Life through a lens

Drum beats and colorful dancers. Add a gorgeous day to the mix and this would sum up the San Francisco Carnaval parade this year. I chose to drive and got to the parade bright and early and walked to where the participants were warming up, getting ready for the parade. Along the way, met a photographer friend and we walked some ways together, ready for a long day taking pictures.

I always want to shoot portraits but then, I am also interested in action portraits of the beautiful people dancing. Ofcourse, it’s another story that I end up liking the posed portraits much more. Maybe, next year, if I am around to photograph the parade, I’ll shoot more portraits instead of action. Or maybe not. I am too fickle, maybe too moody.

I met the three musketeers warming up next to the gray wall.

Yuyi, my friend, is an accomplished artist. You can see some of her illustration work on Yuyi’s site.

I met Nina with her friends at the Carnaval wall in Mission district. This was her first time participating in the parade.

Monique is the reigning queen of SF Carnaval 2006. Dressed in bright fluorescent green feathers, apparently her creation, flashes me her brilliant smile.

Christy has a beautiful smile with dimples. Dancing with her contingent, Mara Reggae, she stopped briefly, to allow me to compose the picture.

Kim Anderson sashayed down the Mission street with the Mara Reggae troupe. She has has an infectious personality with a ready smile, makes you want to take a picture of her.

Throughout the day, my senses have an overload of visual and auditory stimulations. And, I keep on shooting. At the end of the day, after I am back home, I feel dehydrated, sunburnt, yet happy with a long day’s shoot. It energizes my spirits. Does photography energize you too?

I have been away from the blog for quite some time. To make amends, here are some images from the King and Queen contest of San Francisco Carnaval 2006. If you like, see many more unprocessed proofs in my event galleries.

Carnaval is always colorful with fantastic rhythms, music and spirited dancing by the beautiful people.

Luis Fernando, the newly crowned king of SF Carnaval is all smiles with his electrifying moves.

I chatted with the newly crowned queen, Monique Perry after the event when I took this picture. She was very gracious and soft-spoken. As I waited for the ballroom light to shine blue, she posed very patiently.

My congratulations to the newly crowned royalty of San Francisco Carnaval!

Not keeping well the past couple of days, it was not very pleasant to be in bed all the time. I usually keep fit so the sudden fever, cold and cough totally caught me unawares. I utilized the time by reading when I had the strength. I just finished the “Memoirs of a Geisha” by Arthur Golden. It is a totally engrossing novel and very well researched. Being set in Gion district in Kyoto, it brought back memories of my visit to this part of Kyoto in August 2005.

I had a long day walking and shooting pictures as usual and since all the beautiful temples closed around 4:30 pm, I decided to see if I would be lucky to see a Geisha or an apprentice-Geisha. I had heard of the famous Geisha district of Gion and about how one might see a Geisha rushing to an engagement in Gion. When I reached this street called Hanami-koji, I felt as if I had been transported to another world altogether, devoid of flashy neon signs with beautiful traditional Japanese architecture of teahouses with paper screens and wood. I walked up and down carrying my heavy camera bag but it didn’t seem that I would be lucky to see a Geisha that night.

About Hanami-koji…Shimogama-san told me - “koji means street,hana is flower,mi is seeing”. Among the interesting people I met in Hanami-koji were Shimogama-san and his steady, Sukada-san who were visiting from Kobe. They were taking pictures of each other using a cell phone and seeing them in traditional yukata, I wanted to photograph them too. Both of them loved the pictures I sent them. In the picture, Sukada-san looks lovely in the light of a paper lamp hanging outside a teahouse.

I also met Yurika-san and Yuka-san who I photographed with their camera. Then, I asked if I could also take their photograph. It turned out that they were friends of Sukada-san. As I was changing to a wide-angle lens to take a picture of them, suddenly the screen-door to the teahouse opened and there stood a lovely Geisha, looking flustered to find me sitting on the door, changing a lens. I was stunned too and by the time I recovered to ask her permission to take a picture, she was gone. Uhhh….I missed it!

Anyways, I walked quite a bit more and then, I saw a Geisha and a Maiko (apprentice-Geisha) walking with a patron of theirs. Lot of young girls were excitedly trying to take a picture of them with small cell-phones and ofcourse, they missed it. The patron saw those girls and asked the Geishas to stop for a picture for them. They stopped since the patron had asked them but now, their beautiful smiles were not visible for the camera. I also took a couple of pictures of them before they walked away. As they walked, their smiles were back. One day, I’ll get to photograph a smiling Geisha too.

If you have a chance, read - “Memoirs of a Geisha” - you might like it. And, if reading does not interest you, see the movie based on the novel which is out in the theaters.

Talking of theaters, let’s see when I get to post the pics of the dance troupe from Osaka that I took at National Theater of Japan in Tokyo.

I love experiencing different cultures and must say, I loved Japan!