blue cup

Plastic can be beautiful.

When I went to bed last night I knew today was going to be a busy day, the Fourth of July. And knowing it was also my DPG post day it compounded the day’s tight schedule. Before going to sleep I decided what I was going to shoot and because events could not be controlled, I would have to let them unfold and go with the flow. The Fourth of July Huntington Beach Parade was on our agenda and I knew this was where I would make my image. The parade has been a tradition here since 1904 and claims to be the biggest West of the Mississippi. While it attracts over 500,000 on-lookers it also has the flavor and feel of a small town celebration.   My vision for my post was to get an image of the “Uncle Sam” character on stilts and shoot it from a low POV while capturing the vitality and patriotism of the city’s residents; that and acknowledge this special day for the game. What I have found in past parades here is that the crowd and the parade participants are outwardly involved with one another. Many times the procession will come to a complete halt while one or more of the audience would rush out into the street to hug a friend or relative in the parade. This it seems is a totally acceptable occurrence and no one seems to mind, in fact it is expected. The crowds are relaxed; everyone is friendly and all are there to celebrate our Nation’s Independence. It’s a true breath of fresh air and lacks the outward commercialism found in so many events these days. When I exposed this particular frame I was aware of the subjects hands pointing and was egger to see the results when I got home. I had captured my image as planned with the “pointing” as a bonus and felt it was a good follow-up to Martin’s “Here” post.