Waikiki Walkabout - 4/3/2011

I had a super stressful Monday to Saturday (yes Saturday..ugh) at work so on Sunday, I decided to take a walk around Waikiki and enjoy myself playing tourist doing something I enjoy..taking photos. I didn't want to lug my big gear so I used my Panasonic ZS6 P&S camera to see what I can do. It has a pretty wide angle and a nice zoom so I wanted to try some landscape photos. I started out at St. Augustine Church and took a closeup of the statue of the saint. I headed across the street and saw the statue of Prince Kuhio..and took a picture of him. Then I got the idea to walk around to take photos of all the statues around Waikiki.. The famous Duke Kahanamoku. Lots of people take photos in front of him.. There's also a webcam aimed at him as well. I've walked pass this many times, but never stopped to check it out. These are the Stones of Life. According to the plaque, legend says these stones are the living legacy of four powerful Tahitian healers who once resided near this site. Statue of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop at the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center. Princess Kaiulani Statue at a small park at the corner of Kaiulani and Kuhio. Mokua and Kila from a children's story. I'm afraid I don't know who this surfer is. Statue of Ghandi fronting the Honolulu Zoo. Then I heard this guy nearby playing the bag pipe. It wasn't until a couple of days ago I found out that I missed the Scottish Festival this weekend! Bummers. When I walked by the King's Alley earlier, I found out that there is a Changing of the King's Guard performance nightly at 6:3opm and decided to check it out. What else would be at King's Alley but a Burger King! I was lucky and found myself in the front row. (ugh..slightly blurry, but I liked the composition) They were twirling their rifle in front of me and I was really worried about the spinning projectile. I put my camera in sports mode, but it was still not fast enough to get the spinning rifle. I tried a few zoom shot of the wave. Pretty good..not fuzzy or blurry. Check out the guy and the kid who's about to get pounded by the wave.

Oahu Civic Orchestra Spring Concert - 4/4/2011

My friend who plays for the Oahu Civic Orchestra told me about the Spring concert and asked if I wanted to take photos. It was at Chaminade University's Eiben Hall and was free and open to the public. I couldn't pass up the great opportunity to practice and also hear great music. I had no idea what the environment would be other than no flash photography. Although I was glad they were photographer friendly, I tried to shoot when music was loud so that the beep of my camera's focusing would not be so disruptive. I had much difficulty since the only low light lens I had was the 50mm F1.4, it was hard to get a good reach to take closeups. And in using large aperture, not everything was in focus so I had to crop out a lot. Most of my photos turned out a bit soft on the edges, so I tried some B&W to see if it would hide those defects. It was a good practice and I got to hear a great orchestra perform music pieces I actually recognized. They played this piece by Strauss made famous by Bugs Bunny Cartoons. The Civic Orchestra is made up of professionals, amateurs, retirees, students, all of whom love to play music and I can tell by how beautiful they sounded.

Super Moon - 3/19/2011

I felt like calling this post 'It was a Dark and Stormy Night'. That's how it kinda was while waiting for the largest full moon in 18 years, hence, called the 'super moon'. It was cloudy and windy and then it rained. My camera nearly tipped over in the darkness. After fussing w/ my settings, I got this shot in between trying to keep my umbrella from flipping and protecting my camera from the rain. The lights from the elevator of the Ilikai made it hard because it was either overexposing the light, or getting really dark building. Somehow it also turned my photo kinda reddish purple but it did make the color of the water really cool..
I was about to pack it up then I heard Celia say something like 'I see a sliver of the moon' from were she was staked out. Then there was the moon.. and then I heard 'here comes the clouds'. The original shot was kinda dark so I decided to crop it. While trying to lighten it, I couldn't get the colors right, so I decided to make it B&W.. I think this effect came out better. The moon finally came out...the B&W helps suppress the brightness of the elevator lighting..
Then the clouds came..
Just before I packed up..the moon was high and visible in the sky.. hmm..somehow it doesn't look as big any more..

St. Patrick's Day Parade - 3/17/2011

I took a day off and decided to check out the St. Patrick's Day Parade. Being at noon, I knew it would be super bright. I tried a different spot and tried to shoot away from the bright beach. There were some weird creatures.. a giant leprechaun?
There were many people wearing kilts.
Coach McMackin.. Even the mayor hammed it up for my camera. This shot originally came out soo dark.. good thing for photoshop element..
More Leprechaun...hey..is that gold in his kettle?
More green.. the army band.
Green Car..
Not sure if this is an Irish brand car..
I had no idea that Star Wars were Irish...
Darth O'Vadar..

Honolulu Festival Day 2 - 3/12-3/13/2011

There were more entertainment at the Convention center on Day 2 of the Honolulu Festival. I think this is the 3rd time I've seen Sugaren perform in the festival. Each time it is a new learning experience to try and capture their expressive movements.
I figured since they were performing in a brighter stage, I could use a faster shutter speed to capture their fast drumming. It was soooo hard....I got so many blurry shots.
This group made cool designs w/ this bamboo mat..I think this is the rainbow.
Day 2 of the Honolulu Festival concluded with a parade. I've shot at many parades and each one still present a challenge of shooting in ever changing lighting so this is good practice. It starts out really bright.
As always, there are pageant queens.
This energetic group performed continuously along the entire parade route. There were a lot of ethnic performers.
Giant masks of the indigenous people from Taiwan.
These double dutch jump rope performers stopped to perform for the camera.
The sun started to set and it got darker.. I tried using some fill flash..
Then it got really dark. I tried several flash settings and pointed my flash up, down, etc.. still the background came out dark. After many tries shots, I got one that didn't come out too blown out or dark...and she even looked at my camera..
The finale.. the fire breathing dragon. I used my 50mm because it got really dark and I also dashed across the street to get closer..I think this is the best shot in the 4 years I've been to this parade. I'll try again next year.
I even managed to get the back of the float.