Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Details:

What: Scotia Bank Caribana Festival
When: Sat. August 1st, 2009
Time: 10am-6pm
Where: Lakeshore blvd
Bring: camera

Just wondering if anyone is going to caribana this year. I'm actually a food vendor there this year. Unfortunatly i'll have no time to take pictures, but it would be nice to see some tpmg people there. I would like to see some pics posted after the event.

Jerk chicken! I'll be sure to visit to grab a bite to eat.

I'll be down there at about noon. I guess there's no official event for the Caribana this year? I've actually never attended this before but I've seen pictures so I kinda know what to expect. I'm not sure about hosting an unofficial one though.. I've never been so I'm not sure which area is the best for photos..

In the parade with a 24-70 lens.

Cool hope to see you guys appear at some point.
My booth is Mr. Jerk. a large green sign.
It should be near the 2nd beer tent which is about the middle of the parade route along the park.

Completely off topic but is your shop located in Peanut Plaza?

I'm probably going to make it out to Caribana this weekend. If I see your booth I'm definitely going to get some jerk chicken and oxtail .. yum yum.

weather looks good for saturday! I'll drag my lazy ass down and hopefully I can run into some of yous.

Hi all! For your information, I read the metro (newspaper) this morning and the city is putting up a 2m tall fence along the parade route, simply avoid people joining the parade like previous years. So in that case, it might affect those of us who's going down for photos. Keep that in mind!

but it should be a fun event on sat!

A two meter high fence - HA what a joke Caribana has become. They treat the attendees like prisoners, you can't even jump up with the mas bands anymore? I remember when the parade used to go down university avenue, it would take three hours for a float to get from College St. to Queen St. but it was such an awesome time. It seems like the organizers feel compelled to turn it into the summer version of the Santa Claus parade.

yep.

I've been to Caribana a few times and I plan to go this year, but it's very frustrating for me to see how the parade breaks down into a disorganized mess so quickly after it starts. The music trucks and paraders don't seem to respect the proper spacing required for each to go by unencumbered. And then the spectators just jump in and crowd up the path. Is it supposed to be like that? That 2 meter high fence is a joke. I wish the organizers of Caribana would do something about it so that it would be a better and safer experience for more people.

No it's too crowded. When you want to leave you have to walk for miles to get on any transit. I used to love Caribana, but like a lot of festivals it's now too popular for it's own good.

Ah another weekend of having to endure total strangers asking me if I'm enjoying Caribana, me saying I'm not into it, and them freezing, getting embarrassed and scurrying away.


Good times.

I like it much better when it was going down university avenue. Haven't been to it since it has moved to Lake Shore.

I remember last year someone telling me that someone cut a hole through the fence for people to go through and join in. Wonder if it will happen again this year?

Watching the CP24 coverage right now.. the fences look really high.. I don't even know if I should go...

So how was everybody's experience. I stayed at home...

I went there around 11AM. They had tall fence only half the parade route. I stayed close to Palais Royal where they had smaller fence. However it took a while before the parade got there. Did not get many good shots, it was too bright/contrast and way too crowded. People jumping over the fence, couple of time narrowly missed my lens/camera bag. By 4PM it was getting too crowded and I left.

Here are a few shots.

[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2519/3781538134_f14784d2d5.jpg
[/img]

I had more fun in the parade this year than last year.

I have a slight sunburn... almost, but not quite a lobster.

Unfortunately, going through my shots I have realized I have some vignetting courtesy of the CP stacked on the UV filter. Can anyone recommend a (free, simple) program for batch cropping of vignetting?

I went again this year. Still scratching my head over how Caribana is labeled as a violent event. The parade it's self is actually freiendlier than a walk down Young Street. Virtually everyone that bumped into me apologised or smiled as if to imply an apology. Usualy I am not a big fan of police but the cops were all in a festive mood

The floats and costumes are all incredible, but like previous years, the parade organization and timeliness leaves a LOT to be desired!
I figured that it always runs late, so arrived ~noon for the 10AM start, and although 2 floats went by between noon and 3PM, the main pack didn't hit the short fences until 3:30, and then between 3:30 and 4:30, only 4 floats made it past that section with the floats at a standstill for 99% of the time... like WTF??? I bailed at 4:30 as I had other stuff to do and I couldn't see them getting many more floats by me by the 6PM end time scheduled.

To the organizers: If you publish a schedule, then stick to it! if you can't manage a simple schedule, then you have no business running the event!

Apparently you've never heard of Trinidadian time. If they say 5 mins, they mean 15.

I've had this frustration for years with my Trini friend. I agree with you fizbot, but it's a culture thing.

I was lucky to be in one of the earlier bands this year.

