Dude, I’m dragon…

Posted on 16 August, 2010 by Eric

So a few weeks back, when we went to the 10th annual Denver Dragon Boat festival, I made a point of lingering along the path the dragon would take during the opening festivities. Very colorful, not something you see every day — I thought it’d present some interesting photographic opportunities.

So after firing away, taking pictures of the dragon’s passage, I was more than a little surprised myself that I’d captured this shot. One of the dragon’s carriers definitely isn’t too enthused about the whole affair…

A little “light” entertainment

Posted on 20 May, 2010 by Eric

If you ever get to Hawaii (in particular, if you ever get to the island of Oahu), chances are you’ll wind up stopping by the Polynesian Cultural Center. It’s the #1 paid attraction in the state, after all. An adjunct of the BYU-Hawaii campus, the PCC serves a cluster of purposes — entertainment, helping college-age kids from across the Pacific pay for college, and providing some cross-cultural education.

Granted, the displays of polynesian culture at the PCC are “cleaned up” a bit (as you might expect given the circumstances), but for most visitors it’s at least a quick way to get exposure to a slice of Polynesia they wouldn’t see otherwise. The after-dinner show is also a great way to get practice photographing flaming torches:

I was more than a little surprised that this shot didn’t require much noise cleanup — the torches do a great job of lighting the entertainer (just had a bit of noise in the darker background). BTW, this is a shot from the “Ha: Breath of Life” show. Great stuff for the kids…

So many don’ts

Posted on 10 April, 2010 by Eric

About a year ago, a business trip gave me the opportunity to wander around a bit in Seattle. I was particularly lucky to have a little free time on a beautifully sunny day — and spent a chunk of it in Gasworks Park, a reclaimed industrial area.

But as you can see from the sign, reclamation can only do so much. So while the scenery behind the camera was green and pretty, this particular spot for contemplation bears a reminder of the site’s less beautiful legacy. The shot looks cluttered in color, but I think black & white is a good fit for it…

Playing for change

Posted on 2 April, 2010 by Eric

On a recent trip to Seattle, I spotted this busker with an accordion just up the block from the Pike Place Market:

Pity I didn’t see the little sign at her feet at the time. We were, though, hustling up the street to get somewhere — I only had time to take this shot because we were waiting for the light to change so we could cross the street. If I hadn’t had a longish lens on my camera at the time, I wouldn’t even have been able to capture this scene.

FWIW, she didn’t play a note the whole time — just stood there with her accordion. Maybe a tip would have prompted some music?

Rock crystal

Posted on 12 February, 2010 by Eric

A picture from the Hopewell Rocks, in Canada’s Bay of Fundy

The Bay of Fundy has arguably the highest tides in the world, about 17 meters — the result of an odd resonance in the bay (a wave will travel from the mouth of the bay to the inner shore and back again in about the same time as the spacing between high tides). One of the offshoots of these tides is that a lot of ground gets uncovered at low tide.

Here, you see my daughter (just turned 7 when this picture was taken) standing under the middle of “Lovers Arch.” Come back in 12 hours, and only the green top of the arch will still be above water.

Waikiki evening

Posted on 24 January, 2010 by Eric

On our recent Hawaii trip, we spent the better part of an evening wandering around the beach at Waikiki. Mostly I was hoping to get a good sunset shot (the previous night, the sunset was gorgeous — but I was on a bus headed to our hotel from the airport and couldn’t get a shot of it), but I figured I should make good use of the opportunity while I was waiting. In this one, you can just make out the silhouette of one person walking deeper into the water:

BTW, I never did get my sunset shot — night after night, the clouds wound up blowing in just in time to block the view.

Dancing toe to toe

Posted on 22 January, 2010 by Eric

One of the constants when you’ve got a kid in grade school is that you’ll be seeing a lot of small animals in order to keep your own small fry entertained. So it was that when the National Western Stock Show came to town this year, we just had to check out something called “Dances with Dogs.”

The event’s put on by a local group of people who dance with their dogs to keep them (both humans and canines) entertained and exercised. Here’s a miniature poodle dancing with her human:

I just love the engrossed look on the little dog’s face…

This blue merle Australian Shepherd was also part of the dancing:

Red alignment

Posted on 19 January, 2010 by Eric

We’ve got relatives in Arizona, so occasionally when we’re visiting we get an opportunity to drop in on some local attractions. On one trip I thought I’d experiment with a long-exposure nighttime shot of one of the telescope domes at Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory: