Sharon's Week 29: It's Tough Out There on the Streets

Street Photography

The timing was bad for this assignment since there was nothing special going on here in the Sault this week (our summer festival ended last Saturday).  Maxine jokingly offered to walk the dogs on the street for me but that wasn't really what I had in mind so I asked my sister to keep her ears open for something in Windsor (where I was headed for the weekend to pick up Levi).  She found a Mardi Gras street festival in Amherstburg (a half hour from her place) and I was so excited...not just for the photographic opportunities but for the creole food, the fire breather, juggler, other buskers and the jazz and blues music. So off we headed in time to sup on some jambalaya or gumbo.  No dice, folks...it was an adult only event.  Nowhere on the website or Facebook page did it indicate that and wouldn't you think that such entertainment would be family friendly?  Nope, we turned around and headed home.  Anne then spent an hour googling festivals in the area that we might check out on Saturday.  Thank you Anne!

And more bad news...my suspicion last week that my not quite sharp photos at the reunion meant that my camera and/or lenses weren't working properly has been confirmed.  I haven't yet tested all my lenses and I haven't put the lenses on my old camera to make double sure it's not the camera body but it looks like the 28-200 lens that I use for 97% of my shooting is shot.  To give it credit, it was used when I bought it and I have been using it myself for about eight years but it might perhaps be related to my two falls in the past two months in which the camera did hit the ground, lens first.  It won't focus when zoomed and it creates a halo effect around edges...which you would think could be an interesting effect but in fact is not.  Sadly, I am a little worried about my 80-300 lens as well.

So, not quite fully realizing my camera's limited capabilities this week, the broken 28-200 is the lens I used yesterday when we headed out in the horribly hot and humid weather in search of street photography.  Many of the shots I took were not usable and the ones I am posting here are not as sharp as I would like but there's nothing I can do about that after the fact - software can only do so much.  It might be exciting to shop for a new lens or it might just be depressing when I see the cost.

The Truckin' Good Food Rally is a monthly event in and around Windsor.  Yesterday there were six food trucks set up at the North 42 Degrees winery near Harrow.  Anne and I got some lunch.  This is mine:  Red Neck Nachos - pulled pork, cheese, green onions and sour cream served in a bag of corn chips.  I have to say it was very, very good.

Right beside us during our picnic was the wine bar.

Before we hit the food trucks, we went to Belle River for their Sun Splash festival where there was food...

Those fries smelled amazing but I was holding out for the food trucks.

and drinks,

stuff for sale,

unruly children needing leashes,

families taking it all in,

colourful transportation,

patriotism,

a brave kid,

and some kids too cool for school.

I'm off to ebay to see what I can find in the lens department.  See ya next week