Festival of Lights . . .

I had been wanting to go to the festival of lights since Thanksgiving, but

it just seemed that there was always something going on. Well, we finally made it this past weekend,

us and about a million other people too!! ; )

And it was free . . . 

All you had to do was park in a parking lot, board a school bus, and they drove you there.

Doesn't get any better than that.

I did take my tripod, but really was only able to use it for several shots, as there were just too many

people. So, I improvised and played and had some fun!

It might have been more like a cattle drive! This was one of the many tunnels of lights we walked through.

A different view, minus all the people  . . . not sure how I got so lucky with that!

I did use my tripod for this one . . . can you see the silhouettes of all the people? I just loved the branchy reflections in the water on this one, something else I have been a bit obsessed with lately.

And another silhouette on the left....

This castle seemed to be quite the highlight, and although there was no way I was going to get them (my kids) to stand inside the castle, I managed to get just this one of them standing and looking on as a silhouette.

 Another reflection, with more silhouetted people.

Then I decided to have a little fun, in manual focus, zooming in, and out with my camera as I clicked.

The fist one is just bokeh love, and the ones below it were done in manual focus creating bokeh first and then zooming either in or out while taking the photo.

And when I got home, I painted with the light from my tree with a slow shutter speed.

On this one I made a circle and then tried to fill it in, not too bad for painting blindly. 

I have been doing a little experimenting with painting with my lens during the day as well. It sure takes some

practice to make it look intentional and not accidental as there is a fine line between purposeful blur and I had no idea what I was doing. Between how fast and how much movement I can put into it to get the look I want. I'm linking in with Kat over at Kat Eye Studio and her December Exploring With a 

Camera: The Lights of Night...come on over and join us, there's still time.

See ya there -

Love, Kim

XO