I Lied, Again

Well It's been a busy busy week!
What with all the things I got on the burner and me going out and about taking pictures like a well, picture taking fiend.
Feeling under the weather didn't help as I was sulking for most of my vacation time, going through a box of Kleenex.
Anyways, I'm getting a little better with my Nikon rangefinder:

I think photography is like anything else creative.
I mean sometimes you really feel it, like one night last week when I was more than a picture taking fiend, I was a Super Picture Taking Fiend(SPTF!)! and most of the pictures I took came out pretty well.
Then there are times when I'm just out taking pictures, snapshots, and most of them are mediocre at best.
I suppose the thing is to get to a place where you don't have to think about it, sort of like how I am on the pottery wheel, and things just come out.
Kinda.
Wait what?
I lied?
Moi?
Lie to you, the faithful reader?
Okay, I did.
I am not all black and white all the time:

A couple of nights back I was in Waikiki, you know, not really feeling it so I decided to do some double and triple exposures.
The pictures I normally take don't quite portray the hustle and bustle of Waikiki at night:

So I decided to experiment.
I think the double and triples work well, it's just a matter of rethinking the compositions a bit.
Which is difficult since you are plastering two or three images onto one another, sometimes upside down.
I'll work on it.
So anyways, I got the Digital Media Festival coming up next week, and grades are due this week so I'm sort of busy.
I almost forgot volleyball tomorrow night and judo on Saturday!
Busy, busy, busy!
Be back when the dust clears.

All Black and White

All the time!
Sort of.
I mean I do haul the digital camera around with me and bring it out once and a while.
Like last night:

I was cruising around by the Hilton when I noticed the moon light on the water and I noticed those folks walking along the beach so I had to backtrack across the sand where I hastily got that shot off.
A bit blurry for it was at 1/15 handheld but I suppose it's okay.
For guerrilla photography.
Color photography has it's place, some images cry out for color but for what I do I think noir et blanc works best.

One big reason is that I dislike sodium lights.
Everything at night is orange!
Except in photo land of course.
I took that Konica out last night but I haven't developed the film yet.
I found a couple of quirks like the shutter speeds sit right between where I mostly shoot.
Instead of 'normal' speeds like 1/15, 1/30, 1/60 etc, it has 1/5, 1/10 and 1/25.
Slightly faster so we'll see how the film turned out.
It's also a stop slower in aperture so my brain was working overtime trying to adjust and compensate.
This may be a deal breaker, but maybe it's just a daytime camera.
Yesterday some of the kids and I went into school to fool around with this stuff called Inkodye.
It's a light sensitive liquid that you put on stuff and make images on well, the stuff.
Here's the picture which has been inverted:

Not my picture, but one of the students.
Anyways, you put that stuff on a shirt then lay the transparency on top and set it out in the sun for 10-20 minutes.
Then you lift the transparency off and get this:

Pretty awesome if you choose the right image.
I'll be doing one for myself once I select a good picture to do.
I let the kids experiment with it first.
Ahem.
Anyways, more on that Inkodye thing later.
I'm feeling better and now I'm ready to make good use of my vacation time.
Stay tuned.

Sunday Early Edition

So, the other day I checking the mail and what should I find?
That's right!
One more for the ole collection!

Konica III rangefinder!
I've been wanting one for a while now but I think the prices are bit inflated on the eVilness so I've been holding back.
The unique feature of this camera is that lever on the right, it cocks the shutter and advances the film.
Takes a bit of getting used to as my thumb keeps searching for a lever that not there and that front lever feels like it's going to tear the film.
Anyways, it takes nice pictures:

The viewfinder is fairly large and bright though it tends to vignette on me some.
It has a top speed of 1/500 so you'll run out of shutter in bright conditions.
I was using Ilford Delta 100 which is ISO100 and I was at f8-f16 and I feel I was still a stop hot.
Lemme show you:

See the difference?
Anyways I'm really happy with the Konica, but the real test comes at night.
It's a stop slower than the rest of my cameras but I don't think it will matter.
What will matter is how it does shooting into lights and stuff and how the viewfinder does in low light.
Still, it will make a nice daytime shooter:

Which I am off to do.
Shoot in the daytime I mean.
So off I go!

Fireworks!

Under the weather.
Why is it that it happens right before I have a vacation?
Like right when we go on break, I start to get a sore throat or my nose starts leaking.
Anyways, here's the rest of the fireworks pictures:

I took all of them at 6 seconds.
Once the show started, I didn't really have time to mess with the camera and looking back I should have taken some short exposures.

