3/19/09 - Chinese New Year Dragon Festival

Took the family into Chinatown for the Dragon Festival. Aside from having to keep one eye on the kids while trying to look for photo opportunities with the other eye, the challenges were 1) capturing good images with so much movement, 2) jockying for position with the crowds, and 3) dealing with so much color. The later was probably the most challenging. As odd as it sound (probably because most photographers thrive on color), the abundance of color was overwhelming. I believe the more simple an images is, the more compelling it is to the viewer, and it was difficult to create images that wouldn't seem overpowering with a mix of bright colors. To overcome this I positioned myself, as best I could, to have darker and simple backgrounds, and used a shallow depth of field to bring out my subject compared to what was going on the background.