wiredfool

View Album

Some of the entries would look right at home in the Fremont parade, while some were apparently designed to go fast enough to win. A couple entries showed that effective brakes were somewhat optional, since there were spectators and hay bales at the end of the course.

View Album

The second county fair of the season for me, and I think I’ve come to a conclusion: If it’s a county fair, there’s got to be an unmuffled V8 somewhere in the program. The Warren County Fair was racing, at the Island County Fair it was the chainsaws. 500lb Chainsaws. With a V8. (Or V6, or a Harley twin.)

View Gallery

We went a couple of times, seeing as our house was nearly as close as some of the parking. The basic carnie rides and food, a cute parade with more campaigning politicians than we have residents, 4-H dogs, horses, alpacas, cats and other livestock. All there.

The photography competition seemed somewhat thin on quality — I know that there are a good number of photgraphers on the island but it just wasn’t in evidence. Overall, the Junior High and High School entries were right up there with the Amateur adults. In particular, there were a lot of pictures that were technically not all there, out of focus, oversharpened, or over enlarged. (And not in a manner that I’d really consider artistic vision.) Sadly, I found out about it the day after entries were due. As Cubs fans say, there’s always next year.

There was also a 4-H photography exhibit — the quality there seemed better then the mainline photography. I particularly enjoyed the black and whites that Rachel Evans had in the show. They had an expressive mood and atmosphere that captured the eye. Quite a professional effort.

And then there were the politicians. The Republicans had a booth to hand out campaign flyers. The Democrats had a concession stand, selling foot long hot dogs and other fair food. I can’t remember seeing fundraising on quite that scale before, but it’s reassuring to know that they know how to work.

View Album

Went to the mass ascension of hot air balloons on Saturday, part of the Balloon Classic in Indianola IA. There were 100 or more balloons all going up into hot (100 degree), hazy skies in the space of 20 minutes or so. I was shooting a 100mm lens, but it looked like the pros were using the Canon 70-200 f2.8L lens. Always keeping an eye on the equipment, but there’s no way that I’ll be able to afford one of those anytime soon.

I wasn’t too happy wiht the colors, I was hoping that the sky would be more consistently blue, but it was hazy, hot, humid, and later, dusty from chasing the pack on gravel roads.

The mist here is all dust, not fog.

View Album

The annual display of naked bicyclists, bighead costumes, samba dancers, and public artists of all ilks ran this morning.

Parade Album of 123 images, with none of the naked cyclist brigade, but still a few of the exposed body parts that the parade is somewhat famous for.

Cyclists Album of 50 images. Contains nudity with and without body paint, minimal clothing or not, broccoli, and some bike helmets. Both genders, front and rear, but nothing that’s too shocking for a parade at high noon in front of thousands of people.

This year, there were a ton of naked bicyclists, at least twice as many as I’ve ever seen before (a couple hundred or so), twice as many belly dancers (250), and 4 drum and dance bands. More action and fewer random people in costumes was my take away impression.

I shot 2 cards of jpegs, but some of one was slightly prefilled by some pictures that I neglected to delete off it from last time. I ran out of space at the end, so the last couple of groups in the parade are less well represented. I wish I’d realized that I didn’t clear off the card last time.

If any of these pictures are of you, and you want the full res versions, please email and I’ll send them to you.

Today we went to the once a year LeMay Museum Open House, where they display a large portion of their extensive collection of historic cars. It’s a little overwhelming to see cars and trucks packed in with only inches between them. Most of the pictures I took were detail shots to cut through the clutter. The profusion of hood ornaments caught my eye.

I enjoyed the progression of Packards through the 40’s, and the Cadilliac barn ending with a 57, 58, and 59. Really too much to mention. I was amused by a Porsche 917 in purple metal flake and a street interior.

View Gallery

A couple of weekends ago, we went to Chicago to see a bunch of babies that are all about Ben’s age. I have a ton of baby pictures (that I’m probably not going to be sharing) from the trip, and a few other ones that I’m going to share.

View Album

I took another run through the butterfly tent at the zoo last time I was there — and wound up with some more neat shots.

View Gallery

I’ve posted a photo album of a few pictures from today’s Solstice Parade. There was a huge contingent of naked cyclists this year, so be warned that there are some pictures of unclothed, painted, or nearly covered body parts behind that link. And quite a few pictures that don’t involve cyclists, naked or otherwise.