Honolulu Festival Day 2 and Parade - 3/14/2010

Here are more of the entertainment from Day 2 which also included a parade down Kalakaua Ave. in the evening. This year I used my 70-200mm for all my shots. I got a lot of exercising for my arm holding the heavy equipment. There were lots to see and lots to shoot, which is why it took me a while to go through my pics to post.
The aboriginal dancers from Australia would depict animals through their dances.
A large group of Taiko Drummers from Japan.
These are local dancers... I think I recognize them from the bon dances.
Hula Dancers.. I tried to include the banner of the festival in my pics..
The final and most entertaining performance, Momoi, a singer who voices Japanese Anime came again to the festival and was greeted w/ a lively crowd. It was so loud, my normal hearing didn't come back for a 1/2 hour.
Akebono(?) participated in the evening parade...
The aboriginal dancers also participated in the parade.
It got dark REALLY fast...and the challenge began w/ flash and trying to keep the photo sharp w/o digital noise.
These dancers actually walk on their tiptoes.
This float was on display at the convention center before being moved to be part of the parade.
The final float, the fire breathing dragon were men holding large fireworks..most of my shots came out too dark..I was only able to get this one.. I'll have to try again next year!

Honolulu Festival Day 1 - 3/13/2010

I spent two days taking photos at the Honolulu Festival. There were LOTS of entertainment and I spent most of the time watching performances from the main stage. After having spent time taking a lot of basketball shots, I learned about changing speed and aperture to get sharper action shots that it helped me in capturing these performance shots. I was able to find seats on the 2nd row so I got close to the action and even closer w/ my 70-200mm zoom lens.
There were lots of Hula performers who came from Japan. The announcer was saying there were probably more hula dancers in Japan than there are in Hawaii!
The last performance of the day was this group playing tradition Koto music.
After all the performance closed at the Convention Center, I headed over to check out the performance at Ala Moana Center Stage. I saw this energetic group called Sugaren last year and I'm glad I got to see them again.
There were also these two mime performers.
More Hula Performers from Japan.
The sun was setting and it started to get darker but I still tried to use available light. This band from Hickam jammed Hawaiian music!
The last performance of the night were these energetic cheerleaders.