You got through to the list Joey. Glad you had a good trip. And I
warned you about those waves! <g>
Gary
Joey Richards wrote:
> Hello All,
>
> Some of you may remember that I left about a week and a half ago
> for a spring break trip to warm, sunny Hawai'i... well, unfortunately
> I have returned to uh, well, warm, sunny Boston (I'm not sure what's
> going on with the weather, but it's better than the snow the day
> I left) so I'm back to the list. I haven't actually received any
> messages since leaving (just resub'ed), so I wonder what's been
> going on...
>
> Warning: this message is long and probably boring. Feel free
> to ignore it if you like. It does include the drama of one
> camera problem and a potentially OM-ending tragedy, though,
> so consider that before you hit delete. Hahahaha.
>
> Although my photographic style was somewhat cramped by the 5
> friends with whom I was traveling, I managed to shoot 6 rolls of
> slides and 2 of black and white during the week that I was
> there. I'm pretty happy with those numbers -- I pretty much
> used up everything I brought with me. Hopefully the gods of the
> US postal service and the Fuji processing lab will see fit to
> safely return my slides to me soon. Actually, I only mailed
> 5 of the rolls to them, I've still got the last roll of slides
> and the b&w to deal with. I think I'm going to take it to a
> "real" lab tomorrow and pay a lot to ensure that I get at
> least something in case the planets have aligned against me. :-)
> Plus, I'm impatient.
>
> Most of the shots were landscape / water / sky... some people
> when I could get my friends to pose or when I could catch strangers
> doing photogenic things in the telephoto lens. :-) That's an
> easier task on the beaches there than it is around here, I'd
> have to say... heh.
>
> First destination was Pearl Harbor Memorial, which was nice. They
> have a short (~20 min) movie followed by a ferry trip that takes
> you out to the memorial. The memorial itself is a white bridge-like
> structure that is built over the sunken wreck of the USS Arizona.
> >From inside, you can look into the water at the remains of the
> ship and at one end is the "standard" wall engraved with the names
> of those who were killed in the attack. You can also see the
> USS Missouri, or the "Mighty Mo'" which is on display nearby
> (no connection with Pearl Harbor attack). I'd say the memorial
> is worth the trip if you are on the island. It is free, which
> is nice for traveling students. (the Mighty Mo' involves something
> like a $15 ticket, btw... we didn't feel like paying so we didn't
> check it out). Between the memorial and the museum there, there
> were a fair number of photo ops... especially if it is your first
> day on the island. :-) If you happen to be trying to find it,
> you want the USS Arizona Memorial.. if you just follow signs that
> say "Pearl Harbor" all the way, you end up at the military base
> and they send you away. Not that it happened to us. :-)
>
> We then headed out to the Dole pineapple plantations to see what
> they were all about. Lots of pineapples, surprisingly enough.
> Also, a large gift shop selling.... pineapples and pineapple
> products. Plus, they boast the world's largest (as of guinness
> 1998) hedge maze. Kind of amusing. Not terribly photogenic
> (other than the "this-is-my-friend-running-through-the-maze"
> shots and the "this-is-what-my-big-bearded-friend-would-look-
> like-as-a-dole-pineapple-babe" shot) Oh, they also had a small
> pond packed with very hungry, rather large koi. If you paid
> 50 cents to get the fish food and dropped it in, a truly amazing
> thing happened. Where once you saw the water, suddenly there was
> nothing but a wall of koi, struggling frantically to reach the
> top and the food that was there. Several hundred (at least)
> foot-long goldfish trying to climb over each other out of the
> water, wriggling and flopping and generally being insane.
> I hope my pictures of this phenomenon come out.
>
> Hmm, then came a couple days split between the beaches near
> Waikiki (the main tourist strip). We actually hung out on
> Ala Moana beach, just down from Waikiki beach... got some
> nice pictures of the beach, including some sunset and night
> shots, and managed to narrowly avoid sunburn. It was my
> first time actually entering the water at an ocean (too damn
> cold up here, and the oceans around Indiana leave something
> to be desired...) so that was exciting. It was very nice,
> but I wish it didn't taste so damn salty.
>
> After one afternoon, we decided that it was time to find a
> nice spot to sip Mai Tai's and look out over the ocean. Being
> students, hotel lounges were out of the question, so we hoped
> we could find somewhere less expensive. Well, we did, and
> much to our surprise, it was at a _Denny's_ right across the
> street from the beach. It had a great view of the ocean and
> a bar that made decent Mai Tais for $2.64 each. Wow. I
> think I've seen everything now.
