Chinese New Year 2023 Atlantic Station

Atlantic Station's Chinese New Year Celebration

On February 5th, when I was feeling better after being back in the States for a couple of weeks, I went out with the Atlanta Urban Photo Walkers. We went to Atlantic Station to shoot the Chinese New Year celebration. 

It's not a huge display but it's fun and beautiful with lanterns and a big smoking dragon out front. The lanterns do a light show every hour. 

Dragon at the Chinese New Year Celebration

It felt good to be outside and to challenge myself a little with my camera. I had the Lumix and didn't bother to bring my tripod. 

I brought a funny little lens that I got for free when I bought my 25mm (50mm equivalent on a full-frame camera). The lens is a cheap wide angle that comes with a sort of macro lens. It's really an attachment that's on the bottom that you can take off and put on your camera that allows for some super up-close shots. 

It's a little hard to explain but it's cheap and doesn't take great photos. It is, however, fun to play with to see what sort of shots I can get.

Here's one - when I can manage to find a little area of focus, the lens does a good job of blurring out the rest with some nice bokeh. 

The macro part of the lens doesn't even focus. You just have to move in close until you see something in focus and get your shot. 

I did a lot of switching out lenses that evening but it was fun and I got a few interesting shots. It was a good night for creativity since there wasn't a lot to shoot in terms of the exhibit itself. 

I'm glad I went, especially because I've gotten sick again. 

I'm pretty tired of this but I've heard from others that it's not uncommon post-Covid and with everything that's been going around. 

I thought I was on the mend. I was super excited last Wednesday to announce on my blog about my print that's hanging in the airport. 

By late Wednesday night, I felt awful. I held out hope that it was something I ate and I'd be fine in the morning, but no such luck. 

I had to call my son on Thursday morning to let him know I couldn't take the baby for the day.

Thursday evening I did my first-ever telemedicine visit. The doctor said she thought I'd probably been struggling with a sinus infection for a while and that I caught another virus on top of it. She put me on some antibiotics for the sinus infection. 

I hate antibiotics because they mess up my stomach. 

But, here I am. Trying to recover. This time's the trick, right?

I'm hopeful that after a round of antibiotics and continued good self-care I'll have this thing finally beat and can look forward to a healthy rest of 2023, please God. I can't afford to be sick like this, not to mention it just drives me crazy!

I hope your 2023 is going well so far.

See you between the raindrops!

xoxo,
Susan

I haven't been able to edit many of my Colombia photos yet, but when I do, I'll start a new gallery. In the meantime, if you're looking to browse my work, you can find it here.