Sunday, May 30, 2010

El Gran Poder

I showed up at the Gran Poder parade with my camera in hand. Since my camera looks a little fancy, people assumed I was a photographer, possibly with a newspaper. I marched right up inside the parade, weaving in and out of dancers, getting close up action shots. At one point, a group of masked men handed me some props and I joined in the festivities and danced along with the rest of the troupe. I spent three hours taking close to 500 pictures of the parade. The entire event lasted 20 hours and consisted of 30,000 dancers, with over 400,000 spectators enjoying the parade. Here are my favorite shots of the day. Click to view full sized photos, the details are much better up when they're enlarged.

Note: I read that Mayor Bloomberg canceled a mini Gran Poder parade in New York City in reaction to sweeping budget cuts and a 25% reduction in city funded celebrations. Needless to say, the Bolivian community is outraged.


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