The Cormorant, the Dragonfly, and the Bee: kids

Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts

Sunday, July 16, 2017

Sail Boston

"Sail Boston" was here from June 17 - 22. The previous "tall ships" festival was 17 years ago!

I grabbed my camera and a few lenses and headed off to see if I could capture the spirit of it. I elected to not venture across Fort Point Channel to the Fan Pier, Fish Pier, and the Seaport World Trade Center (a.k.a. Seaport District) side of Boston, where it turns out, many of the ships were docked. It was a really hot day, and the masses of crowds coming over the bridges kind of scared me away. There were still plenty of people on or near Rowe's Wharf where I spent a portion of my time. From Rowe's, Central, and Long Wharfs, I was able to see some of the ships, albeit at a distance, that were docked in the Seaport District. While I have some misgivings about what I may have missed, I ended up capturing some views of Boston on a hot summer day that I would likely not have otherwise obtained. The truth is that these tall ships look about 1000 times better when they have full sails up and are sailing in the water. When docked, the sails are (mostly) down, and they don't quite have that same majestic beauty.

This is a Netherlands vessel, the Europa, docked at Rowe's Wharf:

Europa

Some of the "scene" at Rowe's Wharf:

Rowe's Wharf Scene

I asked these police officers very nicely if I could take their picture. They said yes, but from the looks of the gentleman on the left, I'm thinking maybe he would have preferred I move on elsewhere. I thought they looked very professional in their official outfits.

Officers On Duty

The World Trade Center has a lot of flags, which on this day were behind substantial rigging.

International Rigging

I got a shot off of the popular Esmeralda, just before yet another tourist cruise ship blocked my view.

Esmeralda

This guy jumped in the water on a $100 bet from a friend. The Boston Harbor is indeed where one normally does *not* see anyone swimming, but this guy made a quick $100. He just had to make it to the next pier, and it wasn't that far away.

Betting Swimmer

At one point I saw this police boat barreling along, with lights flashing. Hope they fixed whatever the problem was.

Environmental Police

This ship seemed a bit small to be classified as a "Tall Ship" but I liked the way it looked, especially from this particular angle.

View From a Pier

Here's a famous Boston clock, seen from Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park.

Clock Tower

Kids in public fountains on a hot day? How can you beat that?

Invisible Partner

I watched this street performer for a short while during his last act.

Street Performer Smile

Line Up Those Hips

Yes, he really ran and jumped over all those people, while doing a somersault in the air. Well done!!

Midair Flight

Sprinkler Wash Cycle

Fountain Highlights

Here's a closer crop of the previous image:

Fountain Highlights v2

Fountain Cascade

Tall Sails

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Medfield Day

Towns in this part of Massachusetts like to declare a special day each year, usually in September, to celebrate their existence. I had the good fortune to attend "Medfield Day" a few weeks back. Of course, there were several other towns celebrating the same day as their town day as well. It turns out that Medfield really knows how to throw a proper Town Day celebration. It was extremely well attended, and many of the activities were designed for kids. The weather was outstanding.

In addition, Deb was invited to do a pottery demo by the Cultural Alliance of Medfield and sell some wares.

My view on events follows below.

Downtown Medfield has a rather nice water feature. There were varied booths along all sides.

Blue Meets Blue

Splash of Color

Of all the activities I observed at the celebration, I was most pulled in by watching the kids completely engrossed in painting pumpkins, especially when the painters themselves had already had their faces painted. There was just too much fun going on here! See for yourself.

Let's Get Dirty

Nice Face Paint Job

Mixing Green

Red Tones Surround Her Butterfly Face

Focused

Total Concentration

You Gotta Love That Expression

Shiny Fire Engine Gauges

Steady Hand

Here's the face painting artist herself. I wonder who painted her face?

Glitter at Work

Almost Done

This girl takes her face painting very seriously. Her mother, who was standing right next to me, told me this. Such intensity!

The Effect is Complete

As always, Deb gets many interested onlookers who find the clay throwing process intriguing.

Parallel Viewing

This highly cropped photo is a self portrait if you look closely into the lenses. That's me kneeling to take the shot. You can see Deb throwing too.

Selfie

Artist's Hands

This next one might just be my favorite shot of all the day's pictures. Gifted hands.

How an Artist Plays With Mud

Scrunched Face Onlooker

Is that Cool or What?

How Does She Do That?

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Afternoon Variety

After walking around the Res. and frustratingly taking no pictures because nothing seemed photo worthy, I returned home and took all these pictures from afternoon through late late afternoon.

All pictures in this post taken with my Olympus 75-300mm lens. For non-photographers, this is a telephoto zoom lens, not a macro lens; so I had to stand a short distance away to take the closeups. All handheld. All pictures are uploaded with a max dimension of 1000px.