Another Trip to Chinatown

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My friend, Jackie, and I decided to make another trip to Chinatown today.  We got there pretty early while it was still cool and not too crowded.  We both did a lot of random shooting.  It surprises me that every time we go there, we manage to find something interesting to shoot, but I think that's pretty true of any street photography--things are different minute by minute and all you have to do is keep your eyes open and be aware of what's going on around you.  

We found a couple of very colorful doors.  We just stood on the street across from the doors and waited for people to walk by.  I've only posted a selection of the ones I took of this green doorway because I didn't want to overload you with such similar images.

After making our usual stop at our favorite Starbucks we drove over Magic Island just to see if there would be anything interesting.  Usually there isn't in the middle of the day, but we took a chance.  There were 4 different bride/groom couples having their photos taken.  This couple was really fun, but I think it was partly to do with the photographer--he kept giving them suggestions for fun things to do.  

Honolulu

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I finally got the chance to get into Honolulu to photograph some architecture.  This first photo is of the building that is used for police headquarters on Hawaii Five-O.  It isn't really police headquarters, but it is a court building and it's beautiful both outside and inside.

In the same general area as the above building is a Mission Museum with a small cemetery.  

All three of these images were put through photomatix.

It was a beautiful day and the "icing on the cake" was that there was a hot dog vendor selling Sabrett's hot dogs at lunch time.  Yum!

Some More Photoshop Playing

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I mentioned that I was taking an online photoshop elements course for digital scrapbooking.    This is one of the composites I created using one of my images of the Pow! Wow! event, gradients, frames, layers, and the different text functions.

Very fun.

POW! WOW! Again

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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.

Waikiki Vignettes

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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!

Fireworks

This isn't my post for today. I just wanted to share these with you. Yesterday, when I had to trash the idea of going to the Lighthouse because of rain, I still had to go to Honolulu to run some last minute errands. As I arrived, the rain stopped and I thought I might be able to get some fireworks shots if the rain held off.

The weather did cooperate. Just as the fireworks began it started drizzling very lightly. Since the "show" only lasts about 5 minutes, it was okay. It still didn't rain for my entire ride home, but it poured all night.

The image below is a cropped portion of the above image. I shot wider views last night because I wanted to see how the scene would look if I included some of the buildings surrounding the fireworks site. Which do you like better? the horizontal or vertical?

The image below is also a crop of an horizontal image. I shot all of them horizontal just to insure I'd get the entire firework burst.

Posted 9:45 am on Sat, April 11, 2009.

check back later to see my post for today.

By the way, I probably won't be posting Sunday's post until very late tomorrow (Sunday) or maybe not until Monday morning. So let me wish you all a happy and Blessed Easter. God is risen!

Some Small Miracles

This is not my photo post for today. I woke up this morning way too early, and in the process of not being able to fall back to sleep began thinking about what happened to me the other day. So now I share it with you. This might be long, but if you need a little reminder of how good God is, read on.

I went to the zoo the other day (see the post for April 2 if you're interested). It took me three months to finally get motivated to go. The guidebooks I have don't give the Honolulu Zoo a very good review, and neither did any of the people I spoke with who have been there. So I was torn as to whether I should bother or not. But the lure of possible photo ops overcame my hesitancy, and I made the trip. The zoo is in Waikiki, right across the street from the beach. Another two-for-one opportunity.

As I drove into the parking lot, I remembered that I needed quarters to feed the parking meters with. Sure enough, I forgot to get some before leaving home. I thought I might be able to find a meter with some time left on it so I could go to the store, get change and feed the meter before going into the zoo. Well, eureka, I found a meter with 1 hour and 15 minutes left! And as I put my keys into my pocket I found a quarter which then extended my time to 2 hrs 15 min. (miracle #1). Each quarter is good for 1 hour. That certainly wouldn't happen in NY. It was 3 pm and the zoo closed at 5 pm. Perfect timing.

So off to the zoo entrance, where I discovered that the kama 'aina fee was 1/2 the regular fee. (miracle #2) (kama 'aina is local resident and I have a local checking account) I also discovered that the zoo was open till 5:30 so I had some extra time.

The weather was great-anyone who knows me knows how I basically fall apart if it's too hot or muggy. That day was cool, brightly overcast, with a nice breeze. Wonderful! (miracle #3)

The animals were moving around. (miracle #4)

It wasn't crowded. (miracle #5)

My camera worked! In light of all the camera mishaps I've had this trip, it was refreshing to get through the entire zoo without a problem. (miracle #6)

On my way out of the zoo, I remembered to get some quarters because I wanted to spend some time at the beach before heading off to my friend's house. When I arrived at my car, with only minutes to spare (since I stayed inside the zoo longer than I originally intended to), I was ready to feed another quarter into the meter. However, I noticed that the meter in front of the empty space next to me had an hour and 15 minutes still left. (miracle #7) So being basically cheap (gotta save those quarters, dontcha know), I moved the car over and headed off to the beach.

