Photo Fix: Highlights from February

Finally we're all caught up here, with the highlights from February!

This was my favorite photo of the month by far - from a Chinese cultural festival in Camarillo. This wasn't actually during the festival performance. She was practicing on the lawn behind the stage before she went on to dance for the crowd. I was photographing other performers and saw her start spinning - it always pays to keep your eyes open on assignment!

Finally, Happy Face Hill in Simi Valley was restored. The guy that sprays the happy face (and heart on the other side) onto the hill in Roundup is a really nice fellow and I wanted an interesting photo to go with his fun personality. Unfortunately, the writer scheduled the meeting right at 1 o'clock - awful midday sun! I was able to cancel it out well enough by cranking up my flash for fill, but it still wasn't as nice as I wanted. He had already done the spraying, too, and didn't want to hike all the way out to the hill again. Ugh! Fortunately, it worked out alright.

Students out in Westlake made blankets for soldiers - what a great idea and a very sweet gesture!

These Medea Creek Middle School students from Oak Park are making an inukshuk - a type of cairn made by Canada natives - during multicultural day.

Here these students are playing a Japanese game similar to Americans' pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, only this game is pin-the-features-on-the-face.

Water polo was winding down in February.

And the boy scouts held their annual Pinewood Derby. Cranking that flash up all the way allowed me to get some pretty cool shots with good lighting, despite the midday sun.

Water polo again. Water sports are always so much fun to shoot.

Here the Simi Valley Library celebrated its 40th anniversary. They made puppets, had storytime, reading to dogs, crafts, birthday cake... it was a really fun event.

Here's an example of what happens when you are unprepared. This school fundraiser out in Agoura Hills seemed like one of hundreds we shoot every year - silent auction, dinner, entertainment by students, etc. Then these aerial silk performers came onstage! I had no lights with me, so I couldn't properly light them for the paper. I needed way more separation between the performers and the background than was possible without lots of noise. But without lights, I couldn't make that happen. So I cranked up the ISO and made some pretty, if noisy, shots anyway.