Winter Wonderland

Event Report 201715

The Experience

It is easy to get bored when you have been on travel for months and then return to hum-drum everyday life. After our return to San Diego, we attended to house chores, but the burden of the mundane overtook us. Kathleen found a local event that was going on at the stadium, so we invited our dear friends Michele and Steve to join us and we headed out. I, personally, had no idea what was at the event but I was pleasantly surprised.

These photos were taken with a Sony A7RM2 body with my new Zeiss 18mm f/2.8 lens.

The photos below are what we saw.

I had been expecting some kind of holiday-themed event and it was that. And a whole lot more. In my mind I had envisioned a bunch of cheap blow-up figures that were illuminated. But, in reality these structures were rigid and covered with light nylon that became translucent when illuminated from behind.

The Christmas-themed figures were near the entrance portal, but there were other themes deeper into the exhibit.

While it does not look all that impressive from a distance, there was tons of detail in the individual figures.

The Eiffel Tower was quite tall and required bracing to prevent winds from toppling the strucutre.

The structure that looked like the British Parliament building and Big Ben was quite tall and the figures out front were animated.

Other portions of the exhibit had more abstract figures, some with extreme detail.

This Egyptian display had lots of colorful panels.

This display was quite impressive.

An Aztec motif snake.

An Aztec calendar about 20 feet high.

Waving "lucky cats" are a favorite among the oriental crowd. These characters are supported by a rigid internal frame.

The pagoda was very detailed.

Given the rigid frames, the question is "where are these stored in the off season". The storage footprint must be huge.

An Indian building complete with ornate elephants.

A monastery complete with Chinese lions.

A very impressive Chinese dragon. Lots of lights and plenty of detail.

This display of a peacock was one of the few that had dynamic lights that pulsated and flashed. It was very impressive.

A stunning about of detail in this oriental-themed display.

The displays were very detailed and way more intricate than expected. All in all, other than the choice of "fair food" present, the show was impressive and worth a visit.

San Diego always has fun things to see and do. Many thanks to Kathleen for arranging this outing.

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