Renaissance Revisited - Cat Lady #2

One interesting thing to observe at the Renfest is those performers that stay in character all day...the Cat Lady here was just relaxing and listening to the Bell Guy.

Renaissance Revisited - Cat Lady #1

Every once in a while there is a drama of sorts that plays out near the entrance as soon as you go into the village. Flash was used to capture some of the characters, including Cat Lady.

Renaissance Revisited - Skeleton Face

From sheer beauty to the diabolical...as they say, "it takes all kinds."

Renaissance Revisited - Bystander Belle

Will be staying on the subject of people for a while. This little beauty was captured on a previous visit to the Renfest, a month before those just posted...

Renaissance Revisited - Violinist #2

This time she made eye contact. Quite a bit of post-capture work was needed to remove unwanted elements from the background. This one will be featured if I ever do a before-after series on cloning...

Renaissance Revisited - Violinist #1

This may have been another of those that just settled in to collect tips. Like a kiosk in the mall, these types dot the ground in well-traveled areas to make a sale among the passers-by.

Renaissance Revisited - Sand Art

Don't know if these demonstrations are an organized part of the Festival, or if they just settle in and do their thing. Either way, this is art at its finest, in my opinion.

Today is Christmas. Got a tripod that can handle the Big Cahoona, virtually identical to the one carried by my landscaping friend in Enchanted Rock. Wow...

Renaissance Revisited - On Stilts

Had to love it when this guy implored the young girl to reach up and give him a hug...

Renaissance Revisited - Glass for Sale

Aside from color there are lots of edges to play with at the Renaissance Festival. These crystal-shaped cubes were sold at one of the myriad vendor stalls on site...

Renaissance Revisited - Skull Staff #2

Everywhere you go at the Renfest people are in costume, and in character. One of these guys is probably a dentist or accountant somewhere, but not here. Sort of like the weekend bikers that paste on temporary tattoos...

Renaissance Revisited - Bell Guy #4

This is the tip basket. Most acts at the Renfest have a tip basket of some sort. I slipped a 5 in here since he was so cooperative and made eye contact during the shoot.

The picture at bottom reveals that the whole setup is mounted on a trailer that can be hauled anywhere the Bell Guy gets a gig. This gypsy-like existence surely matches the culture that prevails at the Renaissance Festival...

Renaissance Revisited - Bell Guy #3

All of the bells, large and small, had an inscription with the same theme, which made me think they were custom-cast for the Bell Guy. If so, then it's certainly an inspiration to witness this level of follow-through of one's dreams.

They were sure loud, though; I'd recommend sitting at least five rows back unless ear protection is used...

Renaissance Revisited - Bell Guy #2

I was all over the place, snapping photos from up close and further away. Many times this guy made eye contact with the lens and held it there until I was done, all the while playing his beautiful music...

Renaissance Revisited - Bell Guy #1

The Bell Guy is one of the more outstanding acts at the Festival now, in my opinion. He is clearly so into it, and the mask with full-body costume adds an element of mystery. Watching him is just as entertaining as listening to the music! And the music is very good...

Renaissance Revisited - Bell Stage

Another new item this year was a guy that played bells from a keyboard of sorts. This statuette was overlooking the venue, and was captured before the act began...

Renaissance Revisited - Camel's Head

The venue this year at the Renfest was greatly expanded, and one of the things added was animal rides - they had this camel and a couple of elephants for five bucks a pop. I was very tempted to coerce our Taiwanese guest into an elephant ride, but the line was too long.

Renaissance Revisited - King Vulture #2

This is where volume comes in - a vast majority of pictures taken of this king vulture were discarded, but enough were taken to land a few. These are both fairly cropped in, and highlights were darkened to bring out detail in the white feathers. There were about six kids lining the stage and sitting on the steps, which forced me to shoot over their heads (the lady on stage tried to contain them to no avail). Next time we're going to arrive earlier and get just the right seats...

Renaissance Revisited - King Vulture #1

Researched a blog that named this the "king vulture". One of the most beautiful birds I've seen, whatever the species...

Renaissance Revisited - Buzzard's Back

Don't know if this would be correct, but I've devised a simple formula for determining exactly how much a photo has been cropped. In the original of this shot the total # of pixels is 12,212,224, hence 12 MP. After cropping, this portion is only 1,461,975. Doing the division reveals that only 12% of the pixels remain. Thus, it has been 88% cropped...that is, 88% of the original pixels have been removed, leaving 12% in view. Does that make sense?

Renaissance Revisited - Owl #2

It appears this fellow is scrutinizing the photographer instead of the other way around!

This shot is fairly cropped in, and a bit of post-capture work was needed to remove droppings from the perch.

Renaissance Revisited - Owl #1

I've posted pictures of this guy before, but they never get old. Such a majestic creature...

He was at some distance from the camera in the photo at bottom, so it's fairly cropped in. The focus was not perfect but it looks as though it were captured in a rural setting in spite of the large crowds below. The owl was selectively sharpened and brightened just a tad to make him stand out in front of the busy background.

Shots such as these make the $800 spent on my only lens for the Big Cahoona (so far) very much worth it...no way could these have even been attempted with the Fujifilm s7000 from days gone by. The 200mm zoom, which is equivalent to 300mm on my CX sensor, has me thoroughly spoiled! For that reason I'll be patient in waiting to purchase faster glass with the same zoom capabilities, now priced at $2,400...

The photo at top was, obviously, taken from much closer (about ten feet away), and it was no trouble finding the eye for sharp focus.

Renaissance Revisited - Red Tail

Some would think that nothing but hawks, buzzards and owls would not make for a very good show, but this is the Renaissance Festival.

