Coming soon: Katuscon 2014 pictures

katsu2014-02I’ve been remiss in updating that often, but last weekend I had an excuse: I was at Katsucon over in National Harbor, Maryland. The con this year was disrupted by the snowy weather, which lead to some guests delayed or unable to attend, and some of the panels were cancelled or re-scheduled as a result. Also, most people who had pre-registered, who would have gone Thursday night before the con to pick up their badges, most of them showed up late on Friday, and thus there was a line that lasted at least 3 hours in order to pick up con badges. I know because I was one of the thousands in that line, and that’s how long I stood there! That caused me to miss a couple of panels that I really wanted to see, but at least I got some pictures of cosplayers in the line!

As if to make up for the disruption from the weather, there were a lot of very imaginative (and timely!) cosplayers this year, and I have pictures of many of them. Of course, since there was a tremendous amount of snow on the ground, there was a plethora of cosplayers playing characters from the movie “Frozen.” So many Elsas and Anas, and even other winter-themed characters like “Jack Frost” from “Rise of the Guardians”. The largest number of cosplayers this year though had to be the “Attack on Titan” characters. This year there had to be more “AoT” characters percentage-wise than any other anime in other years, even counting “Bleach” and “Gurren Lagann”! (Sorry, “Homestuck” kids, you were FAR outnumbered this con!)

At any rate, I will be posting pictures here and on my photo site, at much higher quality than the ones I already posted on my Facebook page.

As an example, here’s a cosplayer who was taking photos herself (Click for a larger version):

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Beautiful, terrifying free-fall videos…

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From two years ago, when Felix Baumgartner jumped out of a perfectly good, pressurized capsule at 24 miles up, and free-fell to Earth to test a pressure suit and make history as part of the Red Bull promotion, “Red Bull Stratos.” This is a compilation of videos taken from the GoPro cameras attached at various places on his suit, and just released on YouTube. Personally, I have great admiration for him, and for his predecessor, Joe Kittinger, who made a similar jump back in the 1950’s. I also would never in all of my remaining life ever do what those men did, it isn’t even on my “bucket list”! My severe acrophobia wouldn’t let me even climb the ladder to get into the capsule, much less allow me to ride it up 24 miles!

This video compilation takes various views of Baumgartner’s jump, from his chest, legs, and from the outside of the capsule. GoPro cameras are amazing in how fantastically well they capture hi-definition video, and how rugged they are, and this video is definitely a beautiful, terrifying addition to their library. The addition of the ground-to-air conversation added to the excitement, especially when Baumbgartner went into a high-speed spin during part of the descent.

Well, enough talk, here is the video, please enjoy (and if you feel sick while watching, don’t worry, I think a lot of people will, too!)

Nerdtour 2012: Riding on the Enoden pt.4: Shichirigahama Surfin’ Safari

Shichirigahama train stationMy journey on the Enoden line continued, leaving Hase and the Great Buddha, and heading for Enoshima.  Along the way, though, through one of the windows on the train I spotted the ocean, and thought “that looks neat, I want to see the beach!”  So, I persuaded my buddy John that we should get off at the next station, named “Shichirigahama.”

 

surfers
surf shop
lone surfer
Turns out that it’s well-known for its surf, and there were a whole lot of surfers taking advantage of the mild November afternoon and evening.

 

beachcomber at sunset
Man near seawall staring at the ocean
couple on the beach, with Mount Fuji
There were also a lot of people just out enjoying the beach, taking in the sun. There’s something about a beach, with the waves crashing on the shore that’s just peaceful and relaxing, makes it easy to get into a contemplative mood, or even to just “veg-out”.

 

John photographs some beach girls
My buddy John also found, um, “other” views as well…  “So, not so disappointed at stopping here now, are you John?”

