Happy Sunday! We had such a fabulous time during the Festival of Lights celebration in downtown Fort Myers last night. The photo series above was taken while we waited (sometimes not so) patiently for the parade to start. It seems my daughter has entered a ‘Take my picture Mommy!” phase which, after 3 years of bribing and whining, is totally ok with me. Heck, even her silly cheeseball faces are welcomed and encouraged!
The 5K runners were seriously impressive. I was crouched down near the finish line watching the runners round their final corner, I admire their stamina, I don’t think I could do it!
Runner 261, you look entirely too happy to have just ran 4+K, I’m thinking maybe that smile is because you see the finish line over my head. *giggle* Lookin’ good ladies and gentlemen, congratulations to all! Don’t worry, somehow I managed to avoid getting run over.
Little Livie spent much of her time stuck to Papa like glue. Everyone who knows me, knows that I’m an emotional person, I think you almost have to be to do what I do. But seeing my Daddy hold my baby girl always makes me mushy.
After some exploration of the local crafts being sold and displayed it was (in the words of my 8 yr old) FINALLY time for the parade to start. It really wasn’t that long but at 8 years old 20 minutes seems like a lifetime!
The police motorcycle stunts were amazing! You could feel the wind from the bikes brush against you as they criss crossed and made their way down the street. Great show guys! I wish I had more photos of your stunts but you were just too fast to focus on in the dark! I did however catch this dare devil coasting down the street. You sir, seriously impressed my youngest boy – shame on you! That child does not need any encouragement! *giggle*I added a little vintage touch to the image, it looks like something right out of an old newspaper.
Being the impatient mother that I am, I finally got tired of sitting there waiting to see my own son come marching down the street so I did what any other mother would do. I tracked him down and embarassed him by taking his picture in front of all of his friends. *giggle* I know, I’m evil aren’t I? Even though this is his 5th year in band, this was his first time joining in with the marching band and he looked so handsome, so ya see, I just had to! Totally justified if I do say so myself.
One final note for my photographer friends, the 5D Mark II totally rocked my world last night! All the parade images were captured long after sunset using just my trusty 5D markII, my 50mm 1.4, and the available street lighting. For referance, the image of my son in uniform was shot at 1/125@f2.8 ISO 6400 with just one street light behind me to illuminate his face a bit. Rock on Canon, you know I love you!!
That’s the Capitol Building behind me on the left and the State House in Annapolis on the right. Followed by a shot of me riding the Metro to D.C. for the very first time below.
