snousle

Went to the Sonoma Pride parade and festival yesterday in Guerneville. It poured rain in the morning and evening, but was miraculously dry during the day.

I bought a 500mm compact mirror lens for a whopping $99 and wanted to try it out, so it was the only thing I brought along. I'm happy with it - it's sort of the photographic equivalent of fly fishing, in that it's touchy, takes a lot of dexterity, and most of the big ones get away. LOL. I also ran into Gary at the festival, who was sporting a couple of lenses worth $2,000 each, which is more like fishing with dynamite. You can guess who gets the better photos - NOT ME - but hey, at least I'm sporting about it. ;-)

This lens is a lot smaller than the mirror lens I'd borrowed previously, which means it gathers much less light, but otherwise the optical quality is similar and it has the advantage of being less conspicuous and actually fitting in my camera case. I like the intimate, mystical quality it brings to these shots - most were taken from about 100 feet away without the subjects knowledge.

There were lots of sisters there in their flashy nun-wear, which are certainly photogenic, but as usual I focused mostly on the crusty set. A lot of the Guerneville street population was there so for the first time I could capture some of the local ruffians without getting my ass kicked. You'll find a number of LJers in this set as well, including