Moving Pictures

Back to the faire that started me on the path of super fandom. The Florida Renaissance Festival . Since I was here last year I've been to Scarborough Texas, The Fairs in Lady of the Lake, Sarasota, Orlando, and Brevard, in Florida. In past years I've done the Fort Myers, and Gainesville faires, and even a trip to Georgia. This will always be my first though and the one I have the most friends.  I arrived on my favorite themed weekend - Time Travelers. I was not sure I was going to make much of an appearance this year but as always - Magic happens. I spent a lot more time talking to some really great people than taking photos. When I got home I realized I mostly took photos of people I knew. There were a few I just met but this is the kind of place were friendships can be made quickly and last a lifetime. Since this is the 25 anniversary of the festival, there was plenty of new shows to see. I tried to capture them but I will have to go back again next weekend and try...

Nothing says happy retirement like a mini vacation. I have had quite a few and many more planned in the upcoming months. Not all are worth writing home about. Especially the ones I've already done multiple times. Now that my Disney Annual Pass has run out, I really wanted a total relax-ication. Away from the crowds, theme parks, roller coasters. Something peaceful and laid back. But with great food and something to occupy my time. I found that in Mount Dora. I have been here before but with my daughter on one of those trips we took when she was in highschool. Not much more than a dinner and a sleep over. That was about 7 years ago. This trip was more of an adult get-away with fine food, a boat trip, train ride, and almost a seaplane flight. Late planning fail on my part. Not to worry. I'm already looking into it for my next trip. For the ultimate in convenience and old time charm, I stayed in the Lakeside Inn right on Lake Dora. The boat, train, and seaplane are righ...

I have passed Falling Waters State Park so many times in the last six years I can't count. It was on the way to where my daughter went to college and then continued to live. Since the trip to see her is 14 hours from my home, there never seemed to be time to stop in. Since I am now retired and have had a long time dream of becoming a nature photographer, I decided this was the time to stop and see the nature. What I saw was beautiful but what I managed to capture was a profound disappointment. Thousands of dollars of photographic equipment does not make up for a cloudy day, bad settings, lack of patience, a poor eye, on and on. I took a few hundred photos but the sun only popped near the end of my visit. I did wait for about an hour while I shot this lake over and over. The ever changing cloud cover made dramatic changes in the scene but I only managed to capture a few images worth saving. These blossoms were practically an after thought. I spotted them after exiti...

When researching this lens (briefly) I found no real reviews. Just some comments on Amazon.com ranging from "I've had it a week and it was exactly what I expected" to "I'm sending it back - my camera does not recognise it". At $130.00 it was by far the cheapest camera accessory I've bought in a long time. I had a specific purpose in purchasing it. To learn how to use a camera. That may seem funny as I have over 100,000 shots on my computer, 13,000+ on Flickr with 2,000,000+ hits. I have a lot of people fooled. I have always relied heavily on the auto settings of my various cameras. Not only did I buy this lens fully knowing it was completely manual - it came with a 2X doubler. I had to take that off after the first day as a 1,000mm lens is way too much to start off with. I happen to be using a Nikon D70 but no matter the camera, it will only shoot with this lens in Manual mode. Focus is a lot more challenging than you might expect. Especially as...