I’m awake, I’m awake…..

Wow, late wakeup this morning.  Slept in until 8 a.m.!  I don’t know the last time I’ve slept in that long.  Very nice.

Yesterday was exhausting!  Wandering the square for a good part of the afternoon, photographing when I could, running back to the gallery for a few custom prints, closing the gallery, and finally trying to see the evening shows at Tsunami.  The last was the hardest part, and I’m sad to say I have no images from the evening shows.  The crowd was pretty deep, the courthouse stairs were full, and from a distance the fire dancers looked interesting.  Wish I could have gotten closer.

Bottom line, a super long day left me exhausted!

I can say that the parade made for some interesting photos.  I’ll be sorting through them over the next few days and working on a couple of them.  Unfortunately the lighting was poor.  Under shade trees at noon, dappled light, shadows and light mixed together on the subjects.  Tough to get what you want.

There was a moment yesterday that was beyond strange.  After the parade wrapped up I was walking near the performance area looking around.  A police officer approached me and stopped me.  He looked at my camera and told me I would need an event pass in order to photograph Tsunami.  The requirement was based on the size of my lens basically.  I had the 70-200mm F/4 on the camera at the time.

Around me were dozens of other people with DSLRs out.  Smaller lenses, but there they were.  I started to ask why I was singled out, but he asked me to follow him.

I was brought around to meet the “official” photographer for Tsunami.  Fortunately I know the photographer, so I told myself to hold my tongue and see what was what.  They had a little sheet that they wanted us to read.  3 of us.  An older woman, a woman who looked to be in her 30’s, and me.  Our common point was having lenses that said “I’m big.”  Hmmmm……We read the sheet and then got little stickers to put on our shirts.

In the meantime, while we read the sheet I saw no less than 4 folks walk by me with DSLRs who were not hasseled by the officer (he stayed with us until we got our stickers).  The sheet was simple.  Don’t crowd people, block views, get on the stage to shoot, etc.  Basically the sheet was a “Don’t be an idiot” statement for photographers……..

Somebody should have shared that sheet with the guy video taping the parade who walked directly in front of me twice.  Of course, the thousands of other cameras didn’t catch anyone’s attention, only the big lenses seemed to get flagged.

No complaint toward Tsunami.  Just a strange incident that reminds me of so many stories of officers hasseling photographers for tripods, monopods, or the ever popular, “What are you doing photographing here?”  I had no tripod or monopod.  Just an uber cool looking camera I guess…….