 

Sunset behind Enoshima
Mount Fuji after sundown
Shichirigahama Beach after sunset
Shichirigahama reminded me very much of southern California, especially around the Sunset Beach area I visited a long time ago.  Sunset Beach was aptly named, and Shichirigahama’s sunset was equally stunning, I kept taking pictures and videos every few minutes, just to try to capture the view. I even got to get a picture of Mount Fuji, but just like in 2007, all I could get was a silhouette shot…

 

Here’s one of the videos I took, of the Sun just disappearing behind the mountains beyond Enoshima Island.  You can see more of the pictures at my portfolio site.

Enjoy!

Nerdtour 2012: Riding the Enoden pt. 2: Kamakura

enoden1-044So, after riding the Enoden for a few minutes, it was time to get off at the station in Hase town, where the Great Buddha (Daibutsu) of Kamakura is situated. Like most of the towns along the Enoden, Hase is a tourist town, making the most of the local attraction. A lot of tourists come because of the Buddhist aspect, and a lot more come just to gawk (yeah, I’m guilty of the latter.)

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Not being Buddhist myself, I didn’t get the spiritual feeling, but as a techie, to me the Great Buddha is an impressive engineering feat! Cast in bronze sometime in the 13th Century, the statue is hollow, allowing people to go inside for a mere 20 yen (about 30 cents US).  The temple grounds around are also very impressive, with sculptures both man-made and natural. 

kamakura-046This day was particularly fun, because there was a tour group from an elementary school, and some of the kids were split up into groups, each group assigned to speak to a foreigner in order to practice their English.  The group that approached me and my buddy John did a very good job of introducing themselves, asking if they could ask questions, and handled their English fairly well.  The questions were basic, “Where are you from?” type questions.  It was fun watching them “ambush” other foreigners, too, although I have to wonder if all of the foreign tourists spoke English.

So, here is the gallery of photos I took in and around Hase and the Great Buddha of Kamakura.

Enjoy!

 

Rainy day in Chiba – photos

The Chiba MonorailSo, I uploaded some more Japan pictures to my portfolio site, these are pictures I took on my last day there. It was appropriately cold and rainy, to match my gloomy mood. These are photos mostly of Chiba, including riding on and watching the Chiba Monorail. Also got pictures of some of the runners in the Chiba Ekiden marathon, which passed right by the monorail and JR stations in Chibaminato.

So, hop on over and enjoy (don’t be too depressed at the gloom!) the gallery!

Maryland Renaissance Festival “Day of Wrong”

I went to the last day of this year’s Maryland Renaissance Festival, which is traditionally the “Day of Wrong”, where people come dressed in anything but medieval costumes, although some choose to dress in a mashup of historical and modern, like the “Scottish Stormtroopers” or the “Iron Man knight”, most are just regular cosplayers (as if “cosplaying” is a “regular” thing! =^_^=). I captured a few of the folks, including some cosplay friends, as well as the general ambience of the place. It was a beautiful day, sunny but kind of cool, perfect for an Autumn day.

And so, hasten thou to ye Faire, and enjoy!

Let the Merriment commence!

Been a bit too busy to blog…

Between workload on my project and trying to work up my portfolio with photos from my great-nephew’s wedding, I have been only sparsely blogging. But, that’s going to improve soon, as my role on the project ends Monday, and I’ve finished with the wedding photos (but not the others which I have yet to move from here).

I don’t have anything else to write about right now, but feel free to go check out my portfolio site, where I’ll be occasionally posting or moving photos as I get to them. I’ll be on the lookout for more fun and unusual stuff when I start wandering the ‘net again!

Katsucon photos have moved!

I have moved my photos from Katsucon 2012 and 2013 over to my new portfolio site, Lexonia.net

I have gone in and cleaned up a lot of them using Adobe Lightroom, and I think I made them much better, plus I added quite a few to the 2012 photos!

Here are the links to the photos on the new site:

Katsucon 2012
Some random con scenes
Cosplay photographers, capturing the captors =^_^=
Cosplayers I encountered
A photoshoot with some friends who love to cosplay Final Fantasy characters

Katsucon 2013
Before the convention
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3