When I finally looked at my watch, I disappointedly realized I needed to head back to the car and wished I had put that silly quarter in the meter. I arrived at the car with only 1 (one) minute left. (miracle #8)

I started driving to my friend's house and between my GPS and her directions I arrived there without getting lost! (BIG miracle #9)

Well, in light of all the tragedy and sorrow in our world, i.e. our new president, the economy, the mass shootings, the jobless rate, the high cost of everything, cancer, pollution, rude people, bail outs, wars, death, etc., you're probably wondering why I'm writing about parking meters and not getting lost in Honolulu, etc., as miracles.

It's just that I'm constantly reminded by my loving God that He is still in control--not just of the big things, but also of the little things. He reminds me that He can bless me big-time or in the myriad of the quiet, unseen, almost unnoticed details that make up my life. I hope I never lose my appreciation of these Small Miracles.

We will soon be celebrating the greatest miracle of all--Easter. Jesus died to atone for our sins and was resurrected. Praise God.

4 Things I Know

These are 4 things that I know, but had to be reminded of today.

1)Never go anywhere near Honolulu with only a little gas in the gas tank, because sure enough, you'll get lost, and wherever you're lost, there won't be a gas station on every corner.

2)Never go anywhere near Honolulu if you haven't recently used the bathroom, because sure enough, you'll get lost and there won't be anywhere to turn around to use the bathroom in that gas station on the other side of the road that you couldn't find when you needed gas.

3)Never go anywhere near Honolulu and assume that the exits off the freeway will be marked before the actual turnoff you need--for some reason they seem to think that putting the signs just 10 feet past the actual exit is close enough.

4)And never, NEVER, go to the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor without at least three tissues in your pocket.

So by now, I think you've guessed that I went to Pearl Harbor today. The weather was beautiful for a change, and it really motivated me to get out and do something constructive--other than getting lost that is.

This is a model of the U.S. Arizona
For any of you who might not know/remember, the Arizona is just one of the battle ships that was destroyed during the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Slightly more than 1,000 men were killed on that ship alone, and over 900 of them remain entombed in the Arizona.

The wall of names inside the Arizona Memorial

Another roll call of names of the dead from all of Pearl Harbor

A Marine looking at a display

Posted at 11 pm on Tues, Mar 10, 2009

Friday, 13th

I spent some time with a new friend who is into photography. We intended to go to Makapuu Lighthouse, but by the time we got to Honolulu, the wind was pretty intense and I knew that we wouldn't be able to get sharp photos with the wind blowing like that.

So we decided to hang around Waikiki. These are just some random images.

These two appear to be homeless, but hmmmm, notice the laptop. Gotta love it. My friend spent a lot of time photographing these two and they were very friendly and cooperative. They gave her some great smiles and shakahs, but I seemed to be pointing my camera in the opposite direction each time.

Awesome sand sculpture. The artist said it took him about three hours.

Posted for Friday, 13, on Sat. 14, 2009

Got It Back!

Two days ago, I received the sweetest email.... The Canon repair center notified me that my camera was ready to pick up. Eureka!!! Well, I couldn't go down yesterday because I was babysitting, but I was able to get there today. What a relief. This first image is the first one I took with my newly repaired camera. Pretty exciting, huh?

Since I was so close to the beach, I headed over to Magic Island again where the outrigger canoe practice takes place. I took many more shots than this, but it would probably just seem redundant to you, so this is one that is just a little different.

When I crossed the road to get into my car, I noticed this lovely scene. I don't usually park on that side of the road, so it was a fairly new sight to me too.

A friend from church has a son who loves to play ice-hockey. Yes, I really did say ice-hockey. There's a rink called "The Ice Palace" and according to my friend it's the only one of its kind in the entire state. Whoever decided to build an ice rink in Hawaii is probably a very, very rich person right now.

Anyway, Yuji, the son, has been playing since he was 14. It's a military family, so they were on the mainland when he began the sport--he's about 20 now.

We had made plans for me to meet them at their house so I could ride with them to the game. It was about 5 pm (rush hour) when I got in my car for the drive to their place. Good timing on my part--remember what I said about rush hour in Honolulu???? A nightmare!!! At some points, the freeway is 6 lanes wide in each direction (do the math--that's 12 lanes total), and traffic is practically stopped. I guess I'll learn/remember that at some point.

I did manage to make it there in time for dinner--then we bundled up--Yes, ladies and gentlemen, "bundled" up. I wore jeans, sneakers and socks, a long-sleeved shirt AND a sweater, oh. my. gosh. I couldn't believe I was doing that, but my friend assured me that it was absolutely freezing in this place and that I'd better be dressed for the arctic. I even brought a comforter just in case.

The game was fun--not like RPI games where they're out for blood. This is a "no-contact" game. It was my first ever hockey game and I loved it. AND, Yuji scored two goals and his team won. AND I got some fun shots. So altogether it was a pretty darned good day. (of course, I consider almost any day without snow a good day) Yuji is in the white jersey in this first image.

Yuji with his back to camera--I tried hand holding, slow shutter speed and zooming. Oh, I LOVE my SLR!!

Just some random players. I was panning for this one.

Posted at 11:30 on Wed, January 28, 2009. Whew, just made it!