Waikiki in Black & White

5/365

The other day my friend and I went to Waikiki with the intention of doing some street photography only in black & white.  We both LOVE black & white and I remember back in the day when the only  way to shoot b&w was to insert an entire roll of b&w film into the camera.

If you decided you wanted to switch to color halfway through the roll, you either had to stick it out and finish the roll or remove it which was pretty tricky to do.

Now....with digital, it's just a matter of switching functions. 

But shooting b&w is a different animal than shooting color.  You have to "see" differently and anticipate what will look good and what won't.  Sometimes it's easier to shoot in color and then convert to b&w on the computer.  Part of me thinks that's cheating.  Part of me thinks that's cool.

Shooting in a b&w function forces you to be more discerning--you know that the image has to stand on the merits of composition and contrast without the impact of beautiful color to grab the viewer's attention.  Of course, the digital darkroom can really enhance any image, as did the wet darkroom, so some images can be salvaged.

So we set our cameras on b&w and began shooting.

After we finished at the beach, we headed over to our favorite Starbucks.  We did a little practice with panning and slow shutter speed.  I didn't have my tripod and I was just trying to teach my friend how to do these techniques, so I really didn't anticipate having any keepers.  Most of the images I shot were deleted, but these next three appealed to me.  

(Although the camera was hand-held, I was resting the camera on a newspaper box)

POW! WOW! Again

4/365

I finally got back downtown after the artists were done with their creations.  Some of the work was kind of creepy and some of it didn't make sense to me, but it is what it is. 

 I didn't get there during the week for any of the events, but when I did go it was great because there were hardly any people around, so I could photograph to my heart's content with hardly any interference.  

This artwork will stay on the buildings until next year when the artists return to do new work.

POW!  WOW!

3/365

"Centered around a week-long event in Hawaii, POW! WOW! has grown into a global network of artists and organizes gallery shows, lecture series, schools for art and music, mural projects, a large creative space named Lana Lane Studios, concerts, and live art installation across the globe.  The central event takes place during Valentine's Day week in February in the Kaka'ako district of Honolulu, and brings over a hundred international and local artists together to create murals and other forms of art." (copied from the website)

Today I took a walk around downtown to find some of these artists.  It was a very cool experience.  Most of them began painting on Monday, and since it is only Wednesday, they were only part-way through their projects.  It was interesting to see how they were creating works of this size.  Many of them were using pictures on their phones as reference. 

A Fresh New Day

2/365

For the past several weeks I've been dealing with some serious pain in the leg where I had my hip replacement last year.  It always takes me by surprise how constant pain can drain a person.  It's somewhat under control with the use of ibuprofen, but it's always there.  I finally had some blood work done and am awaiting the results to see what further action needs to be taken.

For the past 2-3 days the weather has been oppressive too.  Cloudy, rainy, cool--conditions that make one want to grab a book and a beverage and curl up on the couch even when feeling well.  So by the end of yesterday I was dealing with not only pain and apprehension but a serious case of cabin fever.

I say all of that as background for today.  It was a fresh, new day.  It dawned clear, sunny, beautiful & warm.  So off we headed to Ko Olina, one of the most beautiful areas of the island, to show a visiting friend the glories of the Ihilani & Aulani Hotels.

Pool at Ihilani

Ihilani Hotel

Aulani Disney Resort

Beach at Aulani

Aulani

Mickey posing for photos

Waikiki Vignettes

1/365

It was a beautiful day in Waikiki today.  A little windy, but warm & sunny.  No big waves like the ones on the North Shore, but enough wave action for the beginning surfers.  I really admire the beautiful wave photos I see that are created by talented & dedicated surf photographers, but I seem to be continuously drawn to the action on the beach.  

There was, however, one surfer I couldn't resist photographing.  We watched her "catch" three or four waves and applauded her great efforts.  

We were ultimately rewarded with this great smile.  What a cutie!

Winter Fog

81/365

Where I live, the closest Starbucks is inside a Target store.  It serves the same items and has the same logo, but it's totally missing the ambiance.  

The next closest one is about 40 minutes away.  It's a stand-alone shop, and it has some of the ambiance that Starbucks is known for, but it doesn't have any outside seating for the warmer seasons.

On my way home from the granddaughter's soccer game this morning, I stopped at that stand-alone Starbucks to get an ice-coffee. I wasn't going to get any pastry until I saw....wait for it....their seasonal

Cranberry.    Bliss.    Bar!!!

If I had had my computer or kindle with me, I would have made myself comfortable and settled in for a while to enjoy the coffee and bar.  But instead, I spent some time photographing my goodies and then got in my car and enjoyed them while driving home.  It wasn't the same, but the bar tasted just as good.

Our temps today were a balmy 45 or so.  As a result, there was fog all over and since the next "assignment" for my photo group is 'Dreamy', I pulled the car over, grabbed my trusty point-and-shoot and did the best I could.  I really wanted to get out of the car and stand in the middle of the road, but it was raining and I didn't want my camera to get wet.  Maybe next time.

The Making of a House

80/365

My grandchildren have very full social calendars.  Between their schedules and mine, it's almost impossible to get together with the 3 of them at one time.  (Forget the oldest one--between sports and working, he's never available--but would an 18-year-old want to hang out with us anyway?)

So today the all the stars aligned and we were able to spend some time together.

Making.   Gingerbread.   Houses

Now you have to understand that I'm not a "crafty" person.  I usually run screaming out of the house when someone mentions doing some kind of artsy/craftsy project. But you also have to understand that I'm desperate for activities to do with these little people.  So it was I who came up with this idea.

Youtube made it look so easy.  I'm here to tell you, though, that it's not.  (Jacob agreed with me, as you can see in the photo)  But we persevered and they each wound up with some semblance of a Gingerbread House.

And they had fun, which was really the main objective anyway.

VICTORIAN STROLL IN TROY, NY

79/365

Every 2nd Sunday in December, Troy, NY holds an annual Victorian Stroll.  It's one of the few cities in the area that holds it during the daytime.  Besides being a lot of fun, it's a tad warmer during the daylight and it's a great place for wonderful photo ops.

A friend and I decided to go today.  It was, by my uncertain calculations, the 14th day of cloudy, dreary skies, but for photography, it was perfect.  No precipitation and the temps hovered around 32, so all in all it was pretty tolerable.

Walking into Troy from the parking area we first saw this monument to the Viet Nam War.  It's really beautiful, so we spent a few minutes there taking some photos.

Frosty the Snow Man was a big hit and a lot of children we getting their pics taken with him.  None were crying, as they often do with Santa, I guess because  Frosty has such a happy face. 

There's nothing like attending an event like this with a fellow shutter-bug...

This juggler was on stilts doing her act, but I'm such a nut about getting close-ups I forgot to get her full length. 

I don't know what these folks were doing, but it was some kind of reel with the sticks and they were really enjoying themselves.

Santa and his elf were happy to pose with the passers-by.  They started playing shortly after this mom and girl left and they were really good.

They weren't too bad at hamming it up for the "tourists" with the cameras either.

I played around with this image to try and make it look a little vintage.  I like the results.