Tuesday, September 06, 2011

2011 Minnesota Renaissance Festival Photo Tour Part 1

Labor Day weekend marks the end of summer and it seems like I missed the whole season. But at least I got to the local renaissance festival this year. A group of my younger friends and I did a road trip up to Shakopee with me toting my big camera this time. My quest for the elusive killer photograph continues…

So on to the pictures!

Note: No unicorns were killed in the production of these posts.

RenFest 2011 01 Sea of Cars

Though we got there at a relatively early time, the parking lot/field was already filling up. In the distance you can see towers and a pirate ship beckoning.

RenFest 2011 02 Promise of Unicorns

This was the row we were in. It foretold encounters with unicorns – the other other white meat. Yes, I don’t like unicorns. Unless served with a good BBQ sauce, that is.

RenFest 2011 03 Entering the Festival

Even before getting through the gates, performers are there to heckle you. They also heckle you when you leave. Ah, abuse.

RenFest 2011 04 Search for the Longbow Competition

Once through the gates, it takes awhile for the crowd to break up and head their separate ways. This weekend the promise of a longbow competition had us interested and this was the first sign showing the way.

RenFest 2011 05 Here There Be Unicorns

Oh great, a unicorn already. The blond giving me the evil eye obviously doesn’t understand I’m documenting the pernicious and evil influence of the mono-horned creatures upon our society. Sorry, this photo was not about you.

RenFest 2011 06 A Banner Day

The forecast warned of rain and possible thunderstorms. We drove through both coming up but blue sky appeared. A promising start to a banner day.

RenFest 2011 07 A Good Sign

This qualifies as a good sign, doesn’t it?

RenFest 2011 08 Tiefling Girl

You see all kinds of cosplay at renaissance festivals. This was one of the more elaborate attempts. Unfortunately the still can’t convey the awkward walk those goat leg stilts caused. I think she was going for a D&D tiefling or something like it from a video game.

RenFest 2011 09 Glass Blowing Demo

We passed by a glass blowing demonstration and I got a couple of snaps of the bottle being crafted being reheated in the furnace. There wasn’t time to linger since the longbow competition awaited, wherever it was.

RenFest 2011 10 Does Not Look Like a Longbow Competition

Funny, this looked more like food shops to me. I was soon rerouted to the entrance to the shooting grounds I’d walked past. I have to say the gator and shrimp were tempting, but I was determined to have a scotch egg again – I keep failing to get that delicious item every trip.

RenFest 2011 11 Longbow Competition

The longbow competition was not as impressive as hoped. It was underway when we arrived and this was the only photo I could salvage from trying to photograph through the crowd. Check out the traditional Japanese archer and his huge bow.

At this point, I wondered if I should have put the big 55-200mm zoom lens on the Canon Digital Rebel. Not having had a lot of chances to use it, I was uncertain if it would work out better than the 18-55mm in crowds.

To be continued…

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