LA 4/12, Lunar Eclipse 4/14, Kahuku 4/18, PCC 4/19/14

LA: Lemonade Alley 4/12/14…(click on the link for more info)

This event was a win/win situation. Kids grades K-12 had an opportunity to have hands on experience in entrepreneurship. This event was also a profit to share event, the money raised via the different lemonade stands went to an organization that the individual stands chose to donate to. Prior to the event there were 3 Saturday training sessions, such as public speaking/sale pitches, how to make various lemonades, how to make unique stands. 

Steve Sue (founder/organizer), let the show begin!!!  Kimee was a very witty emcee. She also assisted with the training sessions.

 There were about 25-30 stands.

Yup, she was drumming up business.

Earlier, they gave the judges a taste test of their lemonade.

And yes, the groups each had to go on stage and give their sales pitch - hint hint, 30 seconds remaining, 15 seconds remaining.

 I could not help myself, I had to capture Minori in action.

Lunar Eclipse, Monday, 4/14/14…

Linda Sue and I have been taking a photography class with Scott Kubo. We both really like his style of teaching and the group has been great - each person coming with his own talent. 

This night that we looked forward to was met with lots and lots of clouds, but I managed to get some pictures. Luckily I had my class come to my place (which has a roof and a party room that the residents can use) cuz we were able to ask Scott for help. Since the moon can get very bright, like the sun, the shutter has to be fast; but as the moon darkens, the shutter has to be slower to allow more light to reach the sensor. You know what I mean. But as you can tell I still ended up with a bright moon - still learning.

Kahuku (conservation group), Friday, 4/18/14…

Some of us from Eyes of Hawaii joined a group trying to keep country country. We were at Kahuku where resort hotel Turtle Bay is. They just don't want more hotels to be built in the area.

The rocks in the foreground was a marking that the Hawaiians used for land division. It was called Ahupua`a Here is a link.  The word is ahu (heap of stones) and pua`a (pig) ...A pig or other tribute was laid on the alter as tax for the chief.

It was really low tide.

PCC: Polynesian Cultural Center, Saturday 4/19/14…

Mahalo (thank you), Clarence Nishimoto for inviting me to spend a day here.

He knows that I enjoy photography. I said, watch this - I put my camera on a tripod, attached a neutral density filter on my camera lens, changed my f-stop to 22. Notice the water fall is wispy and the water is somewhat smooth.

2:30 pm. The various Polynesian groups entertained us.

 Hawaii

 Tonga

Tahiti

 Aotearoa

Samoa

 Fiji

(the guys used their paddles to splash water)

We roamed to their villages. Tonga was the most hilarious. The first guy could not catch on that he just had to beat the last 2 beats to a catchy tune. He thought he had to copy the drummer. The second guy did not follow instructions and the Tongan flew his hands up. This third guy some how hit his drum and it went flying. I was so glad I caught that.

The Tahiti village demonstrated a wedding.

Hula was demonstrated in the Fiji village.

I managed to get this picture (floor of stage) before I had to put away my tripod and camera.

7:30 pm, performance of "Ha: Breath of Life" …a story of passion, ignited by fire, song and dance.

Clarence and I were in suspense with the fire twirling portion. It was awesome!!!

I purchased this cloth that can be worn as a lavalava for men or a sarong for women. The money goes to scholarships for hundreds of Polynesian students attending the adjacent university, Brigham Young University-Hawaii.

I chose to drape it over my shoji screen in my room. Yay!

Parade/Zoo-3/17, Sunset-3/25, Macro-3/26/14

Life has been good. Jon and Casey stayed at my place while they were here from March 11-15. Sorry no pictures.

Monday, March 17...

Erick, Shun Wah and I got together to enjoy the St. Patrick's Parade and the Zoo. It really has been a long time since we have gotten together to take/make pictures.

Saint Patrick's Day or the Feast of Saint Patrick was well celebrated during this parade.

Even the Royal Hawaiian Band participated and they wore these shirts. Usually their colors are yellow and red.

Knowing that the parade was going to end at Kapiolani Park, we decided to go to the Zoo which is near by. Only draw back was that most of the animals were having an afternoon snooze. Hense, not many pictures.

I had no idea that the gibbons had a baby. I thought the female was sleeping but turned out she was nursing her baby (which is what a baby Gibbon is called). Baby seems to have enjoyed his/her meal.

Tuesday, March 25...
Erma also got to stay with me for about a week. On her last day, she finally got to enjoy malasadas and Dole soft serve Pinapple ice cream from Leonard's bakery. I was pleasantly surprised about the pineapple ice cream being there. What a great send off plus the following pictures of the sun setting.

I was hoping for a green flash but this boat approaching completely blocked the sun as it was going down. Uggh. (Lol, maybe there was no green flash.)

Wednesday, March 26… (State holiday Prince Kuhio Day, in honor of Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole)
Our photo assignment for this week is macros. I am really enjoying Scott Kubo's class. We have experimented with different filters. (near infrared, polarizer and neutral density)

I was able to trade in my 60mm macro at Lighthaus Camera and pay the difference for the 100mm macro. Yippee. They even said that my Canon T5i has enough megapixels to allow me to crop and get clarity. It worked!!! 

Also at  Foster Garden, I was happy to see this plant, Titan Arum or Corpse Flower. See the link for more info. bioscigreenhouse.osu.edu/titan-arum-faqs

Ka`ena Point, 2/17/14

Minori, Linda and I are members of Eyes of Hawaii, a photography club.  Although the weather was iffy, we still wanted to go despite the club cancelling this outing to  Ka'ena Point. This link describes the 2 ways you can get to the most western part of Oahu. We chose the Wai`anae side instead of the Mokule`ia side.

We did have to dodge mud puddles. 

Almost there...

 Yay, we saw albatross

 And this bunker

 Yay a monk seal, what a life!

 Make that another monk seal.

 Lol, took this from Minori's FB page.

 Just trying photo effects.

Heading back.

We had so much fun!!!
We have another outing planned for the Waianae coast with more members. Yay!!!

(disclosure - the pictures getting to Ka`ena Point were taken with my iPhone - much easier to make photos with)