Lights, laughing, and lassies...

Last Thursday night, I got together with some wonderful friends Carla, Robin, and Eileen for a long, chatty dinner, and to practice shooting some Christmas lights at night.

It was... an adventure.

Be sure to check out their posts about the evening, as it was more of a learning experience for me in what NOT to do. =) Like, have a UV filter on my lens. Must remember to ditch that. And, perhaps upgrade to the 5D MkII someday for better noise handling (my shots were definitely way too noisy for my tastes.) And, to ALWAYS have your GPS on you. Even if you THINK you know where you're going. (*cough* *cough*!) Or at the very least, bring Eileen with you to mimic the English Garmin lady.

I haven't laughed so hard in a very long time... we thought we were going to never find our way out of Meriden, driving in circles past Ali Baba Bail Bonds, shady barred windows, and the Grocery, LLC. We eventually found Hubbard Park and its annual light display full of Holiday Dinosaurs, phallic giant candles, and half-lit trains. And upon piling out of the car, we perhaps were all SO traffic stoppingly gorgeous in our poofy coats, scarves, and massive amounts of ridiculously unnecessary camera gear, we caused someone to back into a fence. CRRRRRRUNCH went the plastic fender as the four of us stood basking in the car's high beams, laughing uncontrollably! Evil. He drove away but was no doubt angry the next morning.

Robin stood in awe of the stage full of giant trees and presents... and reminded me of a 5 year old on Christmas morning.




Checked out the caboose...


And mugged like only The Dini can do.


Too bad I'm clueless half the time and got this LOVELY shot of her looking like she was eating the light bulb. Great. I'm a stellar photographer.


Eileen is one of the funniest, most stunning people to photograph...




And has the uncanny ability to make you practically pee your pants with one word (or hand gesture.)


Going the extra mile to get the shot!


I can't decide which one I like better.






It's REALLY HARD being on the other end of the lens... it takes a while to warm up to it. Multiple cameras in your face is TOTALLY disconcerting. I have a much better appreciation for workshop models.


We never stopped laughing.


The beautiful Ms. Ten Eyck


A classic.


Just a cool shot of the lights...


And yes, I was there, doing what I do...




Thanks for a great evening girls. I had a blast. XOXO