Month: May 2004

Amateur Song Festival

Today I had some really good time at Amateur Song Festival. I was expecting a lot of it, but it was even better than I could imagine. Lots of people, lots of singing, lots of wine, lots of fun. I estimate there were about 200 people total. A lot of familiar faces. :)

I didn’t make any photos since I was singing, dancing and shouting (aka supporting) too much and I wasn’t in the mood for pictures anymore. There is just too much of a special atmosphere which there is no way (or I don’t know the one) of putting on the picture. Maybe next time.

Huge thanks to all organizers and participants!

WRC 2004 Cyprus stage pictures

I’ve just uploaded few pictures I’ve made at Special Stage 11. Unfortunately, the stage was cancelled due to safety reasons, so there isn’t much to shoot.

There are few spectacular views around the stage, but I was not in the mood for nature photoraphy, so, I guess, there will be another trip to grab that too. :)

WRC 2004 Cyprus stage pictures

I’ve just uploaded pictures from the two special stages that I’ve been to today. Enjoy – Special Stage 3 and Special Stage 5

I was shooting cars in aperture priority (Av) mode with aperture set to 8.0 or 9.0. After closer inspection on the big screen it seems that these aperture values are a bit too small. I will try with a slighter bigger settings tomorrow.

I also have both B&W polarizer and lens hood on. Polarizer does improve the images a lot. Lens hood protects mostly from the dust which there is an excess of. :) Light conditions still seem a bit tough to me. Even the afterlunch sun is very bright giving harsh shadows. Shadows from trees along the stages make it look kind of stripy (shadow, no shadow, shadow, no shadow…). On-camera flash is not strong enough to fill the shadows around the car and good viewpoints are hard to come up with considering the safety guards, spectators, stage track shapes and locations, and my ignorance. :) More to shoot tomorrow…

WRC 2004 Cyprus stage pictures

<%image(20040515-openning_ceremony.jpg" alt="Opening ceremony">I’ve just uploaded pictures from WRC 2004 Cyprus stage Shakedown and Openning ceremony.

Shakedown is a kind of a special stage where drivers try to determine the best settings for their cars. They drive through the same stage several times, while making adjustments. This is perfect photo opportunity, since there are several chances to get the same car in different places. They can drive in circles for several hours, so it is much easier to photograph then the Special Stages.

I have been very late to the Openning ceremony, so I’ve missed most cars on the podium and I didn’t have time to prepare for the fireworks shooting. By the time I got there they’ve almost started shooting. I was handholding the camera with the kit lens with 2 second exposures. Some images came out rather OK. :)

Van Helsing

Just came back from the movies. Watching “Van Helsing” this time. This is one of those times when IMDB’s rating is totally screwed. 5.2/10 is completely unfair. I would give it a solid 7/10 or even 8/10. Both Hazard and Olga liked it even more. :)

There are many nice things about this film and very few mildly bad ones. Effects and computer graphics are excellent. There is lots of style. There is lots of action. Soundtrack is excellent, and especially the orchestra that performed it. Somehow I didn’t notice these guys in the first half of the movie, but closer to the end they are getting really enthusiastic. And if all of that was not enough, they even do kill one of the few main characters in the end, so it’s not so happy as it is usually. Additionally, you have this “good guys are going to loose” feeling during most of the movie. :)

The only displacing part for me were those kind of stupid dialogs in the first part of the movie. I stopped noticing them later, but at first they were rather disturbing.

Everything else was very close to perfect. :)