Everyone loves a parade! The excitement and anticipation...the sights and sounds...brass bands and spangled dancers, flowery pageantry and punctuating drums. Colorful flags, balloons and half naked men...yeah, that's right, i did say half naked men. Because Saturday was the Pride Parade in Cincinnati and the LGBT community, along with friends and supporters, was out in force, shouting it Loud and Proud. There was, of course, an extra celebratory edge to the day's activities as only the day before the U.S. Supreme Court, in a landmark 5-4 decision, lifted all bans on gay marriage across the land.
If you want to photograph parades here's a few tips. You can't get good parade shots from the sidelines. Don't be a spectator. If you want to get good shots you are going to need to get into the action, to walk right along with the marchers, sometimes back peddling for a block or so while cautiously checking over your shoulder to be sure you don't smack into the marchers ahead of you. A long lens is great for compressing space and creating an isolated perspective, but you will probably find your widest lens more useful than your longest. Fast shutter speeds are essential as both subject and shooter are will be constantly moving, often at the same time. I usually find an interesting spot on the parade route (Fountain Square in this case since it had the crowd and the emcees announcing the marchers) and allow myself to float, being carried along back peddling for a time, then moving upstream through the oncoming parade until i find the next interesting moment.
Here are a few of my favorite shots from the 2015 Cincinnati Pride Parade.
Parade emcees Brooklyn Steele Tate and Tyese Rainz
It was a legal battle by Jim Obergefell (right) to get his marriage to his now deceased husband recognized in Ohio that helped bring about the Supreme Court case and decision.
Lauren Bishop rolls through with the Cincinnati Rollergirls.
Megan Hague leads a chant to "Turn your back on hate" in front of a group of anti-gay marriage Christians who also marched in the parade.
People along the parade route respond to chants of "Turn your back on hate" and face away from Christian evangelists as they pass by in the parade.
All Photos ©David Sorcher 2015