Here's a crop, just for fun:

I shot long exposure because I wanted to get the trails when they get shot off.
What happens though is some of them get blurred:

Makes my eyeballs all goofy just looking at it!
Again, I should have shot some short exposures but for the most part the images came out okay.
I learned something new which is a good thing.
Okay, I got some negatives to scan and the sick pills are making me sleepy.
Maybe I'll just do some laziness drills.
Practice makes perfect.
Don't you know.

Sunday Final

Pooped!
Again.
This time I have a good excuse: I did a biathlon today.
The Flat Tire Biathlon!
It was so nice outside, the sun was shining, and it was such a nice change from the all the rain we've been having I decided to go out for a ride:

Surprise!
I took out the Deda!
Pretty sad as the tires were all flat.
It's been a while since I've been out on a rode bicycle and lemme tell you, my legs are shot.
More on this later.
Beach bicycle parking:

Look at all the snow on the ground!
Melted snow:

Proof of riding:

Into the concrete jungle and to the far end of Waikiki:

While I was there I was reminded that there was something going on tonight, I'm so tired I forget what it was called.
Anyways, I headed back to the Flat Tire Command Center (FTCC) to make some plans.
That was the bicycle part.
I got in fifteen miles, some hard, most soft as I went through the park and Waikiki.
The second part of my biathlon involved walking back to where I had just been.
I rested for a couple of hours though.
Laziness drills don't you know.
Then I loaded up the cameras and off I went!

The street was closed; there was a parade but I figured it was going to be over by now.
Folks were still lined up waiting to go.
Both sides of the street were packed with folks:

There's actually another group way ahead there, for some reason the other groups were far behind.
I walked ahead of them for I wanted to catch the sunset.
Folks gathering for the show:

I couldn't say for sure, but I'm thinking this is some sort of ritual, this gathering of folks waiting for the sun to go down.

It was a nice one:

Then it was back to the parade!
Unbelievably still going on:

I gotta say, there's something about the Japanese and their folk dances.
They are so enthusiastic what with all the taiko drumming and bell ringing and such.
I mean them folks are working hard and having a such a good time it makes me want to go out and harvest rice!
Or something.
I followed them on the sidewalk for a bit, a very large grin on my face.
Then I had to find a place on beach for the fireworks.
Oh wait.
There was Philly cheese steak sammich in there somewhere.
I'd show you, but I ate it.
Anyways, the fireworks:

More on that later.

Sunday Early Edition

From the streets of Flat Tire Land!
Direct to you, the reader!
Or something like that.
Anyways:

Sidewalk fountain.
You'd think with all the rain we've been having they would turn the sprinklers off.
I don't usually take pictures of homeless but this was unusual:

Perhaps it was because this was a bus stop at a busy three way intersection.
I was thinking about doing a pictorial on the homeless.
Walking around you get to see actually how many are out there.
I mean folks driving around have no clue about the homeless population.
Thing is, I feel that they have their privacy too and taking pictures of them sleeping seems like too much of an invasion.
I'm still sort of thinking about it.
Anyways:

The Streets of Waikiki (SOW) were bustling last night, everyone I suppose was glad the rains were gone.
Sort of.
It was dry but there were times when it sort of threatened.
Rain had fallen earlier in the afternoon but it held off at night.
Anyways:

Wow! it's late!
The Tourneau clock said so!
Except it's an hour fast.
Which is unusual since the last time I saw it, like two or four nights ago it was right on time.
I did a double take when I checked my watch and in fact I checked my phone to double check the correct time.
You'd think someone in charge would take care of that.
Seeing as how all they sell in there are watches.
I read some where that the correct way to image watches is to set them to 10:10.
That way the hands are symmetrical and it shows of the watch face better.
None of their watches are set to 10:10.
I checked.
Anyways:

I don't know how many times I've walked through Waikiki now but this was the first time I noticed this.
Words on the sidewalk!
Only at crossing intersections though.
I thought that was pretty cool.
I tried to get that kids feet and stroller in the 'keiki' pic but the mom wheeled him/her just out of the frame.
Maybe you can see them better at night, the words I mean, but the fact that I just noticed them makes me wonder about their effectiveness.
I spent a couple of minutes back tracking and crossing the street looking to see how many there were.
More on this later.
Anyways:

I took this picture about a week back.
I wasn't really looking at the windows, I was trying to catch the reflections so I didn't really notice this:

I don't usually do store displays but I just had to share.
What the hell is Gucci thinking?
Seriously?
Reminds me of those velvet pillows from the seventies.
Or wall paper.
Or curtains.
Or something.
Okay, time to do some laziness drills and plan out my day.
Not in that order.