Lol When caribanna becomes punctual, it will no longer be Caribana. Did you notice the stands were nearly vacant until noon. If you set your clock to island time you will be fine. No worries mon

ya, but 6 hours late is a bit much... even for 'island time'. Like come on guys.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fizbot/3780004278/" title="Caribana Toronto 2009 by pbruch, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3532/3780004278_91fc4177be.jpg" width="391" height="500" alt="Caribana Toronto 2009"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fizbot/3786532353/" title="Caribana Toronto 2009 by pbruch, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2462/3786532353_864c4ea503_o.jpg" width="568" height="1280" alt="Caribana Toronto 2009"></a>

awesome pictures!
the parade ended around 8pm, when the organizers finally came by to take down tents. Between 4-8pm there were thousands on the street and fully packed in my area. Good to see some people made it to the event.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/34353273@N00/3809620799/" title="DSC00982 (Large) by chris_hotwire, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3507/3809620799_6ffcc1622d.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="DSC00982 (Large)"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/34353273@N00/3809623903/" title="DSC00994 (Large) by chris_hotwire, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3579/3809623903_2caac6ab9b.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="DSC00994 (Large)"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/34353273@N00/3810442488/" title="DSC01012 (Large) by chris_hotwire, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2646/3810442488_f83d79a311.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="DSC01012 (Large)"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/34353273@N00/3810448352/" title="DSC01033 (Large) by chris_hotwire, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2476/3810448352_49983b7c57.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="DSC01033 (Large)"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/34353273@N00/3809639649/" title="DSC01056 (Large) by chris_hotwire, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2449/3809639649_cdb574b3c7.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="DSC01056 (Large)"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/34353273@N00/3810457756/" title="DSC01071 (Large) by chris_hotwire, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2544/3810457756_e380b47c94.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="DSC01071 (Large)"></a>

hello ! I did go to Caribana if you'd like to check some pics out :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcl_digita ... 793351577/

there were too many people in front of the floats to get good shots so I just stuck to portraits pretty much - feel free to comment I'm always up to improving my photography. Cannot figure out how to get it to post the exif data ?
enjoy !

On your Flickr account (when you're logged in), click your user name at the top right corner to go to your account settings. Then click the Privacy & Permissions tab. Under there you should see an option for "Hide EXIF Data." Click edit to the right of it and turn it on.

Hope this helps!

Right...ok - so that guy in the parade with the huge camera that looked like hotwire WAS hotwire.

This year was not as accessible as years past. About 10 years ago I used to sneak in to the staging area where the bands set up arounfd 10 A.M. Then I'd join one of the bands down the Lakeshore. That became increasingly difficult to do due to increasing security. I stopped doing that because I usually was dying of thirst and ending up with too many blown highlights thanks to the midday sun. Now I shoot exclusively at the end of the parade route when the sun is lower in the sky. Problem this year was that the security was way too tight. Used to be able just to walk the parade route in reverse - now the police don't even let the revellers retrace the route once they've passed a certain point (a point one needed to pass if one want to use the bathroom at the end of the route, for example)

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/phil_marion/2728187306/" title="Caribana 2008 by Phil Marion, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3099/2728187306_7641a69a8a.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="Caribana 2008"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/phil_marion/2733701069/" title="Caribana 2008 by Phil Marion, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3228/2733701069_42401ff8b8.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="Caribana 2008"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/phil_marion/3384342084/" title="Caribana 2008 by Phil Marion, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3426/3384342084_e3bb1a4834.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="Caribana 2008"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/phil_marion/3389359125/" title="police - Caribana 2008 by Phil Marion, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3419/3389359125_414155dd1d.jpg" width="329" height="500" alt="police - Caribana 2008"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/phil_marion/3783215824/" title="Caribana parade - Toronto by Phil Marion, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3581/3783215824_d9ff4e516a.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="Caribana parade - Toronto"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/phil_marion/2726590523/" title="Caribana 2008 by Phil Marion, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3178/2726590523_1f55397f57.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="Caribana 2008"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/phil_marion/3784158670/" title="Caribana parade - Toronto by Phil Marion, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2609/3784158670_05992fb7be.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Caribana parade - Toronto"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/phil_marion/3821589189/" title="I'm too sexy for this parade - Caribana by Phil Marion, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3574/3821589189_929589a5f8.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="I'm too sexy for this parade - Caribana"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/phil_marion/2733700757/" title="pooped, Caribana 2008 by Phil Marion, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3087/2733700757_b27c2bf50d.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="pooped, Caribana 2008"></a>

A few more can be seen by clicking on the button below:
<a href="http://www.flickriver.com/photos/phil_marion/sets/72157621874204607/"><img border="0" width="88" height="31" title="Caribana Parade, Toronto by Phil Marion on Flickriver" alt="Caribana Parade, Toronto by Phil Marion on Flickriver" src="http://data.flickriver.com/images/flickriver-88x31.png"></a>

Indeed

LOL... not feeling the love for Caribana . Use the gaps in the parade and search for things to shoot. Who knows, your best shots may not even have a costume in them. Just a thought.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/m2c_photography/3863831318/" title="MQ5F7572-2 by M2C Photography, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3528/3863831318_8933e33165.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="MQ5F7572-2"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/m2c_photography/3863050385/" title="Who Me? by M2C Photography, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3473/3863050385_cf7198cf9c.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="Who Me?"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/m2c_photography/3863054203/" title="Skull by M2C Photography, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3489/3863054203_72e1194a3c.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="Skull"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/m2c_photography/3863839036/" title="Massive Costume by M2C Photography, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2478/3863839036_be3365ac15.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="Massive Costume"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/m2c_photography/3863837756/" title="M.J. Tribute by M2C Photography, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2522/3863837756_ff40c22cf1.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="M.J. Tribute"></a>

I posted a few more on Flickr. Not too many though, 22 in total.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/m2c_photog ... 808703201/