>
> One day was spent at the Polynesian Culture Center located on
> the north side of Oahu. It's sort of an amusement park-style
> setup where natives of the various polynesian islands give
> demonstrations of various elements of their cultures. For
> the admission, you get to see an Imax movie (they were showing
> a polynesian culture one, as well as everest and something
> about the living ocean), hang around all day (from noonish
> until 6pm), eat dinner, and attend a big live show at the
> end. While there, I shot a whole bunch of pictures (of course)
> and toward the end of the last show, noticed that I was about
> to spend the end of the roll of film I'd been shooting. Hmm,
> there went frame 36... 37... 38... hmm, something's wrong.
>
> Apparently the film had not loaded properly on this roll.
> It's happened once before, in about the same manner. I'm not
> sure what's going on -- my loading procedure is: insert roll,
> stretch leader to the take-up spool, insert it in the slot, wind
> slowly and ensure sprockets are in holes in film, turn rewind
> knob until slack is gone, close back, and advance until frame 1
> reached, verifying that the rewind knob turns. I'm hoping it's
> just that I was in a hurry and somehow misloaded, but I don't
> know... I'm usually pretty careful. At any rate, I noticed
> this just in time to panic, reload, and shoot some emergency
> photos of girls dancing in grass skirts. Of course, none
> were even remotely comparable in artistry and magic to those
> that were lost on the misloaded reel, but I'm hoping they'll
> do. Isn't it funny how every frame on the lost roll was
> absolutely perfectly composed and exposed? :-)
>
> Of course, the girls in grass skirts were vitally important to
> this trip. The two long lenses I brought (zuiko 135/3.5 and
> a sigma 80-200 zoom) were borrowed in exchange for a print
> of a hula girl in a grass skirt. :-)
>
> Anyway, the Polynesian Culture Center was very cool, very
> informative, very entertaining. I learned how to husk and
> open a coconut into two pieces and then make coconut milk,
> and how to start a fire using a coconut husk and a
> wild hibiscus branch. (this was in the Samoan style)
>
> Hmm, we spent a morning walking up to the top of the diamond
> head crater, which afforded some nice photo ops, though it was
> very crowded and not quite what I'd expected. That afternoon
> we went snorkeling in Hanauma Bay, which was great... I didn't
> bring my camera at all, since I wanted to concentrate on
> the snorkeling. :-) (plus there's that whole salt water issue,
> but anyway) The highlight came just as I was preparing to
> get out of the water for the last time -- we were working our
> way back toward shore when a sea turtle swam by. Very cool,
> hard to gauge size underwater, but probably 2-3 feet across
> the shell. We watched him for a little while, but he seemed
> shy, so we wandered off to let him do his thing. Quite a nifty
> thing to see.
>
> Then, on the last day we were there, we drove up to the North
> Shore and stopped at Sunset Beach. Neat, big waves, noisy
> surf, no-swimming signs and lifeguards on ATVs to enforce it.
> Lots of photos... and a near tragedy.
>
> I had my little tripod with my camera and the 80-200 zoom on it
> down a few feet above where the waves were surging... not too
> surprisingly, a big one came in and I barely had time to sweep
> the camera up out of harm's way... I almost tipped over, but
> barely managed to stay upright... scary... but not as scary as
> what happened next.
>
> The water just kept right on cruising up the beach, a good 20
> feet beyond where it'd been previously while we were there,
> and I watched helplessly as it splashed across our towels and
> bags on the beach. When the water receded, I started back up
> the beach and remembered _my camera bag was open sitting in
> the middle of the pile of stuff that just got salt-soaked_.
> Butterflies, panic, etc, etc, etc...
>
> Quite astoundingly, however, a random passerby had seen what
> was about to happen and grabbed as much of our stuff as he
> could to keep it from getting soaked or swept away... somehow,
> luck was on my side and it included the camera bag. The lens
> cap to the lens I had been using got wet, but otherwise all
> of my stuff was saved... *whew* Very sick feeling, very
> much rejoicing...
>
> Anyway, we drove farther on to another beach that was more
> amenable to getting in the water. I burned a lot more film
> there (with the camera stuff safely out of harm's way)
> and played in big waves and had a great time.
>
> Then we got on a plane, sat for 10 hours, and arrived back in
> Boston and now I have to write my thesis.
>
> And all I can think about is playing in the big waves. Urr.
>
> But at least I will get pictures back soon. :-)
>
> When I have a chance, I will scan the good ones and put them
> up where they can be seen. I don't know how soon that
> will be, though, since I'm pretty booked until I graduate.
>
> But, for now, I'm going to go to sleep. :-) If you've read
> this much, you are probably insane. :-)
>
> joey
>
> ps, since I'm not sure when I'll start receiving OM list messages,
> please CC me directly if you reply to this message so I can be sure
> to hear you. :-)
>
> < This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
> < For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
> < Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|