An Alert Reader

In response to the request of an alert reader and good friend, here's the photo of the young lady the wild and wooly cameraman below was shooting and an explanation, of sorts, as to the camera details and why I had to act like a nut to capture the shot this way.

Most of the people performing in period costumes, whether they're marching or dancing as part of the reenactment ceremonies for the Ryukyu King and Queen's Coronation, are forbidden to smile. In fact, many of the Okinawan Dances I shoot, have the same rules; they're very formal affairs with hours of rigorous training and rehersals behind them.

What I was attempting to do here was capture one of these beauties, with blue sky and skyscrapers in the background. Actually, I threw away half a dozen other photos from this same series where the young ladies were staring at me as if their eyes were cold-steel, piercing my lens. I figured, maybe, if I acted like a nut or paparazzi (same), I might get someone to crack a smile. And it worked ! Sometimes ya gotta break the rules; all of them.

Photo taken with a Pentax K10D, Camera Flash, Spotmetered, f/11 1/180 ISO 100 Pentax 18-250 mm lens at 48mm . 1NOV2009 12:38PM Brilliant sun and harsh shadows made it a difficult shot so, flash was used to soften the shadows. Flash set to Compulsory Red Eye Reduction.

Sumitran, my alert reader-friend, thanks for the inspiration !
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Cheers,
Mike