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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bob Blaylock" data-source="post: 556060" data-attributes="member: 16749">What a day it was!  I spent a good part of it in a crowded, noisy “party bus”, with a bunch of high-spirited teenagers.  I don't usually do well in noise and crowds, but for some reason, I was able to tolerate it quite well most of today.  The general sense of fun seemed to be very contagious.  The bus had first picked me up near my home, around 11:30, and with me as its only passenger at that point, took me to the home of the chambelán de honor, where I took pictures of the damas and chambelanes, while we waited for the guest of honor—the Quinceañera*—to arrive.  She finally arrived with her hair and makeup done, but in casual clothes, and went inside to change into her formal dress.  Once she was ready, we took a few more pictures, and then piled into the bus, to head to the church.  There was about an hour-and-a-half service at a Catholic church in the heart of Sacramento, followed by about another ten minutes of various combinations of friends and family posing for pictures with the Quinceañera inside the church.  The priest was pretty cool, and was able to describe some simple and rational boundaries for me to observe, and I think that phase, which was the one that concerned me the most, went quite well.  Back into the “party bus” accompanied by a convoy of vintage cars, into Old Sacramento, where the Quinceañera and her court† posed for pictures in and around the cars.  After that, the bus headed off to El Dorado Hills, some distance away, minus the entourage that followed us to Old Sacramento.  At this point, it was just the Quinceañera, her court, the driver, a woman whose function I wasn't ever quite sure of, a cute little girl (perhaps seven or eight years old) who I think was that woman's daughter, and myself.  We landed at a park in El Dorado Hills, where we took more pictures, including one that was elaborately arranged and staged by the woman whose function I don't know, and one of the damas.  The reception was supposed to begin at 17:00 back in Sacramento, but we were quite “fashionably late” returning from El Dorado Hills, arriving, I think, around 17:30 or so.  By about 20:00, or so, I think all the photographable events had happened, and both my camera and I were very much used-up for the day.  The party was still going when I left, but I think it was definitely winding down.  I started the day with three full batteries for my camera (the stock 1030 mAH genuine Nikon battery that came with my camera, and two 2300 mAH Vivitar batteries) and an empty 32GB memory card.  At the end of the day, all three batteries were nearly empty, and the memory card was nearly full.  I took a total of 850 pictures this day, by far the most I have ever taken in a single day.  I've just now finished copying them all to my computer, and performing some basic organization of them.  As far as processing them to produce the final, finished pictures, I think that will have to wait.  Right now, after a long day, I just get overwhelmed when I look at the huge mass of raw pictures, waiting for the best ones to be picked out and postprocessed.  Perhaps I'll post some of the pictures here, after I've processed them.* The term “Quinceañera”, I have learned, refers both to the occasion and accompanying celebration, and to the girl whose occasion it is.† A group of couples, each consisting of a chambelane and a dama plus a chambelán de honor who is the Quinceañera's escort.</blockquote>

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