For amateur photographers such as myself it's all about volume, luck, and post-capture cropping and tweaking. In fact - just as in most area of life - the ones who appear to be winners are not the ones with the most talent, but those that work the hardest. I find great joy in sitting down to manipulate these pics to my own satisfaction, and if a few good ones have resulted then that's just gravy.

He probably didn't know it at the time, but it was my traveling companion to Enchanted Rock that brought me back down to earth about all this. We were talking about the results of our work when he mentioned that the only customer he cares about is himself...he takes the pictures and edits them in post-capture to satisfy his vision and no one else's. Thus, there is a greater blessing in a work that is uniquely one's own, and no one else's, because no one else can fill the niche specifically created by those talents...

Renaissance Revisited - Skull Staff #1

Candids are a breeze at the Renaissance Festival...everywhere you look there is something like this poking up or someone in an outrageous costume willing to ham it up for anyone's camera.

A while after the Fire Whip spectacle they had a bird show on the same stage. In fact, the owner of this staff was told to put it down lest one of the stars decide to roost in mid-performance...

Renaissance Revisited - Fire Whip

The guy you see standing on the stage is the national whipping champion. Who knew there was such a thing? His show is called "Fire Whip" because at one point he performs with a whip that is on fire.

These shots were posted to show the throngs that gather at the venues. Lots of other pictures were taken, but the seats we got weren't that great, and besides the lens is too slow to capture the fast action of what he was doing with the whip.

Renaissance Revisited - Pretzel Man

These vendors are an interesting lot, carrying their wares high above their heads with either pretzels or popcorn...

Renaissance Revisited - Mud Pics

Even though we were in the fourth row it was not difficult to get past the people sitting in front of us, thanks to the pinpoint accuracy and speed of the focusing system of the Big Cahoona, which is always kept on the one point (not center-weighted or entire frame, which chooses an array from all 51 points). Having it adjusted thus affords complete control...

Renaissance Revisited - Mud Man #3

This is the third guy. He was so sunburned that his face and neck were selected and the red was reduced about 20% in each capture.

Don't know if they make all of their money with what is placed in the bags; I'm guessing that what is collected at the end of each show is nothing more than tips...

Renaissance Revisited - Mud Man #2

The mud act is comprised of three individuals; this guy is the second one to hit the scene. We were sitting in about the fourth row, which offered decent opportunity for close-up profiles such as these...

Renaissance Revisited - Mud Man #1

The Big Cahoona behaved beautifully during this excursion, with little post-capture work necessary. In fact, it is the best shoot at the Festival so far...

These guys do a bit that is fantastic, creating solid comedy out of, of all things, mud. In years past we've seen this guy standing near the entrance wearing a sandwich sign, taking pictures with folks on the way in and hamming it up for the act. Someone not familiar with Festival culture may think that it's nothing more than big boys acting like children.

But how wrong they would be! Seeing the act being honed over the past couple of years can only point to a respect for the seriousness and consummate professionalism with which they treat the act. And their incredibly elastic expressions and movements make great fodder for a photographer.

These guys are great, and make a tough job seem easy three times a day.

Renaissance Revisited - Ship Shop

Many postings have already been done on this blog of the Renaissance Festival, just south of Plantersville here in Texas. The incredible colors and unusual culture that can be seen everywhere make for perfect photo opportunities.

This time I went with my little brother and a nephew fresh from Taiwan. It is always entertaining to see the reaction from someone unfamiliar with the U.S. as they enter the gates and encounter the sights and sounds of what goes on here.

This photo is unusual in that it was caught in a rare moment when there are virtually no people in the frame, though it was already crowded at 10:15a. There was no color adjustment necessary, but just a bit of cropping and brightening of shadows was done to make the composition more even. Oh, and a light fixture was removed from the top of the structure...

Enchanted Rock - The Next Morning #3

This is not the best photo of the trip, but these critters'll get you every time. We were on our way back to the car for the drive home and saw three or four of these guys hanging around a picnic area. Though a group of Boy Scouts was there also, the deer were just fine until a big dog stepped out from behind a car...

Enchanted Rock - The Next Morning #2

A few minutes later, as the sun began its journey from the east, we were blessed with cloud cover that provided opportunities like this. As a hand-holder my photos from these moments were all slightly blurred, so used the Unsharp Mask tool in Elements to make the branches look more crisp...

Enchanted Rock - The Next Morning #1

Now we return to the next morning, when the first postings of this series were captured. We got back to the park before dawn (my favorite time of the day) to catch the rising sun against Turkey Peak. My friend is a pro-level landscape photographer, so he brought his full-frame rig with awesome tripod. I was left to hand-hold the Big Cahoona in the pre-dawn darkness.

Amazingly, this shot somehow made it without too much blur. The Big Cahoona stays in "P" mode 99% of the time, but in order to get the shutter to behave in the kind of light we were in I switched it to "S" and notched it up to 1/80th of a second. Still had to clone out some fringing and blur from the inside of the moon, but otherwise this photo is untouched...

Enchanted Rock - Evening Moss

These little clumps of moss could be found everywhere amongst the branches and twigs of the drought-stricken, leafless oak trees. Question is, how do you take a picture of them? I settled on making a silhouette against the darkened evening sky...

Enchanted Rock - Second Summit #4

Walking along the summit of Little Peak I chanced upon this line of grass...the setting sun was just at the right angle to illuminate the blades without shining directly onto the rock. Since the camera was pointed into the sun there was a bit of lens flare, which was cropped out of the upper-right corner of the photo.