Renaissance Festival, Part 2, 2012

I love the Renaissance Festival, primarily for the interesting photography subjects that frequent it and are just SO happy to let you take your picture.  After all, what's the point of spending all that money on a very special costume if no one cares enough to want to photograph it?  Some folks go for simple, while others go for rich and beautiful.  I can't vouch for authenticity, but I can appreciate the results.  Here are some of my favorites from Saturday's visit. The first couple was trying to give the impression of woodsman and companion.  The rest were showing off their fancy finery.

Children seem to have so much fun, whether it be gnawing on a turkey leg (usually with some help), getting their hair braided, or blowing bubbles. Some of them even get into climbing the rock wall.  The bubble blower and rock climber are the same person.  She put her heart and soul into all of it!

Face painting isn't just for the children, however.  Some of the most elegant ones I saw were on adults.  I thought this young lady was especially lovely.  It turns out she is newly married and still reflecting that glow.

And probably my favorite one of all was the man who had a cat-like image on his face.  Smoking his pipe so that the smoke partially obscured the handiwork, I was reminded a bit of the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland!

So ends my ventures to the Renaissance Festival for the year (unless next weekend's plans go awry, in which case, who knows?)

Happy Birthday, Jake!

Last weekend my grandnephew Jake celebrated his fourth birthday.  Jake is into super heroes now, and his cake reflected it.  The cake, by the way, came from Clay's which makes really wonderful cakes!

When it comes to blowing out the candles, Jake has his own method.  Blowing from far away didn't make sense, so he just got up close and personal with it.  (It didn't help that unintentionally the candles being used were trick candles, so when he blew them out they just relighted themselves until Jake's mom worked her own magic and extinguished them.)

Jake and his guests (mostly his siblings and three cousins) had fun entertaining themselves with pumpkin decorating.  No carving was necessary, and the results were cute!

Jake's family has a new puppy.  Daisy is an adorable lap full of wiggles and fur, and she loves to play tug of war.  Emily was all too willing to oblige.

Cousin Mason was intrigued by both the puppy and the tug of war.

On another day, Daisy came with the family to visit the grandparents, and she was practicing being a good pup while wearing her Halloween costume.  She's going to be a ladybug.

While the children were visiting the grandparents, we took on a couple of craft projects.  Abby is just getting old enough to join in the fun.

 Elizabeth, Jake, and Ava are old hands at it, but Jake was willing to have a bit of help from Auntie Em.

 Emily was very proud of her door hanger.  Ava is an excellent overseer for projects by the younger ones.

 Ava also got into the decoration of the smaller pumpkins and was very pleased with her creations.

Even children with lots of energy wind down, and then it's handy to have a mother's lap for rest and soothing.

A boost from dad was welcome, too!

It was a great trip!

Renaissance Festival in Maryland 2012

I love to go to the Maryland Renaissance Festival.  The opportunities (and challenges) for photography are many and varied.  This year it was a little harder to go.  The friend with whom I indulged in a friendly competition to find different subjects for photos passed away this summer.  So John, some of these photos I took just for you.  John had a quirky sense of humor, so the first of these shots were for him.

John would have noticed the boat on the hat long before I did. 

 John and Joy, his wife, were always on the lookout for interesting places to buy different types of chocolate.  This stand is new this year.  John would have just had to have one of the chocolate skulls or centipedes, whether he actually ate them or not.

 Now I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't even SEE the hands on this one until I got home and got the pictures downloaded into the camera.  John wouldn't have been so blind.  I was intrigued with the headdress.

The fellow on the "horse" has a variety of strange costumes; the horse is one of the smaller ones.  John was always on the lookout for him and his flights of fancy.

 

I'm not sure which caught John's  fancy more, the metalwork creations or the people creating them (and occasionally modelling them).  The supply of wares is strong this year.

Children are more in line with what I look for--interesting expressions and costumes.  I call this one my pensive princess.

This young lady is amazingly agile, especially since she is so high in the air. 

I loved the face paint job on these two children, and apparently they did, too, although one was busily adding adornment to enhance her look. 

I'm hoping to make one more trip to the festival before it ends later this month.  It tends to be much more comfortable this time of year than when it opens in late August!