Skyscraper

Every year, I try to photograph the San Francisco Pride Parade. There's huge, monster turnout, as a happy city turns out for what is effectively an all-day celebration of some of the best things about San Francisco. You get these great characters who are literally on parade, and the result is a wonderful chance to take some pictures.

This shot was driven by two things: Last year, I got this shot of one of those SF cheerleading groups tossing people in the air. I wanted to get more of that action -- I love seeing people take flight! The other is the Airship Ventures zeppelin, which has been everywhere lately. I'd seen it in the sky all morning, and I'd been looking to include it in a composition. This is the result -- tough exposure, but one of my favorite shots from this year.

Angels Above

This is another shot from the Cheer SF contingent, and as you can see, the only thing more awesome than flinging one person into the air on Market Street is flinging a bunch of people into the air. :)

I struggled with this photo, because I knew as I shot it there was something going on there that worked for me. At the same time, the other photographers involved got closer just as I shot, giving me a different composition than I wanted. Then in post, I realized I'd gone too hot on the exposure -- had been shooting at 2.8 before I switched to my ultra-wide, so I could blur the background behind people -- taking that to this sunny intersection, people ended up a bit cooked. I agonized about whether I still liked it or not, then finally found a square crop that made it go for me, and captured the feel I had while I was standing there -- and then someone instantly posted, saying they loved it. :)

In general, I feel like that it is a way (way) bigger problem in photography to not be self critical enough. Photos can be tied to feelings and emotions in your head that end up blinding you to the quality of the image. People have biases about what they like -- and fetishes about what they love, that is great for producing images only of interest to you. So, I tend to take a razor to images I post here on this blog, and can and do agonize over them for too long. Also a problem, but still nicer than having no self control and ending up with a photo blog just of cats or mannequins or the like.

Another great example of this phenomenon:

This is one of my favorite shots by Avedon. Fantastical, dreamy, gorgeous, masterful use of b&w, etc. I saw an interview with Avedon about the image, and he kept pointing out that had he to do it over again, he would have her dress flying out to the left. He said that over the years, he'd love the image, but he could never look at it without thinking what might have been.

Regret is bad, but photographic regret is a bitch.

Pride

The best part about Pride is the basically unmitigated joy the people marching seem to be taking in it. It helps that the rainbows keep you upbeat visually and encourage me to shoot color, too. :)

Drum Corps

As Pride goes on, the sun crests the edges of Market Street and starts roasting everything in hard light. I brought along my flash in the hopes of providing some fill, and got a few shots I liked.

I saw these dummers in black with white-white drums coming down market, and saw my shot -- the flash is used to light up their faces and pop the whites on the drums a little more.

Strike a Pose

One of the pieces of advice I got for my portrait class is that I should embrace my inner Director.

Less charitable observers might refer to this as my inner fascist.

I saw this guy coming by and I loved the character of his face and the profile of his upper body set against the building. So, I gestured with my camera and shouted something like, "Strike a pose!". Like any good model, he gave me more than I bargained for. ;)

Up in the Sky

Cheer SF is some sort of cheerleading organizations for adults in SF. They keep showing up at Pride and engaging in elaborate acrobatics -- which really makes for some interesting compositions (how often do you see people flung into the air on Market Street?).