28.01.09
Photographing carnivals
Mix together excitement, fun, energy and rhythm in the generous proportions of a street festival and you get the perfect recipe to inspire your people photography.
And the good news is these street festivals take place frequently all over the world. This is one time when your photographic subjects – people – are really relaxed and enjoying themselves so are less likely to object to being photographed.
Think festivals or carnivals and images of bright, outlandish costumes, imaginative floats and extravagantly dressed dancers inevitably spring to mind. They provide a riot of colour, texture and movement for you to photograph, so immerse yourself in the atmosphere.
All the usual barriers of age, race and gender are abandoned in the variety of people who attend festivals, from children through beautiful, sometimes dazzling, thirty somethings to the older generations. They’ll all be extremely colourful and amongst them you will find some strikingly flamboyant characters – these are easier to shoot as they love striking a pose. Vertical shots are the order of the day to capture individual costumes, though groups may deserve horizontal photographs.
Once you are immersed in the atmosphere, let your spirit run free and join in. That way you’re more likely to be accepted, even when you point your camera at people. You should still make it clear that you are effectively asking for their approval to be photographed, just an expression will often do this. Some cultures or individuals may object and then it’s best to back off fast.
Despite all the benefits that a street festival brings there are a few challenges too. These include working in crowds, capturing groups of costumed people who are mostly on the move or even dancing, and avoiding the urban background of buildings that are frequently tall and boring – so some planning is a good idea.
Search out information on such events and then understand what the environment is likely to be. Get hold of a location map, decide how to get there and where to park. And importantly, consider where the sun will be and how the light is going to play a part in your pictures.
Get to the area early – I usually allow at least two hours – to scout out what is already going on. Quite often there are things to photograph before the formal start – groups of people are gathering beforehand, rehearsing and adjusting costumes. You can also check out the best vantage points, as well as how correctly you had analysed where the sun will be, and also how to avoid intrusive buildings or other distractions in your shots, rather than try and delete them later.
The other crucial aspect of planning is deciding what camera equipment to take. Remember you’ll be carrying it for the best part of a day, so you don’t want to put too much in your bag. My choice is two (D)SLR bodies (in case one fails, or as happened to me once in Venice, falls out and hits the cobbles), a wide-angle zoom which is my favourite to leave on the body (ideally a 24-105mm, or a 24-50mm together with a 35-105mm), a faster short telephoto which is often a macro 90mm that enables some very close-up shots, combined with an off-camera flashgun. What you can happily leave behind is your tripod which will just be a hindrance, as you will want to be able to move fast in the busy streets.
I also preset my camera to be ready to shoot as soon as I arrive. I use ISO 100 (200 if it’s overcast) as I will want to be able to use slower shutter speeds with larger apertures. White-balance I set to the forecast conditions (cloudy or sunny), but always shoot Raw so I can override the result afterwards if I need to. You shouldn’t rely on buying any digital cards (or film) and batteries on festival days, so bring plenty with you.
To inject some movement into photos, I use slow-speed sync. Using this technique (see the technique panel overleaf) creates an image that gives a feeling of the motion and excitement of the event. It’s a great way to capture the frenzied rhythmic motion of carnival dancers. But whatever you do, don’t get in the way of the parade.
We are so lucky that lots of these festivals happen around the UK. You are sure to find some happening near you. Alternatively, take a short break to be close to one of the major events, like, Chinese New Year in Manchester (January 2009), Luton International Carnival (May), Up Helly Ya in Shetland (January), Diwali in Leicester (October) or any of the Highland Games during the summer.
One of these, held each August Bank Holiday, is Notting Hill Carnival, the largest celebration of its kind in Europe, a full-blooded Caribbean carnival, attracting over a million visitors from around the world. With scores of massive sound systems, many spectacular floats and, of course, the traditional steel drum bands, plus hundreds of stalls lining the streets, this is London’s most exciting annual event.
Some of the groups in this spectacular procession have costumes created by professional costume makers, others as community projects with little or no experience but plenty of enthusiasm. Whatever their origin, the amazing end results are what make Notting Hill Carnival recognisable the world over.
The Carnival parade winds through three miles of Notting Hill’s major streets, flanked by visitors jostling to get a look at what’s happening. A parade takes place on each day of the Carnival. Sunday’s Children’s Day parade is less spectacular but also less crowded, which you may prefer, and I found fewer photographers appear as this day is less publicised.
Be careful when photographing children though; it’s always best to get the okay from the parents or any supervising adults. The traditional main parade is on Monday. This attracts groups from as far afield as South America, Africa and, of course, the Caribbean, bringing music, dance and costume in spectacular style. This year the dates are 24 and 25 August and the action is scheduled to start at midday.
I have always felt safe here, surrounded by happy people enjoying the celebration, music and food. But just to be sure, I never leave anything in an outside pocket and keep my camera bag closed, which may make it slower to change lenses or film/card, but I am willing to sacrifice speed for security. When moving through the crowds and not wanting to photograph the procession, I walk beside a wall and keep the bag between me and it. I also leave before the end to avoid the period when it’s too crowded to move easily and when people have had time to imbibe too heartily.
You may find it is convenient to stand on one of the four corners that the procession passes in Notting Hill. This gives you more flexibility to move up or down the adjoining streets. While you focus on the procession as it slowly winds past you, don’t ignore what is happening around you. You can find interesting subjects here as well – still life like the exotic food and trinkets on the stalls and, of course, the other spectators – and sometimes you can just predict when something interesting is going to happen.
To complete the fun and enjoyment of photographing the Carnival, there is traditional Caribbean food – it’s the perfect opportunity to sample jerk chicken, rice and peas as well as rum punch and plenty of other exotic cuisines. I’d recommend sampling all the exotic fare after taking your shots though. You don’t want sticky fingermarks all over your cards, cameras and lenses.
TECHNIQUE
Carnivals are a great opportunity to be creative and experiment with some new techniques. Whether you decide to take snap away in traditional ways or shoot while jumping up and down in time to the music is up to you, but here are some things to try.
To overcome any harsh shadows beneath peoples’ eyes and noses at midday, which is often when festivals start, use fill-in flash. The flash should preferably be off-camera using a remote cable fitted onto a camera bracket, to provide softer fill-in flash. Also, most cameras pump out too much flash so use the flash exposure compensation feature to tone down the amount of light pumped out.
There are several ways to create slow-speed sync. You could use flash combined with a manual exposure setting on your camera with exposure times of around 1/15sec or perhaps as low as 1/4sec. However, I prefer to use shutter-priority exposure mode with those speeds and let the camera take care of the aperture calculation – although you should watch that this does not exceed the lens’ aperture range.
Twisting the lens’ zoom ring during these longer exposures or even moving the camera rapidly during the exposure gives more, unpredictable results.
In most cases, you should find that the camera copes with the conditions,. However, it is wise to set exposure compensation of +1 or -1 when shooting frame-filling white or black costumes respectively.
Short telephoto lenses will isolate individuals and even faces, and using a wide aperture will focus attention on the subject – just try to avoid distracting out-of-focus blobs of contrasting colour. The issue in crowds with a telephoto is that people will wander between you and the subject, so shoot fast.
Wide-angle lenses used from a low perspective will capture the atmosphere and vertical shots will simultaneously avoid tall buildings, though you should check whether extra feet and legs – even your own! – have crept into the shot.
Using colour effectively plays an important part in the resulting photos. With the huge range of coloured costumes before you, it is too easy to photograph too many colours and this can make an image too chaotic.
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