Sushi Bistro - 8/23/012

To celebrate CD's BD, we all went to Sushi Bistro. I haven't been to a sushi bar for a long time so it was great to experience it again. I wasn't planning to take pics of the food so I didn't bring my Canon, but since everyone else started, I felt I'd miss out at capturing all these yummy food memories. I missed the Toro hand roll and some other sushi pic but I was able to catch the rest using my Lumix using Macro setting taken w/ available light and some small adjustment in PSE. I don't know half the fish i ate, but they were all really yummy.

I tried to keep my plate clean after each sushi so each pic would look good and I also learned to use the chopstick wrapper w/ the restaurant name from an avid FB blogger friend :-).

At first I thought this was fried Tofu, but turned out to be really soft Shoyu pork.

This is what it looked like.. YUM.

I forget what this was called but it was really soft.

I think this was some fish called Aji and is flown from Japan. This was my favorite.

The fried fish bone was really addicting.. it was like eating chips.

CD and I were really full so we split this unagi.

I was really stuffed after this california roll.

They gave CD this cool cream puff dessert and I got to taste it..  Happy Birthday CD!!

Duke Kahanamoku OceanFest - 8/18/2012

I was on my way home from my normal Saturday routine and I spotted a huge sign and stand on Waikiki Beach that read Duke Kahanamoku OceanFest. I checked online to see what kind of event this was and found out that there will be a lei draping ceremony at the statue of Duke at 5pm; so I decided to check it out. There were lots of people at the beach and I heard the announcement about a Kids surfing contest going on. I looked out and couldn't figure out which direction was the contest so I just took a few shots w/ my Lumix like a tourist. The shot out of camera was not as vibrant, but w/ a few level adjustments in PSE, it turned out like I had used a polarizing filter..:-)

The ceremony finally started after musicians started to play Hawaiian music. I was lucky to stand just behind the last row of chairs and it was good that the crowd was not as large.  I kept thinking I should've brought a longer lens because I wanted more closeup shots, but kept telling myself I just have to make my 16-35mm lens work.

During the speeches, it started to rain and I was wondering if it was worth it to get my camera wet.. but no one else was leaving so I just covered my camera and waited.  It was a good thing I didn't miss this part.  They draped leis onto the statue of Duke Kahanmoku one by one.  My wide lens even caught one of the photog's camera from the Star Advertiser.  Earlier I checked it out and saw that she used a Canon 7D :-D

After the short speeches by the mayor and councilmen, it was done.

When the ceremony was done, I went up to the statue to take a closer shot.

Suddenly, people started gathering around me.  Turns out the mayor and gang wanted a photo op in front of the statue and I ended up being in the crowd of photogs. So I decided to get in w/the other papparazzis..I guess it was a good thing after all that I brought my wide lens so I could get the closeups.

Fire Dancer @ the Park - 8/9/2012

We had another Hawaii Photographic Society outing. This time it was at a Fire Dance performance at the Waterfront Park and I had no idea what to expect. We got there around 8pm as it was DARK. The only light source were yellow lights from the lamp post up the hill and from the office of the Medical School building in the background.  CD and I found a place to sit and saw others in shadows arriving. There was music DJ/Mixer under a tent and it was like a party.  After a little while, I saw someone light a fire..I took a few shots but ALL were dark. So, I figure the best way was to shoot it like fireworks. I had my tripod and used bulb setting w/ my remote.  The effects were pretty cool and turned out to be an awesome photographic experience.

It took a few shots to figure out I had to use manual focus and then all I did was click.  It was unpredictable where the dancer was moving towards and she was moving a lot so all I got was a trail of light.

As the torch was losing it's fire,I got these slight light trails w/ my log exposure.  This was created by just one dancer swinging a ball lit on fire.

I decided to play around taking shots without the tripod and move my camera around.. It made some really psychedelic light pattern from the light of the Medical School building, the red light of the music tent and the fire dancer.

I even made these curves just moving my camera up and down and across.  There were so many creative things you can do.

We met up with others members that came.  At some point, I saw some flashes go off and I caught some of it in this shot.

It was really hard to catch the performers with w/ the torch. I even tried covering my lens w/ a cloth to see what it'll do..Here are two performers at once.

