The Journey to the Parade Grounds

Panasonic DMC-G1, Lumix 20mm f1.7

The long, slow, yet extremely dignified and organized march down from Chinatown to the parade area. The lions and dragons seem to be conserving their energy in anticipation of the action in the parade.

--Warren

The Dragon that Ate Chinatown

Panasonic DMC-G1, Lumix 20mm f1.7

Another pre-parade picture, a different dragon awaits the march down to the starting area.

--Warren

Dragon Tail People

Panasonic DMC-G1, Lumix 20mm f1.7

We walked in Chinatown before the parade and found these folks in an alley in front of their Kung Fu studio getting ready to walk down to the parade start area.

--Warren

Grant Ave. - Street Fair

Pentax Program-A, Takumar 50mm f1.4

This was taken last month (Feb.), a couple of weeks after those pictures that I posted of the Flower Fair. I shot those with my Nikon F3HP.

This time, I was out to shoot a final roll through my Pentax Program-A to make sure that all is well before selling it.

The street fair in this picture is for Chinese New Year. I wanted to show the hoards of people on Grant Avenue so I held the camera over my head and guessed at the proper angle to shoot the picture.

Little Drummer Boy

"When you see red, shoot it!"

Someone told me that a few years ago, and I've found it's usually good advice.

So the Chinese New Year Parade was a great opportunity, as red is considered a propitious color, and red was all over the place. The reddest group at all was this group of young musicians and their red drums. I loved it!

By the way, when I was a kid, Little Drummer Boy (the song, that is,) scared the crap out of me. As a seven-year-old in 1957, I couldn't understand the words over my Uncle Heniek's crackly old radio, and they wouldn't have made sense to me back then anyway. But that ominous, dirge-y music!

I like this Little Drummer Boy much better.

Proud Flag Bearer

Happy New Year, my friends!

Today I finally did what any sane person should do on Chinese New Year - I went to the nearest Chinatown to watch the New Year parade. This one was in DC, and I went with Shutterbug Excursions, the local photo group to which I belong.

Naturally, we all had a great time. I'll post some more photos soon, but I wanted to get this one up first.

This fellow's determined gaze and the proud way he is holding the flagstaff reminded me of the propaganda posters during the Mao era. Of course, it was just a fluke of the moment I pressed the shutter that he happened to look up like this. I didn't notice the poster-like expression until I reviewed my shots on the subway heading home (the full image is here.)