Battle of Flowers Night Parade Video

I've finally found a free video editor that does a fair job with my odd format video clips and makes smoothly moving 'HD' by scaling up the 640x480 to 960x720.

See over 8 minutes of night parade clips at www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9oOyVA63xw&hd=1



I won't be using that camera any more for video as I have invested in something properly widescreen HD... :)

On the rocks at L'Etacq

Firstly, looking south to the tower at Corbiere.








Guess the deliberate mistake and crude post-processing :)






These rocks are brutal. You really don't want to slip... I knocked my knee at one point and demonstrated that these rocks aren't forgiving :)






Looking back at Le Pulec, the 'stinky bay'...








.. left a bit...






.. and left some more, to the pinnacle rock.






It was a nice 0.6m low tide, but I couldn't get where I wanted due to loads of rotten seaweed and I'd have needed wellies. Here's a cave that will have to wait until another time.






In a rock pool.







Lines in the rock.







A little cave not worth a closer look as I'd had enough by then.








Crossed lines.

Harbour High Tide Niteshots

Towards the Yacht Club from the boats park opposite the pierheads...






.. straight ahead...







.. closer, with...







.. ships that pass in the night.







And another.







Meanwhile, from the Albert Quayside, after a quick reflections snap of the car park...







.. I thought I'd share the view of the Expensive Yacht with you...










.. closer, while not invading any privacy unduly.

The tides are high

A Condor 'Wavepiercer' passes through a sunset scene...







.. and arrives in St. Helier... a tricky shot that was never going to look great but never mind :)






.. I think this one has more going for it...







.. with a dramatic sky behind the castle.







Another tricky light shot, included just in case it does anything for you.






One of those rare occasions where I've done absolutely nothing to the shot except to resize down to 800 x 600...








.. and another...







.. and one I did 'crop' as required. This was about a 39ft tide...





.. which, if you'll excuse the bodged shot taken in a rush, at least shows the new lifeboat on almost the same level as the pier (you'd normally have to peep down over the edge to see it!)







.. and the ferries look nice and high for a change compared to the Elizabeth Terminal area...






.. closer, excuse the 'noisy' (grainy) pic.

Corbiere

The lighthouse. Not the ideal light for this shot, but never mind :)








There's a radar there now that they don't have Jersey Radio keeping a watch from the German tower on the cliffs.







Some people were enjoying a tour, with their white gloves on to protect the brass.








.. another close-up from a different angle.







The causeway looks like a fair walk but it's only really as far as King St and half of Queen St - from Boots to WHS :o)






The old railway station house - at the end of the line - is now a glass monstrosity.







La Rocco Tower







More of the causeway in the evening light...







.. along the way.







Rockpools! Reflections! Cannot resist!








Sunset! Cannot resist!







There's actually enough sand here to make for a good trip to the beach.






Quite busy that evening.

Evening Parade - Much Better!

The evening parade was a lot more enjoyable, possibly because I had company this time, but the weather was perfect for it and I good some sort of almost reasonable movie clips from the lousycam. Here are some stills glued together in sets of four, postcard style ....



(click on the pics for larger versions)



















































The HD video may be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9oOyVA63xw&hd=1

Poor Battle

What a disappointment for the audience, the organisers and participants! There just wasn't the usual atmosphere without any sunshine. Look at the grey skies here!






I couldn't get the shots I wanted because there wasn't a single spare place along the barriers anywhere, so I was behind people and couldn't get a clear view. That's my problem for not turning up early enough I suppose :)
Holding the camera above my head sort of worked but wasn't ideal...


.. especially as it was drizzling all the time once the floats actually reached us, and I didn't want to get the camera wet. Look how dull these pics are! I only took 4 shots and gave up.

I'm not entirely sure the floats were as impressive as last year's, but that could be just the poor viewing conditions. I liked the Durrell float,the Chinese themed winner, and one or two others but compared to the Beatles and circus floats last year...?

Without the sunshine and heat to make us all laid back and more forgiving of delays and boring bits, it was just tedious. The music and entertainment was lacking, the dancing around the floats was half-hearted and uninspired. The commentary made no sense unless you were right by the posh seats. The bands were few and far between. I was grateful not to be deafened too much by loud music this time, but the whole package simply failed to deliver as a summer carnival.

It's just not the same without the sunshine making the colours dazzle and the people happy. I suspect that climate change has made great summers a thing of the past and this must be one of the final nails in the coffin for this daytime parade. The night parade seems like a far more promising spectacle now, as it would take strong winds or rain to ruin that, and the atmosphere is usually better anyway. People who work for a living get to attend, the float builders have had a rest and a good night's sleep, the judging is over, there's less worry about the floats and everyone lets their hair down and has a good party making the most of the last chance to parade.

I'm not criticising the organisation... well, not much because this was mainly a moan at the weather.... but I do think that if more attention was paid to the amount of visual and audible stimulation available at all times, keeping things moving, then the whole thing would not only be a lot better when the weather is favourable but there might just be enough entertainment value to carry it through the dull years. The management just seem to rely too heavily upon the float builders and add little else to it. There could be so much more going on, involving the whole community. Dare I suggest looking at other carnivals elsewhere around the world and seeing what makes them tick?