Juggling Hats
I'm happy that I got a few photos from the Austin Shrine Circus. My best shots are of the jugglers that performed right in front of us. Visit my Flickr stream ( www.flickr.com/flipimages ) to see more pictures.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
University of Texas Home Meet
UT Gymnast on the high bar
We had fun watching part of the UT Home meet Saturday night (January 16) at Crenshaw's. It was a little dark for photos but it's always fun to try. Other teams there included Texas A&M and Texas Tech. We had to leave before the meet was over so I don't know the results yet. I'll post them as soon as I can find them online.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Disappointed with the Shrine Circus
We went to the Shrine Circus on Sunday night. Although we had VIP Seats, we did not have a very fun experience. I started this blog to promote circus events in Austin, so I really don't want to devote a lot of space to complaining about every little problem. However, I think it would be unfair if I didn't mention what went wrong at this event.
First the good stuff: The performers did a good job! (I think!) Our seats were too far away to see many details but I think the trapeze, aerial acts, and contortion were all well done. Juggling is the only act that we could see easily (right in front of us) and I really enjoyed this pair of jugglers. They were very animated and, at that point, I was so grateful to have an act in front of us that we could actually see easily! Also, I was very happy that they allowed me to bring my camera and attempt to take photos (although our seats were too far away to get many pictures).
Now for the not-so great- parts. I don't know if these were "Shrine Circus" problems or "Cedar Park Event Center problems" or a combination of both but here is what bothered us and kept us from really enjoying ourselves:
1. Our seats were NOT the seats that we thought we bought! We tried to buy seats the day they were available on Ticketmaster but there was no seating chart available. So, a few days later, we went directly to the Cedar Park Event Center Box Office because I specifically wanted to choose seats that I could easily take pictures from. The seats the employee pointed to on the seating chart were Row 1 directly between the center ring and one side ring on an aisle (it's called a "three ring" circus but more on that later). Well, when we arrived and walked to the seats we thought we had, the numbers didn't match up. We asked the usher for help and he guided us to the very farthest end front row seats at the arena, more than 20 feet off to the side from where we thought we would be. I would have brought a bigger telephoto lens if I had realized we would be that far away. We were close to one of the side rings, but 95% of the time that ring was empty and unused. To make matters worse, the rest of our row towards the center appeared to be unsold because the volunteers, riggers, etc kept using those seats on and off throughout the show. So why couldn't they just let us move down to the other end of the aisle? Why make your paying "VIP guests" sit in the worst seats, while the better seats are used as temporary seats for the employees? I would have preferred to be several rows back and in the center than in the front row at the very end of the arena. The seats we had should never have been called "VIP seats" and we would not have bought them if the Cedar Park Event Center Box office employee had shown us correctly on the seating chart.
2. The Smoke Machine was placed on the floor right next to us (about 2 feet) and it was LOUD! I thought it would turn off once the smoke was done for the opening act but the fan continued to blow even after the smoke stopped. Our ears started to ring and hurt! After awhile my husband couldn't take the noise anymore so he found an employee and asked them to turn it off. When they did turn it off the people behind us said "Thank you", so obviously it was bothering them too. Why place something so incredibly loud, right next to the audience?
3. Elephant Rides left a lot of crying kids! Parents were allowed to purchase tickets so their kid could wait in line to ride the elephants. This was very popular and had a long line. When it was time to start the show, they closed down the ride and told the kids in line to come back at the intermission. They actually let kids wait in a long line and get to the front, to be turned away! Well, during the intermission everyone mobbed back down to get in line, which they unfortunately guided right past our front row seats, so we got mobbed, bumped, stepped on, while waiting in our seats during the intermission. It got so crowded that we couldn't even stand up to abandon our seats for the intermission, we were trapped. Fortunately for us the intermission was only about 20 minutes but that was bad news for some of the kids, who again had to get turned away (after standing in a long line and buying a ticket). Imagine lots of crying young kids who can't understand why they stood in a long line and got turned away right when they got to the elephant! The announcer said they would continue elephant rides after the show and would stay until every kid got a ride but everyone still seemed a little upset and quite a few kids were still crying. We were quite annoyed this point (and my ear was still ringing) and almost left during the intermission because we couldn't see most of the acts anyway.
4. This is mostly a "one ring" circus. Please don't sell it as a "three ring circus" because almost nothing happened in front of us except the tiger act (which doesn't interest me), the Rolla Bolla act (but the performer had his back to us the entire time - he only turned around to bow), and the jugglers (who were excellent). They shouldn't even sell "VIP" seats that are so far from the center of the action. Anything at the far end of the arena (trapeze, wheel of death) we couldn't see well enough to know what they were doing. The center ring we could kind of see if we strained hard enough but for the clown acts, we really couldn't tell what was happening. We felt very detached from the whole event because our "VIP" seats were so far away.
I guess if the Shrine Circus returns to the Cedar Park Center, I would give it another chance (especially since they are camera friendly) but I would buy my tickets from Ticketmaster, instead of the box office so I can have more confidence that I'll end up closer to the center. I'm definitely very disappointed in the event and in the lost photographic opportunities. If my seats were where I thought they were, I would have been able to get some great shots!
First the good stuff: The performers did a good job! (I think!) Our seats were too far away to see many details but I think the trapeze, aerial acts, and contortion were all well done. Juggling is the only act that we could see easily (right in front of us) and I really enjoyed this pair of jugglers. They were very animated and, at that point, I was so grateful to have an act in front of us that we could actually see easily! Also, I was very happy that they allowed me to bring my camera and attempt to take photos (although our seats were too far away to get many pictures).
