2015 Honolulu Marathon - 12/13/2015

Wow..It's been 5 months since i last posted? I finally decided to get a new lens (and a new camera..that's for later). I decided to try it out for the Marathon today. It was HOT with very little wind.  According to the news there were some 22,000 who raced today.  Every year, I meet my friend at the finish line and I usually get there just before 9am.  
With the 24-105mm lens, I didn't have to get too close to the shower area with the finish line banner in the back ground.  

This year they seem to have new venues.

There's usually a huge balloon above finisher T-shirt tent.

All of the winners have finished way before I get there.

This year, there's a new large TV screen that plays the video of the finish line.  What's cool is that this is a 30 minute delay so after you finish, as you head to get your shirt, you can watch yourself cross the finish line.   A lot of people had gathered there to take pic w/ their cell phone and cheer for their runners..

The Japanese tour companies have large tents and venues just for their participants.

Finishers can pick up some refreshments.  I think this is the first time I've seen bagels being offered.  

For as long as I've been to the marathon, they've always offered runners malasadas.. it smells really good.. and often times I've wanted to walk up to get one too.

The production of malasadas is serious business.. there is a production line under the tent with people prepping the malasadas.

There are hundreds of them already shaped and ready to be fried..

In recent years, there has been increase security.  When I first started going to the marathon, I was able to get to the finish line to see people cross, but now, it's been fenced off to all, except local traffic. I also saw a police w/ a dog at the finish area and definitely more police presence.

As I walked home I finally got a chance to read these signs I saw someone put up a few days ago. There is certainly more security since the Boston Marathon incident.  My friend finished the race in 4:14:22 and we were happy to see him at the designate meeting place as he was happy to see us having finished the race.  All in all, it was a good day, and good shooting w/ my new lens.

Pineapple Harvesting - 07/22/2015

Finally, the pineapple was ready for harvesting. One light twist and it came right off the post.

 I wondered what the insides looked like and was happy to see it looked exactly like a mini version.

And it tasted exactly like one too. It was cool to watch it grow.

Work(ing) Garden Update 3 - 07/19/2015

We've had a slowdown in the growth in the garden with less abundant harvests.  However, I think the prize growth is this pineapple.  It's taken months to show its color and although it is the size of an orange, it is I think a full grown pineapple.  It recently started to tilt and according to the web, it is ready to harvest.

Can't believe what looked like some flower on the plant became a real fruit.  This was back in April.

Then it started to look like a pineapple.

Although, I thought it'd get bigger as it starts to turn color, it never got any bigger.

The other new vegetable that have thrived are these long beans.  The new crop isn't as long, but there has been quit a few that has been harvested. 

We've even harvested seeds from dried up beans.  We recently celebrated the one year anniversary of the garden.  Hope this be a continuing effort and we'll be able to celebrate another year.

HPS Photo exihibit - 07/01/2015

There is a really long waiting list to exhibit at the Canon Gallery. This year, Hawaii Photographic Society was fortunate enough to get a spot. The exhibit opened on July 1st and there was a reception for the photographers and guests. There is quite a collection of photos from club members. Below is just a partial sample.  The exhibit of photos run until July 31st.  

I took photos with my Panasonic Lumix and the lighting on these photos do not do it justice.  Maybe I should've tried with my iphone.

Kamehameha Day Parade - 06/13/2015

Life's schedule took it's toll and I finally got to work on my pics from The Kamehameha Day Parade. I enjoy these parades because of the pa'u riders and their beautiful leis and horses. It was super hot and I don't know how they manage with all the heavy dresses and leis. It was also a super sunny morning and my exposure was all over the place from blown out because of the bright sun to being underexposed in the shade from the occasional puffy cloud. I was lucky to find a good spot behind a guy sitting on a beach chair who wore a cool hat (darn, should've gotten a pic) made from cutting a hole in card board soda tray, the kind you'd get w/ your large take out orders. A lot of the parade participants looked his way so I was able to get a lot of photos when they turned his way. :-)

The Kamehameha parade always have the king and his court. I had to fix the harsh shadows on their faces in PSE.

People in the parade were waving to the man sitting in front of me with the soda tray hat and yelled out 'cool hat'..

It was super bright.. and the white colors get really blown out.

Each island was represented by it's color and flowers.

Lantern Floating Festival 2015 - 05/25/2015

The last time I went to the Lantern Floating Festival was in 2012.  That time, I didn't know how large the crowd was going to be so this time I was prepared to face the huge crowd.  Since it would be too difficult to change lens or do much of anything else in the crowd, I chose to take my favorite lens, the 70-200mm thinking I'd be pretty far away. I had recall seeing photos people shot from standing in the waters of Ala Moana Beach so we headed into the sand with the packed crowd. 

There were two large screens projecting the ceremony. and the crowd seemed even larger since I was in the middle of it standing in the sand. The sun hadn't set when we got there so it would be a wait before we'd see lanterns.  Since i only had a long lens, I chose to take wide shots w/ my iphone...like this one.  

My long lens was pretty useless since I was really too close to people this time so I caught some zoom closeups of lanterns.  I had to be careful that I don't whack anyone from behind w/ my lens.

Around 7:15p after the sun had set, they made the announcement to release the lanterns.  The crowd started heading closer to the water.  Being stuck in the crowd, I could hardly see anything, I decided to take a Panoramic w/ my iphone. 

Then I tried taking pics between people's heads, arms, cellphones w/ my zoom lens, it was quite challenging.  

I kept walking closer to the water to get better shots of the lanterns that my shoes had gotten wet twice from the surging water.

By around 8pm, the team on surfboard and paddle board had started to gather the lanterns to a corner section near the rocks on Magic Island side of the beach so we decided to walk towards Magic Island.

By the time we got there the crowd had subsided and there were only a few photogs in the water with their tripods.  I was finally able to get a lot of cool closeups of lanterns w/ my zoom lens.

Since there were many lanterns, the lighting was perfect and no flash required.

So finally, I got a lot of shots I was hoping for.

Even this iphone shot came out pretty good with just his flash light and the lantern light.

I got closeups of the team collecting the lanterns.

This was really awesome.. some waiting but what I thought wouldn't be a good shoot, turned out to be a great shoot.