A pleasure

After almost a decade and a half I found myself once again on the grounds of the annual Renaissance Pleasure Faire. As luck would have it, it is now held in Irwindale, California which is very close to my mother's home. So, with camera in hand, and I must admit, not many expectations, I entered the world of Queen Elizabeth and her merry court. I found that the faire has become quite the photographer's magnet as I was not alone in carrying a large camera body and matching lens throughout the day. However, this event is something to be experienced rather than captured. I for one was mesmerized by Queen Elizabeth's paramour, the Earl of Leicester, fascinated by the "Bargain Midwife" selling (pardon the word) testicles, and happy as a pixie watching children and young girls dance around a maypole. It is a cacophony of sights and sounds and one you should not miss. Just in case you do, however, here are some photos of the event to wet your appetite.

Last Tuesday I had the opportunity to photograph the AIREX exercise at the LA/Ontario airport for the Ontario Airport Crash & Fire division. For those of you not familiar with the event, this is an unrehearsed, full-scale, aircraft incident drill to evaluate the operational capability of the airport's emergency management system, in a real-time, stress environment. Access like the one I was given does not come easily and I was grateful for the opportunity to be able to go anywhere and shoot anything I liked. So much so, that I had a close call with a helicopter that was taking off and had it not been for an alert fireman who warned me I may not have been writing this blog today! The event offered much to shoot as there were multiple things happening at once: an explosion, a smoke-filled airplane loaded with victims and and a tarmac that became an emergency treatment area as victims were brought in and treated. The "victims" were volunteers from a local college and there was no lack of acting on their part. I saw many a gasping, choking, wreathing in pain victim which just added to the "reality" of it all. You can see them and the wonderful fire crews at work here .