Went home over the weekend when my mom mentioned that she'd like to check out the flower festival taking place in Chinatown. So we mosied on down there Saturday around noon and I brought my Digital Rebel along with the 50mm f/1.4 which turned out to be a good idea cause the majority of the festival stands was inside a big tent so it was rather dim. So it was a good test of the 50mm's low-light capabilities.
Anyway, while we were there, they announced that Mayor Bloomberg was arriving momentarily but I figured we'd miss him since we were on the way out. But while we were milling about outside the tent, along came the mayor and I managed to get a shot of him:
My mom's reaction to seeing the mayor in person? Predictably, "Wow, he's kinda short." I thought I'd include this picture too since I didn't notice till afterwards that you could see Erin behind the mayor:
More pics after the break...
This next pic was taken inside the tent and I thought it shows pretty well what the 50mm f/1.4 is good at doing. Low light portrait shot with good bokeh.
This next guy was dressed in costume for some bridal photography company. Turned out a bit fuzzier than I'd like since I was shooting quickly and around chest level in an attempt not to be noticed. =)
I just thought this was a nice cute picture taken outside the tent while we were milling around after Bloomberg went inside.
Another picture taken outside when my mom was looking at some of the flowers offered.
The following pic was taken while we were leaving. Camera was at chest level without me framing the shot. Thought it turned out pretty well considering. I think the lady noticed me but wasn't sure if I took the pic cause of where the camera was at.
While we were waiting around on the corner of Mott and Bayard for Erin to come back from getting her fresh soy milk, I took this shot of the cotton candy vendor across the way. We had just bought one from him earlier cause my mom's a cotton candy junkie. ;-p
And this last pic is of Erin coming back from her soy milk foray. Pretty amazed at how well you can see her at that distance. That's the one thing I wasn't too fond of with the 50mm. On dSLRs it becomes a 80mm and you can't stand too close to your subject otherwise it can't focus properly. Not that that's a problem of the lens, more of just something I had to get used to. Was a little bit of an annoyance cause when you try to take pictures in a crowded area like this, the further away you have to stand from the subject, the greater the chance of some bumbling passerby getting in the way.