Now for the not-so great- parts. I don't know if these were "Shrine Circus" problems or "Cedar Park Event Center problems" or a combination of both but here is what bothered us and kept us from really enjoying ourselves:
1. Our seats were NOT the seats that we thought we bought! We tried to buy seats the day they were available on Ticketmaster but there was no seating chart available. So, a few days later, we went directly to the Cedar Park Event Center Box Office because I specifically wanted to choose seats that I could easily take pictures from. The seats the employee pointed to on the seating chart were Row 1 directly between the center ring and one side ring on an aisle (it's called a "three ring" circus but more on that later). Well, when we arrived and walked to the seats we thought we had, the numbers didn't match up. We asked the usher for help and he guided us to the very farthest end front row seats at the arena, more than 20 feet off to the side from where we thought we would be. I would have brought a bigger telephoto lens if I had realized we would be that far away. We were close to one of the side rings, but 95% of the time that ring was empty and unused. To make matters worse, the rest of our row towards the center appeared to be unsold because the volunteers, riggers, etc kept using those seats on and off throughout the show. So why couldn't they just let us move down to the other end of the aisle? Why make your paying "VIP guests" sit in the worst seats, while the better seats are used as temporary seats for the employees? I would have preferred to be several rows back and in the center than in the front row at the very end of the arena. The seats we had should never have been called "VIP seats" and we would not have bought them if the Cedar Park Event Center Box office employee had shown us correctly on the seating chart.
2. The Smoke Machine was placed on the floor right next to us (about 2 feet) and it was LOUD! I thought it would turn off once the smoke was done for the opening act but the fan continued to blow even after the smoke stopped. Our ears started to ring and hurt! After awhile my husband couldn't take the noise anymore so he found an employee and asked them to turn it off. When they did turn it off the people behind us said "Thank you", so obviously it was bothering them too. Why place something so incredibly loud, right next to the audience?
3. Elephant Rides left a lot of crying kids! Parents were allowed to purchase tickets so their kid could wait in line to ride the elephants. This was very popular and had a long line. When it was time to start the show, they closed down the ride and told the kids in line to come back at the intermission. They actually let kids wait in a long line and get to the front, to be turned away! Well, during the intermission everyone mobbed back down to get in line, which they unfortunately guided right past our front row seats, so we got mobbed, bumped, stepped on, while waiting in our seats during the intermission. It got so crowded that we couldn't even stand up to abandon our seats for the intermission, we were trapped. Fortunately for us the intermission was only about 20 minutes but that was bad news for some of the kids, who again had to get turned away (after standing in a long line and buying a ticket). Imagine lots of crying young kids who can't understand why they stood in a long line and got turned away right when they got to the elephant! The announcer said they would continue elephant rides after the show and would stay until every kid got a ride but everyone still seemed a little upset and quite a few kids were still crying. We were quite annoyed this point (and my ear was still ringing) and almost left during the intermission because we couldn't see most of the acts anyway.
4. This is mostly a "one ring" circus. Please don't sell it as a "three ring circus" because almost nothing happened in front of us except the tiger act (which doesn't interest me), the Rolla Bolla act (but the performer had his back to us the entire time - he only turned around to bow), and the jugglers (who were excellent). They shouldn't even sell "VIP" seats that are so far from the center of the action. Anything at the far end of the arena (trapeze, wheel of death) we couldn't see well enough to know what they were doing. The center ring we could kind of see if we strained hard enough but for the clown acts, we really couldn't tell what was happening. We felt very detached from the whole event because our "VIP" seats were so far away.
I guess if the Shrine Circus returns to the Cedar Park Center, I would give it another chance (especially since they are camera friendly) but I would buy my tickets from Ticketmaster, instead of the box office so I can have more confidence that I'll end up closer to the center. I'm definitely very disappointed in the event and in the lost photographic opportunities. If my seats were where I thought they were, I would have been able to get some great shots!
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Gymnastics Essentials
Gymnastics Essentials
I took this photo of my old grips and shoes. Now that I think about it, the grips and shoes are in too good of condition. Maybe I should drive my car over them and then take another photo?
Monday, January 11, 2010
UT Gymnastics and Shrine Circus this weekend
Two fun events are happening this weekend. On Saturday, January 16th is the first competition of the season for UT Gymnastics (http://studentorgs.utexas.edu/gymnastics/index.html). The meet will be held at Crenshaw's. Warm-ups start at 6:00 and the competition begins at 7:30pm. I'm planning to go and bring my camera. If I'm lucky and there's enough light in the gym for decent photos, I'll post them here afterwards :-)
Also this weekend is the Austin Shrine Circus (www.austincircus.com) at the Cedar Park Event Center. I haven't yet heard what the photography policy is for this event. I'll definitely call the Cedar Park Event Center before I go and hopefully I'll be able to get some interesting pictures.
And don't forget, Cirque Du Soleil is coming to Cedar Park in February!
Also this weekend is the Austin Shrine Circus (www.austincircus.com) at the Cedar Park Event Center. I haven't yet heard what the photography policy is for this event. I'll definitely call the Cedar Park Event Center before I go and hopefully I'll be able to get some interesting pictures.
And don't forget, Cirque Du Soleil is coming to Cedar Park in February!
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