Adventures in LED Hula Hooping
My friend Rachel recently took a hula hooping class in Berkley or Oakland or something, where she learned a lot of hula hoop dance techniques, fun tricks, and eventually did a routine where she set her hoop on FIRE! Rachel kicks ass, yo.
Anyway, we were out seeing her boyfriend Carl's band Level 12 play at a jet ski competition out near Angel's Camp. She brought her (and quite possibly my) new favorite toy, the light up LED hula hoop.
Mark had his camera at this show, so he had the opportunity to take some great shots, and I'm excited to show them to you now!
Oops, dropped it!
This is the result of a .77 second exposure of standard waist hooping. The LEDs change color at an interval of a few seconds, and you can really see where the hoop goes most by the areas where the lighting gets brighter.
A one second exposure of some basic handwork.
Another angle of pretty handwork.
A 5/8 second exposure, this one just looks super trippy.
The guys even had a shot with the hoop, this thing was really the hit of the party. We were on the shore of the reservoir, so there was plenty of room for people to move about safely.
It got a little harder to keep a strapless bathing suit top up when I started getting more into it! Time for a tank top and some faster paced hooping.
Rachel showing us how it's really done!
It looks like she's made herself a ball gown from light trailers. The move she's doing is one of my favorite, and I actually learned how to do it a little last night!
Did I mention that an hour of consistant hula hooping will burn around 600 calories?
More handwork, but at a very pretty angle. 1 second exposure.
Pop those hips, beezy! Heck yeah, this is my absolute favorite move right now, but I haven't quite figured it out yet. Look at the angle at which she has the hoop spinning, it's pretty much 45 degrees. She leans back into the hoop, and hops while popping her hips forward. It takes quite a bit of coordination, but I'll get it eventually.
Putting her hands in and out of the rotating hoop through the openings while it spins.
Can I tell you how much I love this thing?
Figuring out the trick Rachel showed us earlier. You pass the hoop around behind you until there's a little momentum, then spin it around your palm as you lean out in front of yourself.
The yarn ball of lights, if you will, is me successfully spinning the hoop in front of me for a few, then starting the rotation back around me. 2.3 second exposure.
More dresses made of lights for Rachel.
This is the trick I was trying to learn when I showed myself dropping it earlier. It makes an INCREDIBLE effect with the exposure set as long as it was; 6.7 seconds. Awesome picture, Mark, really.
So this move begins by rotating the hoop around your midsection, and placing your hand at the small of your back. The complicated part comes when you simultaneously put your free arm through an opening in the rotation and pull up on the hoop with the hand on your back. Then, to complete this move successfully, you rotate the hoop around your palm in a seamless transition.
Easy? No. Beautiful? Yes.
One more pretty one of some angled handwork.
What do you think? Looks pretty cool, right? Leave me a comment with your thoughts! Wanna try sometime?
