Not so disappointing this year.

After last years lacklustre Streetparade, I decided to give the event one more chance.

Beautiful sunny weather with temperatures in the low thirties (Celsius) ensured that party goers were in a great mood. The costumes were imaginative (and often very skimpy) and the atmosphere was generally very good.

 Skimpy is good

One thing that struck me though,  was how even more commercial it was this year. There were stalls everywhere and even "pay to use" toilets. I know that the Parade must try and recoup some of their costs but it seems a shame to me that it's getting too money oriented. My son Nicholas who came with me also commented that there seemed to be almost no youngsters his age. (he's sixteen).

Eos 7d with 70 - 200 f4

 Cooling off in the mist shower

One minus point. I was walking through a very crowded group of people. I noticed in my peripheral vision an elder gentleman eyeing the Eos 5d that I had around my neck. I thought to myself that he will surely approach me and ask me a question about it (as folks often do). He didn't approach me so I kept walking through the crush of people. About two minutes later I looked down and saw a hand trying to make its way into my camera bag. I grabbed the person's wrist and turned around. It was the old guy.

"If I catch your hand in my bag again, I'll cut your throat". I told him whilst staring into his eyes.

I realised later that I'd spoken in English but he seemed to get my message. He pulled his hand away, mumbled something and slunk into the crowd.

One small minus point on an otherwise enjoyable day. If the weather's good, I'll go back next year for the 21st.

 

Sunny outlook

To see more of the images that i took, please go to my homepage here.

Thanks for reading

Tom

One wedding and a reshoot

Two weekends ago I was asked to photograph a wedding for a very good friend of mine. 


Raphaela was marrying her fiance Lars, and as I've known her since 2002 and done previous photographic work for her, she was pleased when I accepted her offer to be both guest and photographer.


Raphaela asked me to provide documentary style coverage with a few of the "regular" pictures of parents and family etc thrown in. She didn't want the images presented in a traditional album but instead would use an online printing service to make a photobook.


The ceremony was due to take place at 13:00. I turned up bright and early at 09:30 and started my work. The pictures I took at the house included her getting here hair done, getting dressed and leaving for the church.


Everything went well until after the church. I had planned to get some shots of the couple outside the church but it began to rain so we went on to the post wedding Apèro. 


After the post wedding Apèro we all headed 58 kilometers to the reception. the weather got progressively worse and by the time I reached the hotel where the reception was to be held, it was pouring down.


To add to my worries, there were no free rooms at the hotel where I could make some nice portraits of the couple.


I explained to Raphaela and Lars that i wouldn't feel that I had done a complete job unless I had some nice intimate pictures of the two of them.


Watching the sky getting progressively darker and the rain getting heavier, I had an idea.


"How about you both just enjoy yourselves tonight and I'll come by your place next week and get some pictures of the two of you?" I suggested.


Raphaela explained that they wouldn't be having a honeymoon until later in the year so my plan seemed like a winner.


Breathing a heavy sigh of relief, I concentrated on covering the party. And what a party! There were games, an Elvis impersonator, a belly dancer and lots lots more. Raphaela and her guests certainly know how to enjoy themselves  :o)

 Elvis is on the floor  Uh Huh.

Raphaela is a big Elvis fan

 Time for Ulrika the belly dancer

 Nadja gets to grips with the belly dancer

 Everyone enjoyed themselves

Young and old as well

At the end of the evening (which was 02:30 for me), I had shot 680 images with my EOS 7d and the EOS 5d. The next day I looked through them using my Canon DPP software and had to reject 47, due to either the flash not activating or (mostly) Raphaela blinking!


As an aside. In the "old days" when I shot film at a wedding, I would ask my subject after taking their photo, to close their eyes and tell me if they could see purple blobs. If the answer was yes, then their eyes had been open when the flash activated. Nowadays I just check the monitor.


I shoot everything in RAW so my (very simple) workflow consists of pressing CTRL + A to select all the files, sharpen them all, give them all a half a stop underexposure, correct the lens aberrations, convert the lot into 300 dpi JPG's then go and have a cup of tea!


The day of the reshoot was yesterday. The sky clouded over again and for a very short while it threatened to rain. 


However, after a short wait the threat subsided and we began our "sequel".


Raphaela told me afterwards that the shoot was much more relaxed and stress free as there wasn't an actual ceremony and guests to worry about. This was evident to me because of the constant joking and smiles.


I used the EOS 7d for this shoot as my EOS 5d is getting fixed. This is a very small selection of what we took.

 EOS 7d, 430 EX flash and 28 -135 lens

  EOS 7d, 430 EX flash and 17 - 40 lens

   EOS 7d, 430 EX flash and 17 - 40 lens

   EOS 7d, 430 EX flash and 17 - 40 lens

   EOS 7d, and  70 - 200 lens

  EOS 7d, 430 EX flash and 17 - 40 lens

I took 121 images of which 107 went to the couple. Raphaela's blinking meant that I had to discard the other 14!!


That's it for now. Thanks for reading and please leave a comment.

The Streetparade was a disappointment this year...

I've just finished photographing the 19th Street parade as mentioned in one of my previous posts.

After a break of two years I was really looking forward attending again. I was disappointed and I'll tell you why.

Normally (well, in previous years actually), there has been a massive party held in the Zürich main station. As soon as you disembarked from the train, there was the thud of Bass from the massive loudspeakers echoing through the giant hall.

This year there was nothing. Just people milling around. I took a few pics with my colleague Sindhoor and then we made our way to the Parade itself.

Walking down the main street towards the parade route I was struck by how "quiet" it was in comparison to my previous visits. The people as always were in a happy mood and willing to pose for pictures but there just didn't seem to be that "vibe" from previous years.

I had warned in my previous post that taking a rucksack would be a bad idea due to the crush of people attending but the reality was different. Sindhoor had a rucksack and experienced no problems whatsoever with mobility. There were open spaces everywhere. I could've swung my camera around by the strap and not hit anyone in some of the places.

There were several stages throughout the parade area. Normally they are populated by very attractive dancers. I was dismayed to see that this years crop (with only one or two exceptions) were lethargic and distanced.

Also a first for me this year was seeing the amount of drunk / drugged ravers. Now I know that rave parties and drug culture are inextricably linked, but previously they weren't too visible. This year I had them walking into me, I saw them falling over. I watched them try to focus their eyes when talkng to their companions. One couple behind me kept snorting what I can only assume was cocaine through a twenty Franc note every four or five minutes after which he'd unroll the note, lick it clean and then carry on dancing. I took this one surreptitiously over my shoulder. I've made him anonymous with a suitably trippy mask.

One group were just sat in the middle of the pavement with a cigarette rolling machine and a plentiful supply of marijuana.

Lastly, the Lovemobies themselves. I know that it takes quite a while for the Lovemobiles to make their way along the route and maybe the dancers onboard are tired by that time but of the first five mobiles that I saw, there were hardly anyone dancing. Most of the people onboard were jusr drinking, chatting amongst themselves or leaning on the railings and looking into the crowd.

At around five o'clock it began to rain heavily so I called it a day and made my way home.

I'm not saying that the parade was a complete let down but there wasn't the atmosphere of  previous years. Sindhoor enjoyed it and he got some great images with his new camera. Me? I  "only" took around 300 images. I didn't even fill one memorycard. That would have been unheard of previously.

Maybe it will be better next year. Or maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm getting jaded and spoiled by the experiences of previous years.


I'll leave you with this image. It's a crop from one of the pics on my site and shows me reflected in one of the girls' sunglasses.

Till next time. Take care.