Kualoa and La'ie - 9/6/2010

On labor day, I joined Erick and Celia on a landscape shoot. Thanks to Erick who drove us townies to these two scenic spots way on the other side of the island. I don't have a polarizer so my first few shots had washed out the sky so I decided to try HDR. I didn't think of bringing a tripod so I just steadied my camera on the fence to take these shots for the HDR.
HDR helped bring out the blue in the sky as well as the vibrant greens.
Too bad there was this 'no trespassing' sign, otherwise, I could've gotten closer to the ruins.

Chinaman's head was just around the corner from the ruins.
Then we drove to La'ie to this lookout spot I've never been where you can see these cool islands that reminded me of photos I've seen of the Galapagos Islands...
I did a close up HDR version of the island because the rock formation looked so cool.
Next to the long island was this tiny island. I wondered what is the significance of this stack of rocks and who had put them there.
On the rocky cliff area that I took the previous shots, there was this hole you can see thru to the ocean that also intrigued me because I thought it was shaped like a heart. It was hard to shoot because it was bright on both sides and dark on the inside. This was the best out of nearly 10 shots I took. I lucked out and found the heart shaped 'cookie cutter' in PSE so I cropped it just to demonstrate my point. :-)
On the other side of the cliff, some people had set up tent. I'm amazed they didn't get a flat from driving on the rough terrain.
I took a panorama of the shore line on the other side of the cliff area.. sorry I have NO idea where this is..
On our way back to town, I practiced 'drive by shooting'. I was lucky my camera was even able to focus so fast w/ Erick's driving! I got this shot of Kuoloa Ranch.
I also got this valley...again..not sure where this was either. All in all, it was great to venture outside of the city and not see any of the concrete jungle.

Foster Garden Take Two - 9/5/2010

I had a second chance at the getting more practice w/ a macro lens. I tried more water droplets. I waited for the sprinkers to go off then looked for the largest and brightest water droplet.
I also spotted a butterfly nearby. Too bad she was injured on her right wing so she didn't fly around as fast...but she was just as beautiful as ever.
I tried some closeups.
He just stood still as if he was waiting for me to take his picture... too bad he's not the madagascar 'Geico' type.
We went to look for the canon ball tree.
I just don't see how these beautiful flowers become those ugly brown canon balls...or is it the other way around?
Celia spotted these leaves that looked like someone had painted on them... so cool!
I decided to use these ginger plants for it's pattern.

Okinawan Festival - 9/4-9/5/2010

It's time for the annual Okinawan Festival. Several of us photogs met and some of us stayed until the bon dance after dark. This year it seemed more crowded and the food line was super long and some booths even ran out of food early. There were lots of people decked out in their okinawan garb and even this dog..
This year, I tried to capture not just performances, but people shots.
This is the third year I've watched Mamoru Miyagi.
This year he had a guest singer with him.
This was a big production, including a television/video crew.
After the entertainment ended, people headed for the bon dance which was made up of a HUGE circle of dancers.
Before it got dark, there was a huge rainbow...then it rained a bit..
but that did not stop the festivities...
and the "bon dancing"...
This is also the time for the politicians to do some hand shaking...
Celia and I went back the next day to get some shaved ice and ended at the general store.She was interested in something from this booth...
and ended up getting some of these okinawan soba...looks interesting...

Natsu Matsuri with Flash - 8/28/2010

Celia and I went back to the Pacific Beach Hotel Natsu Matsuri for their last night. This time, I decided to use a flash to hopefully get rid of the yellow/orange effects I got from not using a flash. I discovered I have much difficulty controlling where I want the flash to hit so even with flash, I was still getting a lot of dark photos. Here are the ones I got where it did flash.