Mud Bath

After the kinetic sculptures finish their runs through the mud bog (see previous post), spectators are invited to play in the mud. Some parent's actually dare to let their kids coat themselves in a thick layer of brown muck that will certainly not come out of any clothing. I'm sure it's quite fun for the children as long as they don't mind being hosed down afterward. I didn't want to stick around at this location for very long because I knew the race would be continuing in the river and I wanted to get down to the river exit before the first participants arrived. But, I couldn't leave without grabbing at least a few shots. This youngster seemed quite happy to be covered in mud all the way up to his neck.

The Mud Bog

One of the stages in the da Vinci Days kinetic sculpture race is the infamous mud bog. At Crystal Lake Park in Corvallis, they create a deep, muddy mess for the racers to drive through before getting hosed off and entering the river for the next stage. Some never make it out (on their own at least). Most breezed through the long stretch of mud, only to get hung up trying to exit the course and climb back out to dry land. For human powered machines this is quite a work out, I'm sure. This pair of shots are of one of my favorite sculptures. In the second photo, the team is taking a quick pause to plan their attack after stalling out in that last crucial moment. I believe they were eventually successful at making the corner, up and out of the mud without outside assistance. Others were not so lucky.

 

Kinetic Sculpture Parade

On the second day of da Vinci Days, Saturday, the kinetic sculpture participants put on a short parade near the festival site. As the sculptures came back into the corral area, spectators converged to check out the contraptions up close and talk to the drivers. There was a fair amount of theatricality and fun to be had. This gentlemen was one of the racers and he wasn't shy about posing in his costume for the cameras and crowd.

Canine Frisbee

One of the events at da Vinci Days last weekend was canine frisbee. Saturday morning, I was there to take pictures and enjoyed watching as well. It drew quite a crowd and several people ended up with a dog in their lap while it chased after a frisbee that ventured slightly out of bounds. As I was focusing on a dog running toward me and preparing to capture the moment it ripped the frisbee from the air, I suddenly realized that the dog wasn't stopping. I looked up just as the frisbee bounced off my leg. I didn't get any good shots of that round, but I did get this shot of one of the dogs leaping for a mid-air catch with some of the spectators watching in the distance.

Keynote

In this year's da Vinci Day's theme of transformation, OSU women's basketball coach, Scott Rueck, gave a very uplifting keynote speech. I was there at LaSells Stewart Center on Friday night to cover the event. Coach Rueck started with a blank canvas and a row of paints on the stage. He used them as a metaphor for building OSU's basketball program, almost from the ground up, when he came to OSU a couple of years ago. Adding elements to his painting and relating them to the foundations of his team, the message broadened beyond basketball to life in general. We are all artists in a sense and we must decide what goes on our canvas, he said. When he finished his painting, the story of how he defied expectations and built a winning team was complete. How he got there, and and the lessons he learned and brought with him was truly inspiring... and I'm not a basketball fan. It was a pleasure to meet him and he was kind enough to pose for me with the finished painting after the speech.