When the samba sounds of Rio de Janeiro hit the streets of liverpool over the weekend the result was pretty epic! Many dancers and percusionists mixed with capoeira and huge crowds made for a fantastic night out! I was lucky enough to have been a part of the parade and see it from a different perspective to most, that meant however that most of the pictures i captured focussed on the capoeira side of things! Oh well!
I have already seen many colourful pictures from the carnival, mostly of the samba dancers, and to be fair, they did seem a more attractive prospect with glittering costumes and tiny outfits! Hopefuly these photos will give you an idea of how much fun the capoeiristas were having as well!
I made the decision early on that I wasnt going to use flash, I was relying on big apertures and fast lenses to provide me with enough light as I also wanted to get some motion blur in the mix! It proved a good decision and although by the end as the light was fading I had to boost the ISO to the highest level possible, I really felt happy with the results. I’m a big fan a grainy gritty looking photos when the situation calls for it! I gradually increased the ISO as we went along, keeping the aperture set to the lowest the lens would allow, usually f3.5, this allowed me to keep the faces in focus and blur the other movement around… inevitably some photos worked better than others, but I also got some pretty good weirdy looking effects! Ghostly feet and hands and the like!
There were some amazing acrobatics on show, combined with the sound of what felt like 1000 drummers and the hip shaking sambistas, it made for a photographers dream! The only problem was knowing where to start!
Big thanks to all the capoeira groups that came along and helped out, along with teachers from as far afield as Crete, Barcelona and Paris.
I for one cant wait until next year!
NS
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I knew it wasn’t worth me taking any photos!! These are awesome and I LOVE that they are blurry in all the right places
Parabens Rupi x
Its ALWAYS worth you taking photos!
Everyone has a different eye, everyone has a different idea about what makes a ‘good’ picture. Keep shooting away!
x
me like…
Homes!! These are Mega!! I think we know what to do with a few of these.
My abolute fave is the one of Piolho (or so I think) doing the straight back. But it looks like he has either learnt how to hover upside down and is getting a better view of the Samba girls bums or he is hurtling to the ground head first at terminal velocity but he is alright with that.
That and glen’s face in the group pic!
Hi Neil,
great photos, its great to see all the movements captured!We are always pleased to have the Capoeiristas join us on the parade,they never fail to surprise people and they do get plenty of shots too every year,even thought they are fully clothed!hahaha
img 7 has is an outstanding capture (personally, it’s a shame it’s not sharp…and having the fully body with a bit of sky would make the photo a winner)
Have only just found these fabulous photos. They really capture the essence of the Carnival. maybe this year, you can get some pictures of the musicians.
Thanks Linda!
I will be back again this year, last time was my first and so I stuck mostly with the Capoeira group. I will definitely be trying to capture more this year! Do you play in one of the bands?