Ethnic-Themed Parades in Jackson Heights
I launched this blog in June and realized pretty soon after that it would never become a viable source of income. My market analysis led me to believe that a YouTube photography channel would have far more potential. So I started looking for cool things to photograph/film in the tri-state area. Unfortunately, the annual NYC Furry Convention had been postponed for the 4th straight year, so I settled on a pair of parades in Jackson Heights, Queens.
I had really high hopes for the Colombia parade because it coincidentally fell on the same day Colombia was playing in the COPA final—a really huge deal for any Latin American country other than Argentina and Brazil.
Even though the parade was billed as a Medellin flower parade, it was really pan-Colombian and the Barranquilla carnaval dominated the show. The real Barranquilla carnaval is Latin America's biggest carnaval after Rio.
It seemed like most of the participants were first generation Americans. The handful I talked to told me their parents had arrived in NYC in the 70's and that they were now living in Long Island.
Thinking it would be easier to conquer YouTube with a niche, I decided I'd photograph everything on 35mm film. The Colombia parade was my first time photographing candid scenes on film and it was hard (shot on Portra 160). The hardest part was not having the lcd that allows me to hold the camera away from my face. I hate being inside a viewfinder.
The thing about film though, is that it looks so cool that photos don't have to be that 'good' to be beautiful.
I honestly expected the parade to be just a prelude to a crazy fun/sad COPA final viewing party. That's what would have happened in Colombia. But, despite the theme, this was still America. After the parade, everyone packed into their SUVs and went home.
The Peru Parade
So the Peru parade didn't fall on any special day. And it wasn't really a Peru parade. It was a Pan-Andean parade—minus Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, and Argentina. I shot this one on Kodak Pro Image 100, which is the company's cheapest stock. I couldn't see a difference though.
I made an effort to get out of the view finder this time and to try for different types of shots: details, crowd, cops. I think it worked. As a whole, the series is seems stronger and more complete.
