Lunar Eclipse - 04/14/2014

I have no idea what to expect of shooting a lunar eclipse a.k.a. the blood moon.  I started out hand holding my shots but realize it was getting really dark so I got out my tripod. The moon kept moving (duh!) and I kept having to readjust the camera position and it was near impossible to focus as it got darker. Even though the whole eclipse lasted about 3 hours, I was still struggling trying all kinds of different adjustments.  After seeing other peoples shots, doing a little more reading, and having this experience, I hope I'll get better shots next time around in October.
Here is my series of shots. These were cropped from my max 200mm zoom shots.  By the way, I donno how blogger stacked up my shots like this.. it was purely coincidental but I think it works so I am not gonna reformat the layout.

Corpse Flower @ Foster Botanical Garden - 04/12/2014

I saw the news about the corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum) blooming at Foster Botanical Garden and took the chance to see and smell it. Parking wasn't too bad as I got there around 3pm and they extended the hours at the garden to 5pm that day. In just a few hours you can really tell the difference.   It was really amazing.  The only disappointment was that the flower didn't really smell as bad as I'd thought.  I got this photo below from my nephew who got there earlier in the afternoon.

This is what I saw when I first arrived.

By late afternoon, I check it again and it had opened and you can see the inside of the flower.

I decided to go and check this out again on Sunday morning around 9am and the flower had opened wide. I noticed they cut a large hole on the side of the flower.

from the hole, you can see the flower buds at the bottom of the flower center.

Here's the inside of the flower.  I couldn't smell the stench.  It didn't smell nice, but kind of a musty dull smell but wasn't really 'bad'.

They have another bulb growing on the side.  The guide said they are fortunate that they have enough plants so there's been one blossom a year. He also said that this plant is in the same family as the konnyaku plant. 

The plant can go thru two cycles, one cycle would become a tree like plant.  Then after it absorbs all the nutrients from the leaves, it will collapse and then go thru another cycle that can result in a blossom again.  I can't believe this tree was a flower blossom. 

Just to show how large the flower was..here are people in front of me in line.

There was quite a crowd on Saturday afternoon ready to take a whiff. Luckily the line moved at a steady pace. I was glad to see the flower, but I guess too bad it didn't smell..

Pregnant Opae'ula again - 04/01/2014

It's been a while since I've seen my shrimps carried eggs. The last time I had posted about them here was in 2009!  I just happened to check my very dirty Eco tank and saw a pregnant shrimp swimming at the top ear the water line. I'm not sure why but the tank gets very dirty but then they'll eventually clean it themselves, I guess, hence the 'eco' system.  These are really dark colored eggs and I was lucky to have spotted them.   This means I'll have more shrimps to help in the cleaning.

Monday at the Zoo - 03/17/2014

This post is a bit out of order due to all the other festivities that happened but best late than never. Erick, Celia and I checked out the zoo after the St. Patrick's Day parade. I had read about the new antelopes at the zoo and wanted to see them. Being it was a pretty hot afternoon which means a great time for napping, the animals all must've had the same idea cuz we didn't see a lot of them.  I think the Flamingos were all pretty sleepy..

One that wasn't sleepy..

Sleepy..

Not sleepy..

Sleepy..

Giraffe, looking kinda sleepy..

It was the Rhino's feeding or snack time as the zookeeper tossed apples into the water and he (or she) came for it and I got a closeup of his muddy exterior.

I took this w/ my iphone just as we exited the zoo when it was closing time.

These were the cutest water bottle holders.   Since I can't possibly 'collect them all', I just took a pic of them.. Although it was a fun day, I never got to see the antelope.. guess will just have to go back again soon..perhaps while they're not sleeping..

20th Anniversary Honolulu Festival 03/08 - 03/09/2014

I'm more than two weeks late on my Honolulu Festival Post since I took so many shots over the two days of this annual event. This year is the 20th anniversary and also the last year they will be having the finale fireworks so I was hoping for good weather. Luckily the weather did hold out and it turned out to be a good day.

This year the stage was equipped with a large screen projector so it is much easier to see the performers.

There was a performance from Korea.  They acted out a farmer and his ox.

There was also calligraphy demo from Japan.

There were lots of taiko performances. This was the Nagato Fudo Daiko.

I've seen this group Taikokozo for years and I never get tired of it.

 The Eisa-Crew CROWN from Okinawa.

They even had a small Bon Dance during the festival inside the convention center.

On Day 2, I caught more Taiko performances, this one by the Ryukyukoku Matsuri Daiko Hawaii.

The Alaska National Heritage Center Dancers.

Wang Hong from China balanced umbrellas on her foot.  Some lady sat in front of me videotaping the performance w/ her ipad nearly blocking my entire view! The slight vignetting is a result of shooting from the tight gap from which I saw the entire performance.

After the performance, so many rushed to the front when it was time for the official photo.

The last performance of Day two were this lively hip hop group Pop Lock Box.

The parade reached our spot a little after 5pm.  We found a shady spot, but the setting sun was horrible for my shots.  

I've seen this scary character from Taiwan in the previous years, but first time he came to our side of the sidewalk.

There must've been a couple of hundred girls from this school who danced their way in front of us.

The sun glare was so bad, this is the best I could do to rescue my favorite shot of a member of TaikoKozo who posed for me.

My flash battery died after just a few use so I decided to wait to shoot the illuminated floats.  I was happy people around me didn't rush out to take photos giving me a great vantage point of this glowing dragon.  I think this is the best shot of all the years I've watched the parade.

More lighted floats..

Finally having waited til almost 8pm, the final float.  I think people must've left to dinner giving me clear shot of the fireworks...it was awesome and made the 3 hour wait worthwhile.

They were right next to me that I could feel the heat from the firework..sooo awesome!

At 8:30pm we were out at the crowded beach for the finale Nagaoka Fireworks Show. They set off so many bursts at once, it was hard to get them all in without blowing out the shot..  This was a real hit and miss.

 Luckily, it wasn't too windy so most of the bursts kept their shape.

I think this is their signature design, the massive weeping willows. I have to admit that even with the long exposure shot, there was a head in my shot from someone sitting in front of me, but luckily for photoshop, I managed to clone it out.

They had set off fireworks from multiple barges... it finished near 9pm...a long but fun day..