The best event pictures of 2018

This year there were a few events I photographed. Here are some of the highlights.

Renaissance Festival 2018

Crownsville Renaissance Festival is a great place to visit. This year it started from 25th August and runs till the 21st October so you still have time to visit. There is something for everyone. There are games, varied live performances, music, artisan shops, and plenty food to suit all different tastes.

If you come in the morning, you are likely to run into the King and the royal court at the entrance.

In the morning a bridge can be enchanted, just imagine your picture on this bridge with sunlight coming through the trees.

The morning is so beautiful at the festival, just walk around and find a quiet spot, not so difficult when you come early and you can just sit down, observe and rest.

 

Throwing axes in the Stupid Hat Area is pretty popular. And it is not just for the fellows! If you like music, there is plenty live music, just take your pick.

Giant soap bubbles are plenty fun for everyone and you can take quite spectacular images through the bubbles.

Once you have seen acrobats, plays and all the other fun, you can just sit some more and relax.

My best images of 2015

I decided to look back at 2015 and try to pick a few favorite images. While doing that I realized that I am not sure which images should I be showing, those I find the most amazing or those which gathered the most response on various social media? So I decided to include a selection in a few categories. All of the images can be found on my Flickr site as I used BigHugeLabs to create the mosaics you see here. Their mosaic tool is easy to use and great fun.

Flickr Favorites of images taken in 2015:

The images were chosen based on number of views and number of favorites.

Flickr Explore, images posted in 2015:

This is a funny category, as the images are chosen by a computer algorithm, however, as you can see some are consistent with some of the other categories.

FineArtAmerica Favorites:

My Favorites:

This is the category, where picking the images is really hard to do. You tend to love all of your pictures or most of them. How to pick just a few? It was not easy.

There is a story behind everyone of those images you see here. Fog in Savannah was just a few minutes when it looked amazing. The three night images all taken with the same camera but only two of them on a tripod and I had a lot of time when shooting just one of them in St. Louis. Portraits shown here are all posed except the last. The little princess shot was just one of the candid moments.

This year, I traveled to some of the most amazing places last year and picking just 4 pictures was hard but decided on the four you see. Why? A sunrise hike to Delicate Arch and being lucky for some 2 minutes was priceless, Sunset at the Windows in Arches was a game of patience till the sun goes low and comes out from behind the clouds so the colors change. This is one of the images while the sun was still high and I took this image lying on the ground. My beautiful panoramic shot would not appear nicely in the mosaic so it is not shown here, but you can see it on my website or Flickr.  Bryce Canyon – a great place to visit, but poor weather can make your plans of taking pictures go out the window. Here is a moment of sunshine caught on the rocks just before it started drizzling.

I am fascinated by bees and this little one was, I think, the best capture this year. They are fast and unpredictable, but really beautiful. Renaissance Festival in Crownsville, MD, was my first. I like shooting action and this was yes, you can guess my first fast action set of pictures at the jousting arena. Then we come to the end of the year, autumn or fall is one of the most beautiful times of the year with colors and light being quite stunning. I picked the picture which showcases the gold color of the fall. Why? I like it but also I set out on a day trip to take some images of fall,, however, the weather decided that rain is the most appropriate thing in the fall. Therefore, when sun was poking through the golden leaves I was quick to take some pictures.

All this brings us to the end of the year and Christmas. The beautiful cards that we used to get at Christmas time long time ago always made me want to create an image as beautiful as they were. Not sure if I succeeded by your standards but I love this golden ball in the tree.

What is coming in the New Year? We will see. My camera is ready and already working hard this year. I hope to see more of you visiting my blog and connecting with me on Instagram, Flickr and Twitter this year. Have a great New Year!

Renaissance Fair

Soon after the Scottish Games I went to my first Renaissance Festival in Crownsville, Maryland. The Festival is amazing, it allows you to experience something really different from your regular everyday life. As soon as you pass through the gates you become a part of the feast in Revel Grove, a village in Oxfordshire, England. Why? Because, this year’s story line was the Royal visit by King Henry VIII and Queen Katherine of Aragon in Revel Grove. You can see the King, Queen, the royal court and foreign guests. They are definitely enjoying themselves.

The weekend of 19th and 20th of September was a Pirate weekend, and there were many pirates of all sizes, shapes and forms.

However, pirates did not completely take over. There was lots of entertainment, with The Sirens, The O’Danny Girls, Cu Dubh to name a few. And music was not the only thing you can enjoy. There were short versions of Shakespeare’s plays, acrobats, juggling, jousting and many other attractions.

Shakespeare would have been proud watching those short versions at the Globe Theater.

A lot of action and entertainment was at The Joust Arena with the Return of the Black Knight Joust. Horses and knights were all action on this hot day in a very dusty arena.

In all the excitement there were moments just worth seeing, here are a few of my favorite moments from the festival.

I enjoyed the time at the Renaissance Festival and if yo have not been to one, go and have fun!  Huzzah!