Look Deep Into My Eye...

You want to go to the State Fair...

Ha ha.  A hypnotic ferris wheel photo.  I never know how these are going to turn out.  

Well, my time living here in California is almost done.  We've had movers at our house this week, and by next week I'll be on the move back to the Pacific Northwest.  It's been a chaotic summer here, and hardly any time to photograph and post.  I'm looking forward to things settling down for a little while in August so I can get out with my camera again!  Until then, I will post as I can, and get back to following blogs in the next week or two. 

Clean Up Time

The California State Fair ended four days ago, so you were probably thinking I couldn't possibly come up with another fair photo, but today was the day to pick up my photo from the fine arts building, so I got to go back to the Cal Expo Center one more time.  I got to drive through a back entrance and along an access road that leads right to the arts buildings.  It was fun to drive right through the fair like that; the route comes very close to the monorail route actually.  They had collected all the recycling bins right near my building, and I just couldn't resist getting a photo.  Amazing how quickly they have cleaned everything up.  Honestly, I haven't even managed to clean my house in this time! 

Ferris Wheel Abstract

I have to admit I took a lot of ferris wheel photos.  The lights change so quickly that each photo is amazingly different.  I don't plan to post anymore of these (at least until the Yolo County Fair next month)  :^)
I really wanted to post this one though because this effect was so interesting to me.  My tripod has a neck adjustment that allows me to change the angle of my camera, and sometimes after I adjust it, it doesn't lock into place properly.  So that's what happened here.  When I tried to zoom out the tripod neck wobbled around a little and it made this cool pattern.  I think maybe the ferris wheel was moving a little at the time too, so the pattern in each row is slightly different.  There's a physics problem here I'm sure. 

View from the Ferris Wheel

Well today is the final day for the California State Fair, and last night I finally rode the big ferris wheel, so here is a view of most of the midway.  There are four ferris wheels: two in this photo, the one I'm on, and another one that is off to the right out of the picture.  The pink-glowing buildings way in the background are the arts buildings, and beyond that is the food court and exhibit area, then the animals, and then the grandstand, so it's a very big fair.  The monorail, winding its way through the midway in this photo, is one way to comfortably view all the fairgrounds.  I never got around to riding it this year; guess that's something to put on the to do list for next year!

Fun at the Fair

Maybe this goes without saying, but I opted not to get the unlimited ride wristband :-)  

So I just wandered around with all my camera gear; my own kind of fun.

I saw about a half dozen kindred spirits who were also lugging their tripods around.

California State Fair

I missed posting yesterday because we got back late from a very fun and very exhausting day at the California State Fair.  We were there for 7 hours, I think, and we still didn't get to see everything!  After dinner we all met up in the midway with my youngest son who got the unlimited ride wristband.  I vaguely remember loving carnival rides when I was that age.  These days I'd rather photograph them.  

July 29

We finally got ourselves to the California State Fair, and such lucky timing for us too.  As we came into the livestock nursery this mama stood up to have her baby!  Of course it wasn't as quick as all that.  The whole process only took about an hour though.  I think we stayed for about a half hour afterwards just to watch as she cleaned the calf (baby girl) and the calf tried repeatedly to stand up.  Eventually mama lay down next to the cow, and that's the portrait that I caught here.  Many photos taken of this event, but needless to say they're a little graphic!  She did get some assistance from one of the vets, but only after the front legs were already out.  A cow's gestational period is nine months, same as a human.  And the mama isn't called a cow until after she's given birth.  Before that she's a heffer.  I don't know how much the little calf weighs, but we thought she was sligthly bigger than Clover, who weighs about 60 lbs.  I wish we could have stayed longer and seen her finally stand, but I feel so lucky that we got to see her born!