Tsunami Day - 2/27/2010

I was awoken shortly before 6am just before sirens came on warning us that there was a Tsunami alert created by an 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile. The Tsunami had a time of arrival of 11:09am. Since I wasn't able to head to the beach, I had to watch it from my fire escape lanai. It was an opportunity to make use of my 70-200mm zoom lens to take some action. Around 10:30am, a bunch of police cars zoomed along Kalakaua to evacuate the beach. Looking at the ocean, there was no action but a lot of boats had headed to open seas to ride out the tsunami.
The neighborhood ABC store which usually sees a steady pace of tourists had also closed for business.
While zooming to get shots of the ship, I saw a speck in the water...it was some crazy dude actually surfing the wave. I maxed my 200mm and cropped the shot to get the blurry figure on the surf board. I guess luckily there was no large Tsunami.Tonight, I also caught a glimpse of the full moon that I missed last night w/ the EOH group at Magic Island.

Ballet at Ala Moana - 2/13/2010

I had the opportunity to see a ballet performance at the center stage of Ala Moana Shopping Center. Celia led me to this great spot so that we could shoot with the curtains as in the background instead of the store signs. I was too lazy to use my flash so these were all taken w/ available light. I used the 50mm lens and had to do some cropping since there were quite a crowd of family and friends all jockeying for the best spot to take photos. The kids were SOOO cute all dressed up.
The little ones were trying their best to follow their teacher.
The older performers were really graceful.
The teacher also put on a performace of her own.

Light Painting - 2/13/2010

Jalna sent out an invite to meet at the Pu'u O Mini Park in Kaimuki after dark for some light painting shooting. I was fortunate to meet up w/ other photogs CD, Erick, Susie, Stan and Les, who joined Marvin and Jon in doing most of the great light painting..or actually, I prefer to call these works of art, "Light Graffiti". I was laughing so much, I'm surprised I even got these shots to work..
Before I left, I had to make sure I get a shot of the breathtaking night scenery of Waikiki and downtown. This was a stitched panoramic of two shots.
This was my first time shooting light painting but it was really simple..using the same setting as taking fireworks..Bulb, F11, ISO 100. I had a 'panic' moment when I forgot how to set my camera to BULB. After I finally tried Manual mode and was then able to scroll to BULB in the shutter speed setting, all was well. It's cool how the different color flashlights show up in the shots. Here are graffiti zoo animals.. It's amazing..you can't see what they're drawing until the shutter is closed and I look at my LCD.
This is 'rear curtain' flash where the flash is applied after the light painting is done. Erick was able to set off his flash so we could capture this shot.

Night in Chinatown - 2/6/2010

It's time for Chinese New Year celebration in Chinatown and we went to check out the festivities. Earlier in the day, I stopped to check out Maunakea Street and the Lions. There sure were a lot of lions.
There were food booths...
cooking and selling all sorts of Chinese new year foods.
Later in the afternoon was the Parade. The dragon was slowly making its way to the start of the parade. We picked a great spot since it was shady and the lighting was perfect under the overcast afternoon skies.
There was this guy in traditional outfit of the "God of wealth".
The boys and cub scouts were passing out candy...
Did I mention there were a lot of lions in Chinatown?
Many candidates were very well represented in the parade.
After the parade ended, we headed back over to the street party. I shot this in F22 because of the glare from the windows. The lighting came out looking like I used a filter.
Along the way, I saw this woman making and selling "very tasty, no salt or msg" dumplings.
As the parade neared the end, it was a lot more crowded.
I managed to sneak past the baracade and took this shot.. looks like someone else had the same idea and got even closer shot :-)
There was a stage on Maunakea street for more performances. This man reminded me of how it might have looked in chinatown in the 1800s.
We then headed over to Chinese Cultural Plaza for some food.
Performers were practicing and getting ready for MORE lion dance... this one is atop these poles. This year w/ my 50D, I managed to take shots in this dark mall.
I even managed to capture the performance...all without using a flash at ISO 1000 TV 1/100!

MPI vs. Iolani - 1/30/2010

I tried to get more action away from the basket but this was a super fast game. There were a lot of physical action and MPI ended up w/ more than 10 fouls and Iolani ended up taking the game.
It must've hurt as player #35 gets hit going up for the basket. I guess it's like the sign says...let the players play. I guess when one plays sports, one WILL get hit. Right before the half time buzzer, player 30 made the basket and then was fouled. He was able to get some extra point shots. The other players gave him some congratulatory pats and I tried to get some 'jube' shot (as Jamm Aquino calls it).

Narcissus Blossom

Chinese new year is officially next week Sunday (on Valentine's day) so it is time again for narcissus to bloom. It has become a tradition for me to carve a narcissus bulb. It is very auspicious if it blossoms during new year. I carved them around 28 or so days before new year so this year, it was around the begining of January and it has started to bloom. The blossom should last a week so hopefully, I'll still have blossoms during the Chinese New Year. Crab claw style of carving should be that the leaves are curled and kept low. Mine, however are not curled enough so it's a bit high and straight. Atleast, this year, I did not ruin as many blossoms w/ my carving as I did in previous year. When they bloom, there is a very strong fragrant smell.
My father likes the easier carving of the 'upright' style.. it looks kinda like scallions.

Basketball: MPI vs. Punahou 1/26/2010

I was fortunate to be able to practice sports photography again this season attending the MPI games. The night's game was against Punahou, who has not lost a game this season. MPI played really hard and was tied at half time, but then Punahou took over and won 58-76. It took me about the 1st quarter to get the settings right and timing to get some sharp shots w/ my 50mm lens.
I had a good shot of the tip-off, but unfortunately at closer inspection, it was blurry! I like shooting at the MPI gym because it is quite well lit so I was able to use Auto White Balance and the home team is in white and I found that works best for the camera's focusing.
I shot manual set at ISO 800, mostly 1/125 speed but had a hard time w/ the F2.2 aperture because in closeup shots, the depth of field would make part of the player out of focus. I did manage to get a couple of good shots.
It was best to take shots of the crowded basket. I got pretty good at it...so I have lots of basket shots. I think I need to learn the game more so I can shoot other shots. I did manage to get this one "air" shot..
I tried tracking the player so that the background would be blurry...it's hard to get them focused...I hope to practice more at the next few games.