Oh hey wait I do have something to write about! I don't think I've mentioned it in the past, but in addition to photography, I am also interested in dragon boat racing.
It's basically a giant, heavy canoe operated manned by 10 to 20 paddlers, a steerer, and a drummer. It's called a dragon boat because on race day, a decorative dragon's head and tail are fixed to the ends of each boat. During the off-season, they're detached and stored for safety.
There are races all over the country and all over the world wherever there is a calm body of water. The one in New York takes place every August in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. The races range in distance from 200 meters and 500 meters to the 2000 meter. Most of the ones we get into are 500 meters long, but my favorite is the 200 meter, a balls-to-the-wall sprint that is usually (ideally) over in just under a minute.
As I mentioned before, the last race was in Puerto Rico, at Embalse Cerillo. The drive from Ponce was about 30 minutes of winding mountain road until the trees gave way to a jawdropping basin, dotted with a start line and a finish line. It was easily the most beautiful venue we'd ever raced at. The air was fresh and each team had their own little gazebo to hang out in between races. Our gazebo had a fantastic view of the finish line.
Of course, the best view of the finish line is from inside the boat. This was why I brought the Holga. I brought it with me and kept it on the floor of the boat, which usually has some bilge sloshing around in it -- not a good place for nice cameras. Plus, in the case that we capsized, I could probably have shaken the water out, loaded another roll, and continued shooting.
Also, the sun was blazing out, which meant it would be a perfect day for some Kodak Ektar (100 ISO) in the Holga. Dragon boat is a colorful sport, and Ektar is a colorful film, so I always make sure to have some on hand for a race.
There was a lot of downtime between races, which was perfectly fine. I spent a lot of it sitting around in the sun, listening to the sounds of salsa and merengue drifting over from the festival area.
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