Time and Tide

The time has come to clear out my SD card, and it seems a sort of fitting end of the year event.  It's a fairly large card that can hold almost 1400 large jpeg and RAW files, in this case dating back to our trip to the Lincoln City Kite Festival at the end of June.  It's interesting how my opinion of my photos can change over time, and I'm happy to have such a large space between initial viewing and second look.  This overlooked image taken on an overcast stroll down the beach in Lincoln City is one that stood out to me today.  Maybe I'll have a few more second chance photos to post in the coming days.

Butterfly Kite

I'm really partial to monarchs.  Having grown up around the Great Lakes, I got to see their multi-generational migration each summer and fall, and I have great respect for their journey and fond Midwestern memories of spotting butterflies in July and searching for chrysalises come September.  I thought this monarch kite looked so pretty glowing with the sunlight behind it at the kite festival Sunday morning.  I also have a monarch micro-kite (4 inches with a 10 foot tail!) which I had so much fun flying at the festival this weekend. I had forgotten what a carefree feeling you get flying a kite!

Kite Festival, another view

This view looking out to the ocean probably gives a better perspective on the size of the display kites.  Those large stuffed animal kites always just hovered off the ground.  I'm sure people liked them, but as a photographer I found them to be really annoying because they always got in the way of my ground line.  This shot was taken fairly early on Saturday before it clouded over completely.  I was looking forward to getting some bluer sky photos on Sunday, and the sky was beautiful but the display kites were grounded for insufficient wind.  I never imagined that happening; it's always so windy on the coast!  By the time we were heading out of town I saw the kites starting to go up, so I guess the wind picked up.

Oregon Kite Festival

We had a great weekend in Lincoln City, Oregon, exploring the coast and flying kites at the summer kite festival here.  There are a variety of kite festivals up and down the coast each summer; this one is Lincoln City is a show festival and not competitive.  These enormous kites are on display throughout the day, wind permitting, and some of the smaller kites in the background perform routines set to music, almost like a ballet dance.  They also perform precision kite routines.  There's a kite parade for kids and a competition to see who can run down the beach fastest while dragging a donut-shaped kite. Saturday we had tons of wind but it was sort of misty and overcast.  Sunday we got the sun, but it wasn't as windy so not all the display kites were flying.  Still, it was a fun event, attended by almost 15,000 kite-lovers.