Friday, August 19, 2011

Pacific Beach Hotel Natsu Matsuri - 8/13/2011

I've been to the Natsu Matsuri and Bon Dance twice so far.  The festival runs every Friday - Sunday from July 29-August 29. The first time I had a hard time w/ the darkness and the 2nd time, I brought along a flash so I was finally able to get some decent shots. The first night, I used a 16-35mm w/o flash.  Then the 2nd time I decided I wanted closer shots so I took along a 100mm with flash.  I tried to use available light whenever possible but it just got too dark and my pictures were very grainy w/ noise when I checked them later.  I decided to post the food shots first.
You need scrips to purchase food. It seems the best deal is if you spend more..Most of the food items are 3-5 tickets.  They even sold beer.
There were all kinds of grilled foods.  First thing that caught my eye was the grilled squid.
There's Yakitori Chicken.
Then there were grilled meat kabobs.
Grilled corn!!  This year, it's cooked on a real fire grill and not an electric one.
Then there were these potatoes..maybe sweet potatoes?
The food display..
There were Yaki Mochi..
They even had prime rib.  That heating lamp is a killer for photography.. the meat totally lost color..
They have those Takoyaki again.  Sooo cool to watch it change into a round ball. 
They use an egg for each okonomiyaki.
For dessert, they have shaved ice, cotton candy, frozen bananas on a stick and these andagi.
My colors got really messed up in the dark lighting on my first try that I decided to turn them black and white. 
When it's black and white, I don't have to worry about skin tones.. I definitely need more practice...

3 comments:

jalna said...

OMGaaawwwwwd, the food looks so good!

celia said...

I really like your first shot of the lantern. Then I started to drool, the food looks yummy. I need to get some when I go this Sunday. I hope I get good shots like these.

Erick said...

I feeling like going there right now to try the ono food! Great food shots and love that lantern too.