Air Force Research Laboratory gives out awards in ABQ!
The AFRL Awards make the second event I have photographed in the Lobo Rainforest building in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The first mostly featured politicians actually, while the second was all about giving scientists and engineers awards! However, I did see some of the same people at both events. It was interesting to learn just how many patents one person can hold in science and/or engineering! I never would have thought one person would have so many, and many of the award winners had multiple patents. It was impressive. In a side note, the catering at this event featured the best vegetarian food, and best variety of vegetarian options, I have ever had in my 9 years of photographing events! Thank you Tiffany for choosing a fantastic caterer and for choosing me as your photographer for this event!
Not only is this a belated balloon fiesta post (due to tech issues with my laptop), but it is not an amazing one because, in the terms of balloonists, it was a static morning on the second day of the fiesta here in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Jessica and I tried to get to opening day, but even at 5am traffic was backed up for miles. We got up at 3am and at the park well before 4am the next day, no traffic, we got right in. Great, right? Nope, at ground level there was a slight wind, which means at altitude way too much wind for the balloons, a static morning. Most balloons did inflate, so the photos you see are all of them floating, but still firmly tethered to the ground.
I had the opportunity to photograph the last ABQ Roller Derby bout of the 2018 season due to my connection with Sonja Dewing who hosts 1 Million Cups and is also the owner of Plot Duckies. She invited me to photograph an upcoming bout which I gladly agreed to as I had never photographed a roller derby before! I did not, and still do not, know a single rule or strategy about roller derby, but by the second half I was starting to figure out when the best action takes place and where on the skating rink. I could not believe the collisions and how many times people get knocked right on their butts! You can see the action up close in the gallery below.
It is not every day one gets to photography the New York City Police Commissioner, the Albuquerque Chief of Police and the Mayor of Albuquerque! However, that was exactly what I got to do in photographing my second signature event for the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce. The NYPD commish spoke to a packed ballroom on the theme of Lessons in Crime-Fighting From One of the Safest Big Cities in the World. Before that there were roundtable discussions with Q&A sessions. I was busy covering it all at the beautiful Albuquerque Marriott Pyramid North!
The annual Aki Matsuri Japanese Fall Festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico gives me a chance to remember my 6 years living in Japan. You might think a festival cannot recall anything specific since it covers a spectrum of cultural displays from music, to dance to karate demonstrations. However, my neighborhood in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo had its very own annual festival complete with its own song with lyrics about how much we all like Shinjuku! Even though this was my second year in a row attending this festival, it still surprises me to be able to get a glimpse of live, Japanese culture here in the desert, in Albuquerque.
I have been taking my dog, Kiki, to dog parks across the country for all her 9.5 year life. Having a good dog park is a key feature of any place I choose to live. Therefore, the opening of more dog parks is always welcome, and especially ones in urban areas. Such a dog park opened right in the middle of the Cottonwood Mall parking lot in Rio Rancho, New Mexico! Before the ribbon cutting event hosted by the ABQ West Chamber of Commerce I had a hard time imagining how a dog park could be in a mall. Whoever the designers were deserve great praise for making a fantastic dog park, with obstacles, shade and easy access to water for both dog and human alike! I have never seen such a large gathering of dogs with all dogs getting along so well either! We live far from this dog park, so will not be regulars, but when on the west side I look forward to visiting again!
This was my second Red Rally on the UNM campus, which is the burning of the Aggie from rival school NMSU before the football game. It is quite the spectacle because it is not every day one sees something 40 feet go up in flames, and this year there seemed to be a lot more flames for a lot longer! The pyrotechnics team must have learned something since the 2017 Red Rally.
