Dark Sky Festival 2014

This is the 5th year I've organized the 501st Legion's participation in the Dark Sky event, which draws attention to the growing problem of light pollution (the reason we don't have pitch-black nights anymore). The Dark Sky festival gets more bigger and more popular every year. The crowds are respectful, excited and fun to hang with. The event takes place in the small, Mayberry-like street in the town square, which was filled with interesting exhibits, displays and demonstrations. Telescopes were set up to observe the night sky; visitors could see Jupiter, and other planets.

Enjoy these pictures, which were taken by Keith, a 501st Member, and Amanda, a woman who works at Walt Disney World as a photographer. She heard about the event and wanted to hang with us, so I put her to work with my camera, and I think you'll agree she took some amazing shots.

Click on each picture for a larger view

Below left: this one is a bit blurry, but I like the effect. The woman in the center is almost completely transparent. She's a ghost!

Below: this wild picture was a ridiculously long exposure withthe D90 on a tripod, with a twirling light gizmo sold at the Dark Sky fest. I asked a kid who was waving it if I could get a picture with it, and the shutter stayed open far too long. Pretty trippy!

Clowning around in the cast changing area. Maturity...? What's that??

The next morning Brian, our Vader, and I enjoy the flawless morning quiet on Aligator Lake, at the Lakeside Inn, a charming motor court right on the water

Wazoo Brewery Festival - Lowry Park Zoo

John Sammel of CJS Productions (my partner in the 86 Strings comic strip) asked me to take pics and video at the Wazoo Beer Fest, held at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo. It's a big event, with tons of breweries from which visitors can sample all manner of ales, stouts, lagers and other brews. There are food vendors, and also live music (there were several bands playing in different parts of the park, actually).

Below are some of the pictures I shot, and a short video of one of the bands. I will have to check this event out next year.

Below: I whipped up a special comic strip for this event; I literally had under two hours to draw it, scan it and send it to John so he could make copies for this event. 

The table had copies of the comic strip, 86 Strings stickers and drink coozies free for the taking

John Sammel (the tall, shaggy looking guy) with members of the first band that played that night

Below left: the lovely Guinness ladies at the Guinness tent

Below right: Sam Adams was also there, but he didn't say much, he just hoisted his drink all night. 

This is a porcupine who came out to check out the events (and no, porcupines do not shoot their quills). According to his handler, he's used to mixing with the crowd, and was quite docile.

He's pretty adorable, actually, but be careful petting him!

Below is a video of one of the bands. This groovy piece was interrupted by a power outage; apparently the circuit junction box is outdated and was having trouble handling the current flowing through it. I was just getting into the groove too.