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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2010 20:12:49 GMT
My guess would have been Hmong also.
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Post by rikita on Feb 20, 2010 21:02:27 GMT
ok... thanks... kinda late today, maybe tomorrow i post some more pcitures...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2010 22:01:08 GMT
What do you mean MAYBE?
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Post by rikita on Feb 21, 2010 20:23:31 GMT
well, too late again. that's what i mean with maybe. days go by too fsat.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2010 20:31:24 GMT
Wonderful Rikita,thank you! Such colors.(You really are a fine,fine photographer R.)
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Post by rikita on Feb 22, 2010 19:19:05 GMT
thanks casimira!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2010 19:23:39 GMT
And here I thought I was going to see more photos by clicking on this thread, or at least a new excuse.
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Post by rikita on Feb 22, 2010 19:28:29 GMT
This guy belongs to the group "Sapucaiu no Samba", which made third place. According the Karneval-Website, the group had over 100 drum-players, a lot of dancers, people on stilts, actors etc. They were showing a "street opera" with the title "Wenn a frog kisses the banana", which is a hommage to Carmen Miranda. I am not sure if this is the frog in question, but it is likely... When you're on stilts, I guess you have to find high places for sitting down and resting...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2010 19:36:40 GMT
I like the way the Haagen Dazs billboard matches their costumes!
I absolutely love the photo of the opulent lady and the frog, although I am considerably disturbed that the frog appears to have chicken feet.
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Post by rikita on Feb 24, 2010 19:59:25 GMT
maybe it is in disguise?
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Post by rikita on Feb 24, 2010 20:04:08 GMT
Man in silver This group also won something I think. It is a project representing my area of town - an area with a lot of immigrants and poor people... but also with a lot of interesting things going on. I am not sure this women participated in the parade, or maybe just was watching, but took the opportunity to dress up a bit too...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2010 20:10:53 GMT
Your photos are as wonderful as ever.
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Post by rikita on Feb 24, 2010 21:24:52 GMT
thanks!
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 24, 2010 21:49:39 GMT
I am just loving this, Rikita! Besides all the stuff to look at, the exotic costumes and all, do some of the bands march?
You said: ... that year [1997] the tradition of a street festival (with stages with live music and various food stalls) started as well as the tradition of an additional "children's carnival". and The athmosphere there were the groups wait for their turn is relaxed - though some groups dance so much there already, they are exhausted when it is their turn to join the parade
That's why I wondered if some of the groups sort of dance along to the music of the band which moves along with them.
Another thing you said was: I have a bit of a thing though, to photograph people that are posing for someone else. Somehow i feel it gives a portrait a more "natural" air if they aren't looking directly at me...
One of the things I think is so immensely cool about your pictures is how you manage to get people in full profile, which, with your talent for organizing blocks of colors and shapes, makes for a really pleasing photo above and beyond the subject matter. Cases in point are the wonderful one of the knight in shining armor above and the Red Queen on the previous page.
At the very beginning of this presentation you said: I will take my time building up the thread
I must say, I appreciate getting it in doses this way. I think it forces the viewer to really give each photo proper attention.
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Post by imec on Feb 24, 2010 22:00:21 GMT
Fantastic rikita! You have such a gift for capturing facial expressions.
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Post by rikita on Feb 25, 2010 19:50:06 GMT
thanks imec and bixa...
bixa - yes, during the festival, at the festival site, there are mainly bands on the stages, but sometimes there are dance presentations too... during the parade, almost all the groups dance or present something (dancing is taken a bit wider, but each group presents something)... in the pictures, i have relatively few people actually dancing, as i took the pictures before the actual parade started - during hte parade you usually have no chance to get close enough anyway, there's just too many people watching...
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Post by rikita on Feb 25, 2010 19:53:20 GMT
Two black and white pictures today: A lot of kids participate in the groups, I think for them it is pretty exciting... And as bixa wanted to see people dance...
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 25, 2010 21:10:51 GMT
Better & better! I love how you "blocked" the first of these, and the joy and movement you captured in the second. Your black&whites are always so lush.
