Columbus International Festival - Taiko

International Festival - Taiko, originally uploaded by the patter.

Earlier this month the Kirkersville Honors Taiko group performed at the Columbus International Festival in Columbus, Ohio. The group consists of students from Kirkersville Elementary School and Watkins Middle School. The drumming is very dramatic, it's movements filled with symbolism.

The kids are dedicated and do a great job thanks to the direction of their instructor, Mrs. Ungericht.

Before our group took the stage, a dance group was performing. There was an old lady in the audience who was truly enjoying the music. When the dance group invited everyone to join in the dancing, she was immediately on the dance floor. You can see from the images below how much she was enjoying herself. Here is an example of living life to its fullest!

I shot the event with existing light using 50mm and 135mm lenses.

Blue Sunset

Blue Sunset, originally uploaded by the patter.

As I drove home from work one evening, I saw the sun setting over a nearby field. The sky had an unusual purple quality to it. Just a couple of minutes down the road I came to the farm house, which sits on the corner of the small road you see in the photo. Turning down that road, I saw the image I wanted. I pulled over, got out and grabbed a couple of frames. By now the purple was not nearly as intense as it had been, but it was still beautiful.

But the final image was a bit dull compared to the moments before I could get to this location. So I brought back some of the color intensity by adjusting the white balance.

Barred Owl

Barred Owl, originally uploaded by the patter.

I'm lucky I even got this shot. But I did back the car up to check out the strange shape at the top of the small tree. When I realized it was an owl, I backed the car even further, just out of sight of the owl. I grabbed my gear (I had a 135mm manual telephoto on the camera at the time), added a 2x teleconverter, and walked back to where the owl was.

I managed to grab several frames before it flew off. The morning light was still fairly dim, so the shot is not as sharp as I would have liked. Sometimes you take what you can get and feel blessed to have been a witness at all!

I've seen the owl on that same tree a couple times since, but have not had any luck improving on this shot. But I will keep trying...

A Fly Flew By

Remember the scene in 'Karate Kid' where the student tops the master by catching a fly with chopsticks - something the master had never accomplished after years of trying? Is this shot the same sort of thing? A happy accident where the fly flew into focus at the precise moment? Not exactly, and the Flickr description is far-fetched...click on the photo to jump to the Flickr image.