Here’s a few of my favorites from the event which I shot on a Nikon F3 with Ilford Delta 3200, a trusty Ikoflex before the sun went down and a Cannon 2Ti with some borrowed lenses which were very hard to give back (a 1.2 fixed 50mm plastic lens and a 3.5 zoom wide angle). A few things learned about shooting a stage and dark room full of people:

• Setting -2 EV on the digital allowed me to trick the light meter and get the exposures I wanted while still picking up detail in the shadows.
• Setting -2 EV on the film camera did not.
• When shooting for an event, vs for fun, I need to move around more. It’s fine and dandy to zone out and enjoy the music but if I don’t move, my pictures don’t, either.

The full event by pictures can be found @ Flickr along with info on who’s who. Enjoy and don’t forget to check out the event next year.

Rock Against Alzhiemer’s in Pictures

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I’ll spare you the details on how I fumbled my way through self-timer settings since I needed three hands for this camera trick and recommend a fixed macro lens. After doing some research (aka. googling), I can report that my spider is a Misumena Vatia: a chameleon of arachnids belonging to the Crab Spider species.

As I leaned in to test a macro shot on a white flower, the bee I’d been eyeing disappeared. When I heard him buzzing, I stepped back cautiously and that’s when I saw him fluttering as if he were stuck in something. I figured a web but did not expect that the white “goo” I thought I saw was actually a spider. <shudder>

Luckily, the red markings I initially took for blood made the spider easier to identify. These 2 red stripes are simply the devilish markings on this spider that camouflages itself to match the flower it hunts on.

Really hope I can think of something else to dream about. And not Robin Tunney from a scene in The Craft.

The post Caught on Macro: Watching a Spider Kill a Wasp appeared first on Jewels.

a pair of Nene

A Red-Crested Cardinal. He’s trying to help me out and still I can’t seem to focus quite fast enough. Lucky for me, I found a man with a net who picked a few fresh mangos from the tree. No eating off the ground for this chick.

Gonna guess Finch or Papya Bird. Came to Hawaii in the 1800’s, likely as escaped pets. Saw a few of these near Lihue and on my drive to Waimea Canyon.

A cattle egret chillaxing near the remains of the Russian Fort Elisabeth.

Nene Xing. Nene spotted in a refuge originally set aside to protect the Koloa Maoli (Hawaiian Duck). [fisheye lensbaby

Love Birds. The Nene is monomorphic- with male & female being nearly identical with the exception that the male is somewhat larger.

Walk Like an Egyptian. The Nene was aggressively hunted in the 1800s but is now increasing in numbers thanks to captive propagation. Check out the bracelet.

Red Junglefowl. aka: roosters. and apparently Hawaii’s first introduced species, being brought over by the Polynesians over 700 yrs ago.

In my searching to find out some of these birds & their histories, I stumbled across 2 fabulous resources- enjoy.

• A local’s page of Hawaiian Birds
• Kaua’i Birds

The post “Put a Bird on It” – visitors to Kaua’i appeared first on Jewels.

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The post Ride By: pt 2 appeared first on Jewels.

Compared to last week’s experiment, from the “safety” of my car, I found that I was less likely to capture people from my bike. Instead, I focused on architecture or waited until I was comfortably seated behind a book to spy on my fellow citizens.

Nevertheless, a few from the first roll, to be digested later.

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Here’s a few of my immediate faves from the first few “rolls” (digital snaps from a 4G memory stick + Nik’s Silver Efex Pro plug-in for Aperture): ones that are blurry, catch motion & cautionary glances from people looking more at my camera than I am at them.

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The post San Fransisco in Pictures appeared first on Jewels.

PS. Radiohead is pure euphoria. As can be expected, pictures will be loaded soon.

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