Chinese New Year Fireworks 2

CNY Fireworks2

What’s the collective noun for a load of fireworks in a display?  A confusion? An explosion? A cacophony? A spectacle?

Here’s another shot of the a whatever-it-is of the fireworks in Hong Kong harbour at Chinese New Year

Canon EOS 40D with Canon EFS 10-22mm lens at 22mm on manual. ISO1600 1/30 at f10

 

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IFC Panorama

ifc1 -1

I’m just blown away with the panoramas you can take with the iPhone 5. Not only is the process fun but the quality of the image is excellent.

This shot was taken in the IFC 1 mall in Hong Kong. The couple on the left are the same pair as the couple on the right. Completely oblivious to me and what I was doing, they just happened to walk behind me as I was panning the phone/camera (phonamera? -there’s a new word in the offing here!) and arrived my right as I completed the shot. The glass/chrome railing I’m standing by is in fact a straight line; the panning causes the curve. There’ll be more of these!!

To see this image larger, click on ‘Panoramas’ in the menu bar

The data recorded on Lightroom from the iPhone is as follows: ISO200 4.13mm 1/120 at f2.4. It’s all automatic, of course.

Chinese New Year Fireworks

Year of the Snake Fireworks

There’s a collection of these in the gallery, but a few are special favourites that I want to post here as well. Here’s the first, a somewhat abstract shot that captures a fleeting moment in the ever-changing spectacle of twenty minutes of exciting sound, light and flashes from three barges in Hong Kong harbour. There’s nothing like it!

Canon 40D with Canon 10-22mm EFS lens at 22mm ISO1600 1/30 at f10 (manual setting)

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Waiting in the wings

reindeer 3

Chinese New Year in Hong Kong is a good enough reason to pull out all the stops for decorations and entertainment. Many of the better shopping plazas and malls put on huge displays with traditional dances thrown in. In City Plaza at Tai Koo Shing on Hong Kong Island, there were many quite garish reindeer that were probably left over from Christmas but served as a fine backdrop to dancers celebrating the Year of the Snake. This golden fellow with his outrageous antlers seems to be anticipating something rather special as he eyes the microphone. Maybe in the middle of the night when the place is empty, he and his mates come to life, singing and dancing for each other in true Disney fantasy style.

Taken on my iPhone 5 and cropped and tweaked in Lightroom

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Reflections

hk crane 2

Hong Kong is full of spectacularly tall high-rise buildings, many clad with much glass to reflect their surroundings. This edifice is part of Times Square in Happy Valley where a nearby crane can be seen  broken up into various rippled parts like images on water.

Taken on my iPhone 5 and cropped in Lightroom

Lion Dance

lion danceIt’s the Year of the Snake and the Chinese New Year celebrations in Hong Kong were as lavish and spectacular as ever. For several days during and after the actual three-day new year festival everywhere I went around town seemed to have hired the local troupe of lion dancers. The really spectacular ones were like this one at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club where I went to watch the New Year fireworks. With a backdrop of the city lights, the two guys inside this costume pranced along the poles to entertain the crowd like the true professional they are.

Canon 40D with Canon 10-22mm EFS lens at 19mm. ISO800 1/60 at f4.5 with built-in flash

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