Nihonmachi Street Fair

As my first post, I thought to post some images taken from the Nihonmachi Street Fair in San Francisco. I had first heard about the street fair from some friends on a photo forum that I frequent for some Bay Area shooters. I decided to meet up with them, especially for the two events, the Lion Dance and the Taiko Drumming.

I have always loved the lion and dragon actors at various Asian festivities, and I also have a fondness for taiko drumming (as well as having friends who do taiko).

I checked the weather websites, and it had said it would remain around mid-to-high 60s with the promise of fog. Instead what I got was a beautiful sunny day with extremely harsh lighting. *sigh*

So, I decided to just have fun, and not worry too much. I slapped on an ND filter onto the camera, and went from there.

The Lion Dance was particularly fun, albeit a little loud with the strings of firecrackers going off. I managed to get in the front of the gathered crowd, albeit to the backsides of the lions, but still managed to get a few good shots off. The very young lion cub dancers were particularly cute, but performed very well.

With the harsh lighting, I just decided to see if I couldn't just shoot for B&W conversions later. But, even during the post-processing, a lot of the colors with the Lion Dance just screamed to be let out.

After the Lion Dance, the San Francisco Taiko Dojo set up to perform. It's just so much fun watching them, as they really seem to get into the rhythm, the beat, and just playing their hearts out.

For the taiko, I stuck my longer lens onto the camera, as I was a bit farther back than the Lion Dance (for which I used a wide angle lens).

During the second set of the taiko, I was fascinated by an older gentleman who was so intent on his playing that I could have watched him all day just playing on the drums.

I tried to get a lot of shots of him with his intense looks and whatnought, but after a while, I just stopped and watched him play. His expressions were just so serene, calm, and wonderful. It was just a pleasure to watchi him play. I didn't know who he was, but I pretty much figured him for THE teacher of the taiko dojo.

I showed the images to some of my taiko friends, and they pegged him as Seichii Tanaka, the founder of taiko movement in the U.S! It didn't surprise me at all.

Overall, for the street fair, I didn't take as many photographs as I thought I might originally, but I decided to just enjoy myself and experience the festival instead of just being behind the camera. Regardless, I think I got some decent photos out of the day; just a few select pieces, which makes me happy.