This blog has been relatively quiet for the last few weeks. The reason is I have been busy covering some festivals and carnivals. Early this month, I was covering a gathering of Venetian costumes in the beautiful gardens of Annevoie in Belgium.
For me this was a follow-up of my attending the Carnival in Venice last February. Last week I was at the 30th kite festival in Ostende (also in Belgium)
and last week-end I attended the LGBT festival in Brussels :
Three different instances with one common point : Making great pictures is complicated by the necessity of dealing with large crowds. I thought it might be useful some advice that are usually present in most instances :
1/ Arrive early and/or stay late.
In such events there is usually an official parade of some kind. In my experience this is rarely the time to make the best images. if People are in a defile, your mobility is going to be reduced and even if you can get in the middle of it (press card,luck,..) your subjects are usually looking on both sides to wave at the crowd behind the barricades. Better images are possible when you arrive before the walk officially starts
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