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Post by rikita on Feb 27, 2010 19:13:48 GMT
Now to the Peruvian "Inti Raymi" group, dancing Valchicha-dances. This is a very big group (every year, other Peruvian folklore groups from other German towns and even other European countries travel to Berlin to join in the carnival - and when those other towns have their festivals, Peruvians from Berlin go there, too - I know from friends from the Bolivian group that they do the same, and I suppose some other groups do too), and they made second place last year: Inti Raymi is Quechua for festival of the sun, it is a celebration that takes place in June every year in Cusco, with a parade and a presentation at the Saqsaywaman ruins - it is said to stem from an Inka festival (and I suppose the Inka would have had festivals around the midsummer), but I guess a lot of it has been (re)created to meet tourist likings... Anyway, last year a Peruvian group presented that festival to Berlin during the Carnival of Cultures.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 27, 2010 22:57:42 GMT
"Peruvian folklore groups from other German towns and even other European countries" ..... "Peruvians from Berlin" Most interesting! Somehow, I never though of Peruvians immigrating to Germany. Do you have any idea how this came about. Also, was it Peruvians you met in Germany who sparked your desire to travel to Peru.
Gorgeous, gorgeous textiles, and such a noble face in the second picture.
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Post by rikita on Feb 28, 2010 19:26:54 GMT
well i guess germany isn't the first country of choice for most peruvians, generally i suppose they prefer spain because they speak the language, but some get here too... some of the peruvians i know came for studies or because they had a partner here, but i guess there are more reasons...
but i didn't really know any peruvians before i went to peru - that is, i knew one, who is a friend of my father, but i only had more to do with her when i was preparing for going to peru...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2010 19:53:00 GMT
There are South Americans all over Europe. It is sort of the "promised land" for those who have not selected the United States for that role. In Paris, we have tons of South American restaurants and other cultural manifestations, but I'm afraid we don't have a carnival or festival outlet for them.
So good for Berlin!
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Post by rikita on Mar 2, 2010 21:44:41 GMT
I liked how this girl turned around just when I took the picture... She belongs to the "Comparsa Chamanes" group that I think I mentioned before. Giving some last minute touches to the decoration of one of the decorated trucks in the parade... Sorry, this photo is a bit blurry, it was getting overcast and thus a bit too dark...
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Post by Jazz on Mar 2, 2010 22:29:50 GMT
A sensual and vital essay. You work beautifully in colour and black and white.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 2, 2010 22:59:19 GMT
I think I'm running out of superlatives, Rikita. I just love your work. Snapping those girls from the back was inspired, and the girl turning around just at the right moment was the final fillip of perfection. The "blurry" ( ) one is wonderful -- it works on so many levels, and is a great companion for the one before it.
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Post by rikita on Mar 3, 2010 21:36:27 GMT
thanks... i am glad you like the pictures... i should do more of these essays, it is fun to show the pictures, almost as much fun as taking them...
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Post by rikita on Mar 3, 2010 21:50:16 GMT
Back to a South American group - this time, a Bolivian group, called "Amigos del folclore". For a while I had to do with some people from this group (they also sometimes organize parties with folcloric dances at a location nearby) and considered participating with them or with the Peruvian group, in which a good friend of mine dances. The costumes make it a bit difficult to see the people's faces and guess from that where they are from, but they remind me of costumes I have seen in South America. As you can see, some costumes are really elaborate, and often people import them from their home countries, they aren't cheap either... And of course the dances often require a lot of practice beforehand... The bolivians also have friends from other German and European towns joining them, and this year presented the highland dance "Diablada" (it is also danced in Peru, and Bolivians sometimes accuse Peruvians of "stealing" the dance - in fact, of course, I would say culture doesn't stick to political borders). According to the carneval's webside the diablada represents an andean world view that is connected on the one hand to the cult of the evil and the Hurai, the god of mountains, and on the other hand to the devil in catholic lithurgy. This mixture of indigenous and catholic beliefs is probably typical for a lot of places in Latin America, I could observe it in Peru too... But the dance is also a symbol of the carnival in Oruro, which the Unesco declared world heritage.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2010 22:09:21 GMT
Continuously wonderful report, but don't think that I haven't figured out what you are building up to. In the very last photo, we are going to discover that you were the queen of the carnival.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 3, 2010 22:28:51 GMT
This is the most amazing festival. More fabulous pics, Rikita - wow! I'm so glad you know what these dancers are. Never would I have guessed S. America. The costumes, particularly the last one and the figures at far left in pictures one and two seem very Chinese to me, somehow.
Not really on the subject, but that is an exceptionally nice piece of ironwork in the upper part of the first picture. I could look at these over and over again, there is so much to them and they are such excellent photos.
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Post by rikita on Mar 4, 2010 21:50:47 GMT
Detail of a costume - a big circle of feathers, I guess the dancer might have been in one of the brazilian groups. When watching the actual parade, sometimes it is of disadvantage that I am short - I can only see the heads of people (though often I also manage to fight my way through to the front). They found a good place from which to look over the heads of those people that stand right by the street... And here fortunately there was enough space to walk past, too...
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