Renaissance! {New Braunfels photography}

For our first date, I took Lisa to Scarborough Faire Renaissance Festival up in Waxahachie. This was back when we lived in Temple, and Waxahachie wasn't such a long drive. We've made ren fests an annual affair because of that, but since moving to New Braunfels a decade ago, most years we're only able to attend the larger Texas Renaissance Festival outside of Plantersville. This year, we packed up the kids and hit it opening weekend. This kind of outing gives us a chance to take photos for our own entertainment and to preserve family memories--not something we actually get to do all that often.

The weather was cool and overcast--so much so that it rained on us several times during our drive there. The place has changed quite a bit since my first visit back in 1987, but the changes from last year to this may be the biggest yet. The grounds are filled with shops various merchants maintain, traditionally ramshackle wooden cottage-styled places that wouldn't be out of place in an actual medieval village. During the off season, however, quite a bit of construction took place and more impressive, expansive and permanent-looking restaurants and attractions replaced a bunch of the more, ah, atmospheric buildings. That's progress I suppose, but I can't help but miss the dilapidated charm that's been supplanted by architectural precision. The guy in the stilt-equipped bat costume (above) was cool, though. We hadn't seen him before, so I'm guessing he was a new addition. There were quite a few new characters roaming around this year, along with some old favorites. Another new one was a baby dragon "hatching" from an egg (below). Monkey Girl and Fairy Girl loved it. Bug, on the other hand, wouldn't have anything to do with it.

Bug was having everything to do with the first face-painting booth he saw. It didn't take him long to pick out a scary spider design for his cheek, which Lisa, naturally, took the opportunity to photograph--and get in a self-portrait at the same time.

A little further on, a booth selling foam swords invited Bug to participate in a duel. For his opponent, he picked me. Mayhem ensued, as you can see in the photo. Afterward, Bug confessed he picked Dad because he thought I'd be the easiest to beat, but allowed I was "three inches better" than he'd expected. Not sure his rationale, but I'll take that as a compliment!

Here's a confession: I took along the 500mm mirror lens because I wanted to play with it some more, and I thought the joust would offer a prime opportunity. It really is a fun, light lens with a very long reach that I haven't gotten to use very much, simply because it's so long. It is also challenging to use, because it is a "slow" lens and is strictly manual focus. The heavy clouds worked against me, as this lens is at its best in bright, sunny conditions. I had to set the camera's shutter speed a little slower than I'd like, and the ISO a little higher. But as waited for the joust to begin, I watched a squirrel race across the arena, leap up on the retaining wall to grab a dropped piece of food, then race back the way he'd come. I got the following shot.

Not too shabby, considering how far away the squirrel was, and how quickly it was moving. Then the knights showed up in the arena to start the joust, and I had some more dynamic subjects. I have to say, keeping constantly moving targets in focus with a manual lens is quite challenging. The good news is that this is a skill that improves with practice. I had quite a few mis-focused shots, true, but far fewer than I had last month when I photographed the Texas State/Texas Tech football game. If nothing else, I learned first-hand that photographing jousts with a really big lens is a fun thing to do!

Lisa On Location Photography