Honolulu City Lights - 12/08/2013

I was able to check out the Christmas decorations at Honolulu Hale early this year. I was surprised and glad that it wasn't as crowded the day after the City's parade. I was able to take pictures of all the decorations without having to deal with crowds. I think I'll consider making this date a yearly event.

It was great weather, considering the week before it was pouring like dogs and cats.

I think this year's theme is recycling because near the entrance, there's this giant pikachu .. 

Taking a closer look, you see it's made of bottles...lots of them..

I decided to use some filter effects on my pics..

I got a few cools pics to make photo cards next year.. happy holidays!!

Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade - 12/07/2013

I haven't posted for months but there hadn't been much events for photo opportunities then finally a night parade in Waikiki. This was the memorial parade for the veterans and also the survivors of the Pearl Harbor Attack. It was dark by the time the parade got to my street and I hadn't taken night shots for a long while and had really struggled. I used my 70-200mm lens but my flash just didn't have the reach.  I had to do a lot of fixing in PSE.  

Many of the veterans of WWII walked or rode in the parade.

I learned that because my flash had a short reach, I had to time it just right to hit the subjects at the right distance.  It was a real hit or miss..then it'd be PSE fix.

My all-time favorite float.. I have no idea how they got this on the road all the way from Ford Island..It was an awesome sight.

There were these cool cars doing crazy wheelies.

The guy from Hawaii 5-0 made a guest appearance in the parade too.

My favorite pic of the night. This for me sums up how the participants and the people watching the parade felt.  I was really glad I made it to see the parade.  

Aloha Festival Parade - 09/28/2013

It seems like it's been forever since I've been to a mid-morning parade. I'd forgotten about the heat, bad lighting and did I mention the heat? I got to the parade a little after 9am, but found out they haven't even blocked off the entire Kalakaua Avenue yet. Anyway, I staked out a spot that wouldn't block anyone and was kinda shady. What I learned was that it doesn't matter if you get there early, because people coming late will come and sit right in front of you and you just hope they don't block your view when the parade starts. The second thing I learned is bring a zoom lens. There's no way you can get shots w/o tons of people in your shot. With my 70-200mm, I got tight shots and cropped out other photog that stood right in front of me. And lastly, the midday sun is horrible!! The brimmed hats, the raccoon eyes the uneven shadows..I got them all. When I first looked at my shots, I was really disappointed, but thank goodness for PSE 11 with the magic wand and shadows and higlights (in levels), I was able to recover a lot of them.  I spent an hour shooting then had to leave.  Even though it was short, it was a great learning experience.
Finally, waiting for almost 45 mins, the parade started.. This is the first time I've seen maile lei on the motorcycle patrol.

Can you spot the person NOT with a camera?  hmm.. People with all kinds of cameras and cellphones, ran into the middle of the street to capture just the right shot to post on their Facebook or Instagram.. There were some of the most aggressive photogs I've ever seen..

This is one of the few parades with real floral floats.  I love the colors of this parade.

This was one of the many shots I rescued.  My original shot was so dark under the hat I could hardly see his face.  After some simple work, I can even see the color in his eyes. I think even using a flash can't help since he was pretty far away when I shot it at max zoom.

I had wanted to have pics where the background was blurry and was told that I have to shoot at max zoom.

One of the reason I wanted to check out the parade was to see the original crew of the Hokulea.

And of course, there's always lots of marching bands.  This one is from Moanalua High School.

Most of the shots had to be close, else I'd get people in my shots.

Ducks @ Moanalua Garden - 08/24 - 08/25/2013

It's been a while since I've been to Moanalua Garden and now there's a lot of ducks that have taken residence in the pond. The Garden is a family friendly place and I see a lot of them bring their kids to feed the ducks. The ducks roam the garden freely so it is a great place for them to raise their young.  The first day, I only found adult or 'teenage' sized ducks. On the second day, we were finally able to spot the ducklings with mom.  I bought my 100mm so it was a bit short for the long shot but I was able to rely on my Lumix to get the duck family from a distance.

I lucked out and caught one flapping his/her wing.

I got really close to one who wasn't really afraid of me, then he flew off.

I had to boost all the colors in the shot to get the colors of his feathers.

I tried to get flying ducks..but I only managed to sorta get egrets in flight...

ahhh... blurry...need more practice... on day soon, I'll return for more practice..

UH Rainbow Wahine Volleyball - 09/12 - 09/13/2013

A few people at my photo club meeting were talking about sports photography and it got me interested to give it a try again since the last time I did that was years ago. I was really lucky my friend asked me if I wanted to go to the UH Rainbow Wahine Volleyball game. This is the first time for me to shoot volleyball but I've seen a lot of cool pics other photog friends took.
I wasn't sure if I could take photos but I brought my camera anyways. We had great seats but I was hesitant to take out my canon w/ the 70-200mm lens since I saw no other photogs in the stands but decided I had to try after half time . It helped that I had been watching the game for a while so I kind of knew what to expect and what kind of shots I wanted to get. Overall, I think shooting in manual mode worked best. Too bad (but good for the Rainbow Wahines) that I had only game 3 as the Wahines swept Portland the first night. 
The second night I decided on a smaller prime lens the 100mm since it was smaller. It worked well, but I had to do some cropping to get tighter action. And again, it was a sweep the 2nd night against Northwestern.

The action is really fast, and in retrospect, I should've tried for faster shutter speed.

As I was watching the first half, I knew I wanted to get some celebratory shots.

Timing my shots were so difficult since they hit really fast and as soon as I clicked and my camera took the shot, the ball had flown across the court.  I managed to catch a couple that wasn't so fast.

This was Aloha ball against Northwestern.  Everyone stood up and I also stood up for this final shot.