Halloween in Knoxville (I)

Some impressions from the Halloween Philoctoberfest at Market Square, Downtown Knoxville. Most of them were shot in the dark and I am not quite satisfied with the flash, although post-processing restored quite some quality.

I haven't found out where these birds come from, someone mentioned Beetle Juice. Some hints, anyone?


I especially liked this couple, you could see the jelly fish everything in the dark due to its blue light.


This was one of the most scary guys walking around there, very impressive make-up...


I guess that does not need any comment, they were just cute.


This was especially scary ^^


These two were very interesting to watch, they even danced on their stilts.


Again: impressive. Later this evening I learned that her style of make-up stems from the Mexican Day of the Dead tradition, which is celebrated one day after Halloween.

Nightly Shooting

My first night shooting at a dam near the lab. The dam is used to produce energy for Oak Ridge and the National Lab (which requires a fair amount of it).

Fall provides breathtaking colors in this area and the water adds its part.

It seems little Mary has lost her diving goggles...

...which are somehow surreal in this surrounding.

I only had one shot before the deer decided to hide. Unfortunately, it is not quite sharp.

The dam at night, as seen after a 30s exposure.

Tried to catch the clouds but they were moving too too fast for 30s... If you look close, you can even see some stars. The tree is lit by a light on a nearby parking lot. Hooray for light pollution!

Again the clouds, this time lit by a rest of sunlight...

This one required some tries as the moon was quite light and surrounded by clouds today. Though, it's better than I expected.

I guess you can see that the relation between me and my camera is not perfect yet. But we are both working hard on it and want to come back soon...

That's it, here we go. After being in the US for more than two month I finally found the time to set up this blog to document my travels, hikes, and some random thoughts. Feedback welcome!