impressive kids!  Later I dealt with the bizarre colour balance in photoshop until their skin tone under the green fluorescent light looked natural.  I used a tripod and kept my ISO very low to preserve quality and a fairly wide open lens of 2.8 on my 24 - 70 Nikkor zoom to try and keep the exposure as short as possible.