So what do you call them?

From a gaggle of Russian musicians in traditional clothes.

No, wait...

From a group of...

No...

From a mob of,

collective...

no...

...heck, what do you call a bunch of Russians anyway?

The colours, the colours

The music festival was well planned and laid out, plenty of parking nearby for scooters and bikes.

I liked the colour contrast between the helmet and the scooter, the grass and the sky.

Scenes from a multiverse

So rather than try and capture musicians in less than stellar light, I moved about the festival to see what could catch my eye.

Photographing people and being discrete about it is difficult when you lug around a monster camera like the D1x, and throw on a 300mm lens to boot.

A music fest

Recently the city I live in had a huge music festival. Bright sunny day so naturally I left my flash gear at home, which of course proved to be a mistake as all the musicians were under tents, cutting the available light to nearly nothing.

Well if in doubt, get close and open up the lens. Next time I'll bring the flash.

A bit of History

You are looking at a bit of history here, it's an Arado AR 234, the world's first jet-powered bomber.

Again, fiddled with the lighting as the ambient light was all over the place.

Handheld as there was nowhere to brace nor bring a tripod, so apologies if it's a tad blurry.

Fun with Distortion

The most famous commercial jet ever, as taken through a 10mm ultra-wide lens, which lengthens the fuselage and shortens the wings, creating something akin to the orbiter from 2001 a Space Odyssey.

Cold War

Relics of the Cold War. A MiG 15, and in the left side background, the tail of Corsair/Crusader.

I muted the colours somewhat, as the light coming in from the windows was distracting.

Apparently this was a gift of the Soviet Union, as opposed to something captured, makes sense as it is in good shape.

To boldly go

If my memory of history is correct, the space shuttle Enterprise (pictured here) was so named from a massive write-in from Star Trek fans, as it was originally to be named something else.

The shuttle is currently parked at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum (no, I don't know how to pronounce his name, it's Hungarian so for all I know it's pronounced "Pickled Mouse")

In any case, it's difficult to capture such a huge vehicle in all its glory, especially with massive crowds around, but I did the best I could.

Can you believe the people at the museum don't allow photographers inside the shuttle? Totally rude ;-)

Seashells

Actually it's seapurses, aka skate eggs. From my trip. I have several more shots from my trip, but the next set will be from another trip I made, which was far more interesting.

Moonrise

So I realize it's still easier to load images here and talk about them than on my main website, so here is a recent one, a nice contrast to the one just below it I think.

Beach scene, just as the sun is setting behind me (and partially obscured by the dunes) and the moon is rising. The Atlantic Ocean is rougher than normal (apparently) because there is a hurricane forming 'out there' making a mess of things.

Shot with my 17-35mm lens, which is now my de-facto lens for landscape shots, and my beloved Nikon D1x.