Honolulu City Lights - 12/27/2012

For the HPS last outing of the year, we always choose to see the Christmas lights after Christmas to avoid the crowds. There were still some crowd, but at least it was manageable so that I could get shots w/o people. I got there before sunset shortly after 5 pm and it was still very bright outside. I thought this angle was cool because it was distinctively a Hawaiian Christmas with the coconut trees.

It was still early that they hadn't even turn on all the light yet.  I decided to change it up a bit and added PSE effects to the daytime shots.

I got to try different angles of the tree since there wasn't much crowd.  

For the night shot, I decided to use bulb mode so I can control and test different shutter speeds.  I even tried lighting the poinsettia plants w/ my flash using 'manual' remote flash method by holding it in one hand and setting it off using the test flash button on the flash. it was so cool there's not even a person caught in my shot.

Since i wasn't able to get a clear shot of Mr. and Mrs. Santa, I decided to apply effects again for some distraction.

Earlier when I first arrived, i went to check out the wreath display.. alas.. no crowd..

There were some funky wreaths. Somehow I think this year's theme was on recycling.

Here are these angels made w/ those foam wrappers they use on pears.

I believe this is the winner.  It is really detailed and quite exquisite..and made of shards of cd/dvd disks.

In a closeup you can see how many pieces of CDs were used.. it was quite amazing.

Heron's Catch - 12/29/2012

I went to the Ala Wai Park and saw this Heron. I was fascinated by how he was hunting for his meal.

I watched him catch a small fish and swallowed it whole.

I watched him catch a couple more..he'd be really still (which made it easier for my camera to get a sharp shot) then go in for the quick grab.

Then he caught this humongous fish.  I was wondering how he's gonna eat that..

I can't believe he also managed to gulp it down.. I could see his neck get fat..

After about 6 fishes or so, he finally was full, I swear he looked fatter.

On my walk, I also saw this pair of cardinals.. they were really cute...but really fast.

Gingerbread Houses - Xmas 2012

I haven't posted in a while since I've been busy w/ my 'other life' and haven't gotten to take out my camera. I finally got a chance to pull out my small camera on my walk to the Princess Kaiulani Hotel to see their annual gingerbread house creation. It is really cool to see, but difficult to photograph because the gingerbread is dark and the lighting is not so great there, however, the work of art is awesome. Here are some of them.. This year, they added the Eiffel Tower and the Tower Bridge.

I had a second chance to see gingerbread houses at the KCC culinary school for the Eyes of Hawaii Christmas Party.  These were really cute.