I switched to using my 50mm lens and one performer came close and I caught this moving flame.

I think this was like a hula hoop thing that was set on fire...not sure..it happened so fast..

Then we saw this other hula hoop that was lit by LCD lights.  I hand held this shot and the lights from the fancy hula hoop came out even more cool..

This is the same hula hoop.. soo cool that I wanna get me one!

There was also this girl who was swinging two color LCDs tied to a sting.. I also hand held this shot ..

I tried getting some shots of the torch.  It was hard to time the light to not get blurry people and I got some lucky shots.

African Drums @ Foster Garden - 8/3/2012

We went to check out the last of the series in the Mid Summer Concert at the Foster Garden. This time, it was in the other side of the garden in the grass area. We found ourselves a shady area under this beautiful tree waiting for the concert. 

When the concert started, the sun started to set and the light was super bright, but it had a nice yellow-orange tone which lit up the stage area.

There were again lots of kids who really enjoyed the beating of the rhythmic drums. They ran up and down the stage dancing to the beat.

Everyone was encouraged to dance to the drums but we chose to watch the performance instead.

I found this very calm dog and the setting sunlight gave his/her coat a beautiful shine.

Macro and Whitesheet - 07/29/2012

I saw Jalna's post on a single cherry and thought how I can make a cool picture by using a white paper as background so i decided to try it out w/ my 100mm macro lens. I had bought these white Floamy sheets so I put one on the table and stood the other one supporting it w/ my big lens to make an L shape. I figure that would help to bounce the light that was coming in from my lanai. I didn't have any interesting fruit so I used whatever I found around the house.  Here's my study of Fish oil pill.

Then I wanted try some shiny item, but I didn't have diamond, crystal or bling jewlery, so I found these key chains I made a while ago w/ plastic beads.

Also this angel cellphone decoration.  It came out pretty cool w/ just available light.

Then I saw these pretzels on my table.. and tried that too..It's not easy to make it look 'interesting'.

I tried taking shots of my orchid plant, but somehow,  I couldn't make it focus..I had a lot of fun and I'd have more fun if only I had more interesting things to shoot.

42nd Ukulele Festival - 7/22/2012

Finally a festival that happens on a SUNDAY!! Roy and Kathy Sakuma hosts this event every year and it seems to get bigger each year. There was a large crowd that covered all the available seats at the Kapiolani Park Band Stand area. I walked around a bit and managed to sneak my way to the patch of grass right in the front of the stage. There was not a speck of cloud in the sky and it was super hot, great weather for listening to ukulele music in the park and also another chance to practice shooting in manual setting. I got there near 1pm and saw Manoa DNA perform.

I was lucky to get a a shot as Roy and Kathy were enjoying the performance.

There were LOTS and LOTS of photogs..professionals w/ the festival as well as lots w/ point and shoot cameras as well as video. 

Roy reminisce w/ his former student who's now part of Manoa DNA.

His current students also performed.

Roy introduced his friend and special guest James Ingram.  There was a lot of friendship and respect the two showed each other.

When James performed "One Hundred Ways",  the entire audience was silent listening to his beautiful voice.

There were SOO many cameras for his performance I had to grab this shot of just a few of them. 

He was awesome and he even came off the stage to shake hands w/ the audience.

Aiden James performed in 2010 and someone had uploaded his performance to YouTube and he now has more than 15 million hits.  It was cute that before he started his performance he gave a shout out to the person whom he's never met who uploaded his video.  He was an awesome ukulele player.

There were so many talented performers who truly enjoy themselves as they express it thru their music.

Roy is remarkable person who shares his love of music with so many and especially the young.  Listen to your what your children has to say, he tells us and let them express their thoughts and you'll be surprise what you'll find.   

This group from Australia actually performed  '"Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye on the ukulele.

Roy said Kathy had found Adrien Janiak's video on YouTube and actually wrote him an email to invite him to come..all the way from France!  It was interesting to hear distinctively French sounding music played w/ a ukulele. 

From Thailand is the last performer, Singto Namchok who sang a really cute song he wrote for his new wife.  I can't believe that ukulele is gaining popularity in Thailand too. I wasn't able to stay for the grand finale..hopefully next year.