Amaryllis Tries To Start A Family

        What was, on March 13, 2010 just an amaryllis bulb has grown into a 6 flower metropolis, with an additional two under construction. The pic above is a macro shot of the reproductive area of one of them. The high ISO I used (3200) enabled me to use a a very fast shutter speed, which then enabled me to handhold the camera while using the full 450mm of my lens. I remain impressed with the very low amount of high ISO noise my D5000 produces.
        Something that I an really enjoying about my D5000 is that because it is a Nikon DX camera, it’s sensor size gives me a 1.5x crop factor, so my 70-300mm (non-DX) lens is attached, it is a 105-450mm for me. Same for my 50mm f/1.8 prime lens. It is a 75mm when attached to the D5000. Ken Rockwell wrote a great article explaining crop factor, and it is well worth reading. His entire site is actually very informative. Knowing how a lens is going to act on your camera before you buy it can save you some possible buyers remorse later. Full stats for the pic are: 450mm, 1/500th, f/5.6, 3200 ISO

Murrugun The Mystic Amazes The Crowd

        The Spring Busker Festival rolled into San Diego’s Seaport Village this weekend, and it was quite a show. A “Busker” is a street performer of just about any sort… Jugglers, dancers, fire-breathers, comedians, etc. They perform because they love to perform. These people are the epitome of “follow your dream” because they are brave enough to take a stab at doing what they love for a living, rather than rotting under fluorescent lights for 40 hours a week.
        For the photo above I had meant to focus on Murrugun The Mystic, but in my haste to capture the fireball, accidentally focused on the crowd behind him instead. I think the faces on the crowd says it all. This performance was amazing and everyone there had a great time. The vignetting on the right and left side are actually the heads of the people standing in front of me. This pic was snapped at 1/100th, f/1.8, 400 ISO.

Calypso Tumblers Warming Up The Crowd

        These are just two of a troupe of about 10 or so dancers that were more flexible than any Olympic gymnast I’ve ever seen. Shot at 1/60th, f/1.8, 2000 ISO.

Project Dynamite Explodes Onto The Scene

        The dynamic duo from Project Dynamite (Alex Clark & David Kaplan) pulled several people from the audience to help them out, and the two pictured above happened to be my favorite. Their immediate stage names were Berta and McLovin, and they tried their best to steal the show. Berta was kind enough to let a couple people do a motorboat between her breasts, and even helped a shy McLovin get in on that action. After being tied up in chains, Project Dynamite escaped and removed their clothes in 35 seconds. The pic above was snapped at 1/30th, f/1.8, 1600 ISO. The video below shows them escaping and undressing.

Murrugun The Mystic With His Money And A Honey

        When Murrugun finished swallowing swords and blowing fireballs 20 feet into the air, it was time to collect his dues. He must have left his collection hat at home so he went for the next best thing… He allowed tippers to staple money to his body! I would like to repeat that: Murrugun The Mystic allowed people to staple money to his body. $5 bought onlookers the privilege of stapling cash onto his nipple, while $20 earned you the right to staple a greenback right onto his forehead. While others stapled, I snapped this pic at 1/100th, f/1.8, 1600 ISO.

Project Dynamite With A New Assistant

        After they escaped from the chains and their clothes, Project Dynamite found a new volunteer. Her job turned out to be torch bearer, or more specifically, torch thrower. After stacking 15 folding chairs and balancing on top of them, the assistant tossed six torches up to the performers, where they (the torches) were set aflame and juggled. It was quite a thing to see. Vital stats from the pic above are 1/60th, f/1.8, 1600 ISO.

And Then There Was Fire

        This was the finale for Buskers After Dark, 2010 in Seaport Village, San Diego. Project Dynamite, stripped down to their skivvies juggled torches between one another while balancing 10 feet in the air on a stack of folding chairs. I bet next year will be even better!

Amaryllis Begins To Bloom

        After just under a month in the soil, my amaryllis bulb is starting to bloom. It has really shot up in the last week or so, so you’ll want to make sure to see my previous posts that document the planting and growth of the amaryllis. My first post, on March 13, 2010 shows an unimpressive bulb, moments after being planted. A little over two weeks later was my next post, with a photo that shows what seemed like very little progress in the growth of this plant. Eight days after THAT was my third post, and these photos really show that plants, like people can have growth spurts too. I was really surprised by how tall the amaryllis had become. Now, a mere 4 days after that, the flowers have all cracked out of their buds and are starting to bloom.

Oak Canyon Trail

        As a Denver transplant, nature is something that I hold very near and dear. The wildflowers of Colorado are (in my opinion) the show to see at this time of year because you have over a mile of elevation between Denver’s foothills and the Rocky Mountain’s treeline to see flowers you won’t find anywhere else. The alpine flowers are small, robust and barely hint at what color they are, while the city-level flowers are huge, fragrant and colorful.

Hunting Wildflowers

        Yesterday I tried, in vain to find some wildflowers in East County San Diego, along the Oak Canyon Trail. Apparently, I’m just about a week late, because there were hardly any flowers at all. It was still a fun trip and I think my photographic companion and I would still call it a success.

Amaryllis Shoots Up Like A Rocket

        Back on March 13, 2010, I planted the amaryllis bulb my parents gave me for Christmas, and it is absolutely rocketing into space now. I am using a rocket analogy right now, on this Tuesday night because in a couple hours, the space shuttle Discovery is going to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) and I will be watching it live on NASA TV. As my parents’ ward for 18 years, I moved up the California coast and up to the Mile High City as a direct result of what the space shuttle program was doing.

Amaryllis Orbits The Earth

        Tomorrow morning (April 7, 2010) will be unique for me because when I look into my San Diego sky at 5:23am, I’ll see the ISS streak across the sky, after watching the space shuttle slowly dock on NASA TV. Then I’ll go to work, but why let that ruin it? If any of you loyal readers would like to know when the ISS will be visible to you, then you should follow TWISST on twitter.

Helicopter

        Just a shot of a chopper, flying past Seaport Village last Saturday. I haven’t taken a decent shot for a few days, so I just wanted to post something.

Pier Cafe In Seaport Village

        Next Saturday, April 10, 2010 is the Spring Busker Festival in Seaport Village, San Diego. With that in mind, I headed down to Seaport Village THIS weekend in order to scope out where the festival would be so I can be sure to have the best photographic vantage point on the day of the festival.

A Busker Practices

        Fire touching bare flesh is only one of the many weird and crazy things I hope to see at the Spring Busker Festival in Seaport Village. This particular Busker was entertaining a crowd of people by juggling knives and spinning a flaming ball of fire all around, including wrapping it around his leg.

UFO Shines A Light On La Mesa, CA

        This is my third close encounter I’ve experienced during my 36 years of life. The first was in 1994, just North of the Straits of Malacca, in the Indian Ocean. I didn’t get any photos of that encounter so you’ll just have to believe me when I say that it was an amazing experience for a 19 year old sailor, 8800 miles from home. The second encounter was during June of 2009. I have a photo and blog post of that encounter that you should read. This time, I have 2 images, both taken with my Nikon D5000 at 3200 ISO.

Why Do Aliens Come To America?

        Just a little camera info for you readers about these images: They were both shot with my Nikon D5000 at 1/4 of a second, f/1.8, 3200 ISO. They were also shot hand-held (no tripod), through the glass of my bedroom window, which explains the noise and general low quality of the images.