How I spent my summer, part 4 (a real renaissance!)

[Groucho]

After a few years off, we made it back to the Sterling Renaissance Festival (http://www.sterlingfestival.com/), a good-sized festival that's been running for 32 years in Sterling, NY, near Fair Haven, somewhere between Rochester and Syracuse. I think this is probably the first time I've brought a camera to this event - we used to go every year then slowed down between getting married and having a kid. Funny how that happens...

Anyway, there's a new owner who poured a ton of money into upgrades and new features, and my son was old enough to enjoy it, so off we went.

Right off the bat, you have "Tomato Justice"... (lob tomatoes at the poor slob in the background.)

http://www.totalsham.com/pics/gallery/38401-4/SterlingRen08-02.jpg

This fellow was being walked around by the sheriff and forced to make up songs about given topics. The sheriff suggested one based on my blue bucket hat (great for photography!) which Gdad photoshopped onto a mugshot a few weeks ago...!

http://www.totalsham.com/pics/gallery/38413-4/SterlingRen08-05.jpg

You see some visitors wearing pretty outrageous costumes, too.

http://www.totalsham.com/pics/gallery/38421-4/SterlingRen08-07.jpg

Some of the most popular shows over the years are the Don Juan and Miguel shows. The bad jokes and high energy are always a huge hit. Here's Don Juan posing with a visitor during a show for me.

http://www.totalsham.com/pics/gallery/38489-4/SterlingRen08-24.jpg

Here's Miguel holding spaghetti which Don Juan cuts down inch by inch with his whip.

http://www.totalsham.com/pics/gallery/38465-4/SterlingRen08-18.jpg

I recently saw this trick done on a TV show somewhere but the guy only used one cylinder. Wimp!

http://www.totalsham.com/pics/gallery/38509-4/SterlingRen08-29.jpg

After a while, it started to sprinkle a little and our friends that we went with all headed home. We decided to stick around and it fairly quickly went from rain to a full-blown storm complete with tons of hail and even some mudslides. (We had to abandon the hillside storefront we took shelter in when the mud started covering the floor!)

http://www.totalsham.com/pics/gallery/38577-4/SterlingRen08-46.jpg

It finally cleared up after a while, and they even did an abbreviated joust in the mud.

http://www.totalsham.com/pics/gallery/38597-4/SterlingRen08-51.jpg

http://www.totalsham.com/pics/gallery/38609-4/SterlingRen08-54.jpg

Here's one of my 21fps shots. In retrospect, I should have been panning with the foreground horse, not the background one. The red lance just went under the foreground knight's arm and is about to snap in half.

http://www.totalsham.com/pics/gallery/38617-4/SterlingRen08-56.jpg

Another knight.

http://www.totalsham.com/pics/gallery/38637-4/SterlingRen08-61.jpg

The announcer of the joust.

http://www.totalsham.com/pics/gallery/38649-4/SterlingRen08-64.jpg

We finally headed back out to our car, avoiding the many flooded sections of the grass parking lot. We were rewarded with a lovely rainbow. (Here's your signature fisheye photo. ;) )

http://www.totalsham.com/pics/gallery/38661-4/SterlingRen08-67.jpg

I hope you enjoyed! Thanks in advance for any comments you might have.

[Golf4food]

Great shots. Love going to ren festivals - never a shortage of things to photograph so you can show to people later for visual evidence when telling the stories that start with "You won't believe what this person was wearing..." Ha.

[annnewjerz]

Great pix - reminds me of the PA Ren Faire down here in my neck of the woods. Good time, but you are correct...some of those outfits...:scared1:

My favorite would be the one of the guy walking in the rain, a picture I would be much to worried to take with my new camera, so I would have to break out the Olympus Stylus point and shoot for that one to ensure the pouring rain didn't ruin something.

[tripodjw]

Excellent Rainbow shot

I so rarely see a full arc.

Also loved the hailstorm shot.

[wenrob]

These are some seriously AWESOME shots. The rain picture is by far my favorite. The woman in the hippy outfit looks like someone straight out of my childhood!:lmao:

[Groucho]

Thanks guys! I appreciate the kind words. I still am a little unsure on taking "people" photos, I am more accustomed to taking "thing" photos!

The rain doesn't bother me much. Those shots were taken half-way under shelter but I was out walking in the hail a few times with the camera exposed. I have full faith in the weathersealing of the camera and lens. If it can survive a full soaking from the big hill on Splash Mountain, it can take just about anything. :teeth:

I have another guy-in-the-hail shot but he was almost out of frame when I took the photo.

http://www.totalsham.com/pics/gallery/38573-4/SterlingRen08-45.jpg

It was torrential, though! And I can't remember seeing so much hail, the ground looked like it was covered in snow in some places, where the mud was washing it all away. :lmao:

[Evad]

Great pics Groucho. Glad to see you had a good time. Thanks for sharing!! :thumbsup2