Alpaca Faces

We arrived at this year's Dragonfly Festival just after it ended. While that wasn't our original intention, at least we got to meet up with some good friends as they were packing up.

The alpacas were headed home from their day in the children's zoo petting area. I had just a few quick moments to grab some photos. It was around 6 pm (dusk), so the light was dimming as well, not ideal for photography. I had my 75-300mm telephoto lens on the camera and snapped a quick series as the alpaca caretaker was strolling by with his animals.

I was quite close to the alpacas so that I had to use the lens at its shortest focal length, in fact having to step back slightly. Fortunately, at 75mm this lens performs admirably, taking sharp photos, at least within the depth of field of the focal plane.

Alpacas are similar to llamas in appearance, except that alpacas are smaller. They have very soft hair; alpaca hair fiber is used to make a variety of clothing not unlike what is made with sheep's wool.

Lost in Thought

Chewbacca's Cousin

While the (admittedly crooked) teeth in this next photo aren't precisely in focus, I thought I'd share this alpaca smile with you:

Smiling For the Camera

Bangs Need Trimming

All photos © 2019, all rights reserved.  Contact philslens@gmail.com for licensing or to order prints.

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Dragonfly Festival 2016 Take Two

After reviewing my photos from yesterday's Dragonfly Festival, I decided several more are blogworthy, and therefore decided this follow-on post was in order.

In addition I meant to mention in yesterday's post that conditions were not particularly ideal for taking photos: bright sunny day it was not, at least during the time Deb and I visited the Festival. Usually it rains a little before it rains a lot, but not yesterday. We were treated to a rare "instant deluge" of rain! Fortunately, most vendors had tent tops, and most of the Festival attendees made their way quickly under the nearest tent when the deluge began. I was able to do the same, though not until my camera equipment managed to get a little wet. Fortunately, my gear is designed to be "weatherproof", so after a quick wipe off, and waiting for the rain to stop, I was able to continue my photo taking.

As mentioned, the darker skies created extra difficulty for some of my shots. Many photos in yesterday's post and this post are at ISO 3200 and ISO 6400. Also, unlike my photos at last year's Dragonfly Festival, this year I decided to take many with my 75-300mm (150-600mm equivalent) telephoto lens. So, while I could "bring the action in closer" for my shots, a few of them were not quite as sharp as I'd like since highly zoomed shots normally require much faster shutter speeds and that's hard to do successfully on a dark day, where one needs to let as much light in through the lens as possible.

This next photo is the only one in this post taken with my 12-40mm lens.

Closer View of Dancer

Idyllic Setting

Brass Player

Sharing Under the Rain

Pushing Off Rain Water With Several Helpers

Dragonfly Festival Organizers Steve and Andrea Enjoying the Event

Dragonfly Studio Color

Gabrielle and Other Vendors

That's Chuck on the left in this next photo. I didn't realize he was in the shot 'till later. He's the official inventor of the floating fire devices.

Street Scene One

Street Scene Two

Water View

Scary Horns

Street Scene Three

Natural Designs

Wooden Delights

Gabrielle Enjoying the Day

Happy Potters

Dragonfly Peeking Out from Behind Tree

More Dragonflies Hanging Around

All photos © 2016, all rights reserved.  Contact me for licensing or to order prints.

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Dragonfly Festival 2016

The third annual Dragonfly Festival celebrating the arts descended upon Ashland this afternoon. Here are some of my favorite photos that I took at the event.

Grace

The Lighting Crew

Fire on Water

Hearts

Beauty Under Cover

AFM Organizers Relaxing

Pass the Kindling

Reflections of an Artist

Young Musician

Gabrielle's Dragonfly Wares

All photos © 2016, all rights reserved.  Contact me for licensing or to order prints.

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