A couple who were waiting for their photographer, caught in a moment all to themselves. I hope they have a long and happy life together.
Category: photo things!
D-Day, 6 June, 70 years later
On the 70th anniversary of the Normandy invasion of D-Day, the 6th of June 1944, I went to the WWII Memorial in downtown DC to get a few photos. I had missed the commemoration ceremony that morning, but I did see the wreaths laid at the Freedom Wall, one from each Allied nation that fought in WWII, and had died on the beaches of France that day. I love the WWII memorial, for its subtle and no-nonsense tribute to a straightforward, no-nonsense generation that fought and destroyed the militaristic and totalitarian dreams of conquest, at a terrible cost. For their sacrifice we can’t give enough thanks, and it’s good that we can honor them while many are still with us. Their remaining time with us is now far too short, and I wish that anyone who knows a WWII veteran will take time to thank them.
Nerdtour 2012 flashback: Brilliant fountains of Yoyogi Park
In the middle of Yoyogi Park there’s a small lake with two fountains. During the day they alternate how high they shoot up, but at night they are both lit from below by constantly changing colored lights, which create fantastic displays of light and motion.
Nerdtour 2012 flashback: Yoyogi Park, Tokyo
Katsucon 2014 pics as promised
So, I said I’d post some more Katsucon pics from last week, and here they are! There are a whole lot more on my portfolio site, if you want to see more. These are what I think are my best of the best, so enjoy!
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Coming soon: Katuscon 2014 pictures
I’ve been remiss in updating that often, but last weekend I had an excuse: I was at Katsucon over in National Harbor, Maryland. The con this year was disrupted by the snowy weather, which lead to some guests delayed or unable to attend, and some of the panels were cancelled or re-scheduled as a result. Also, most people who had pre-registered, who would have gone Thursday night before the con to pick up their badges, most of them showed up late on Friday, and thus there was a line that lasted at least 3 hours in order to pick up con badges. I know because I was one of the thousands in that line, and that’s how long I stood there! That caused me to miss a couple of panels that I really wanted to see, but at least I got some pictures of cosplayers in the line!
As if to make up for the disruption from the weather, there were a lot of very imaginative (and timely!) cosplayers this year, and I have pictures of many of them. Of course, since there was a tremendous amount of snow on the ground, there was a plethora of cosplayers playing characters from the movie “Frozen.” So many Elsas and Anas, and even other winter-themed characters like “Jack Frost” from “Rise of the Guardians”. The largest number of cosplayers this year though had to be the “Attack on Titan” characters. This year there had to be more “AoT” characters percentage-wise than any other anime in other years, even counting “Bleach” and “Gurren Lagann”! (Sorry, “Homestuck” kids, you were FAR outnumbered this con!)
At any rate, I will be posting pictures here and on my photo site, at much higher quality than the ones I already posted on my Facebook page.
As an example, here’s a cosplayer who was taking photos herself (Click for a larger version):
Beautiful, terrifying free-fall videos…
From two years ago, when Felix Baumgartner jumped out of a perfectly good, pressurized capsule at 24 miles up, and free-fell to Earth to test a pressure suit and make history as part of the Red Bull promotion, “Red Bull Stratos.” This is a compilation of videos taken from the GoPro cameras attached at various places on his suit, and just released on YouTube. Personally, I have great admiration for him, and for his predecessor, Joe Kittinger, who made a similar jump back in the 1950’s. I also would never in all of my remaining life ever do what those men did, it isn’t even on my “bucket list”! My severe acrophobia wouldn’t let me even climb the ladder to get into the capsule, much less allow me to ride it up 24 miles!
This video compilation takes various views of Baumgartner’s jump, from his chest, legs, and from the outside of the capsule. GoPro cameras are amazing in how fantastically well they capture hi-definition video, and how rugged they are, and this video is definitely a beautiful, terrifying addition to their library. The addition of the ground-to-air conversation added to the excitement, especially when Baumbgartner went into a high-speed spin during part of the descent.
Well, enough talk, here is the video, please enjoy (and if you feel sick while watching, don’t worry, I think a lot of people will, too!)
Nerdtour 2012: Riding on the Enoden pt.4: Shichirigahama Surfin’ Safari
My journey on the Enoden line continued, leaving Hase and the Great Buddha, and heading for Enoshima. Â Along the way, though, through one of the windows on the train I spotted the ocean, and thought “that looks neat, I want to see the beach!” Â So, I persuaded my buddy John that we should get off at the next station, named “Shichirigahama.”
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[/one_third_last]Turns out that it’s well-known for its surf, and there were a whole lot of surfers taking advantage of the mild November afternoon and evening.
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[/one_third_last]There were also a lot of people just out enjoying the beach, taking in the sun. There’s something about a beach, with the waves crashing on the shore that’s just peaceful and relaxing, makes it easy to get into a contemplative mood, or even to just “veg-out”.
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[/one_third][one_third][/one_third][one_third_last][/one_third_last]My buddy John also found, um, “other” views as well…  “So, not so disappointed at stopping here now, are you John?”
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[/one_third_last]Shichirigahama reminded me very much of southern California, especially around the Sunset Beach area I visited a long time ago.  Sunset Beach was aptly named, and Shichirigahama’s sunset was equally stunning, I kept taking pictures and videos every few minutes, just to try to capture the view. I even got to get a picture of Mount Fuji, but just like in 2007, all I could get was a silhouette shot…
Here’s one of the videos I took, of the Sun just disappearing behind the mountains beyond Enoshima Island. Â You can see more of the pictures at my portfolio site.
Enjoy!