Yes, I'm a lucky girl! I have a friend in Berlin who puts me up (or puts up with me... as the case may be) and also shows me the beautiful side of the city every time there is an event in Berlin I like to attend. We always have a nice time chatting and this time we did so to the early hours so we had a late start going to the Carnival which we were going to shoot as the groups assembled in the side road in the morning. Saying that, we were late but far too early for the last groups who were due to start later in the afternoon.
It was a beautiful day and the sun shone down on us at midday when the parade started. That is never a good thing for photography! However, there was also lots of shade under the trees in this particular road which was a good thing for me and also for the groups - 62 of them altogether - who had some hours to spend here before entering the main road into the procession. So, I tried to mainly use the shade to get some pictures.
This carnival comprises a lot of different people from all over the world donning their traditional attire or fantasy costumes representing figures from film and TV ~ even some German TV-personalities could be spotted amongst the participants. Some groups were making aware of social problems like immigration, racism and the ever present financial issues Berlin faces with living space being turned into developments by big corporations.
As I had to catch my ride back home to Bremen I could not stay all day so I had to miss a lot of groups, particularly the reggae groups and trucks of YAAM, Reggae In Berlin and the Dutch Soca Lovers, which I am sure were awesome. Thankfully though, I saw Franky Fyah of the Soca Twins preparing his truck and later quite a few other members of this group including the lovely Barney Millah and Alison who were all getting into the party spirit which must have culminated much later that night according the postings I later saw on facebook!
The past few years have been critical as to the financing of the Carnival and the street festival and in particular this year it was not clear if it could actually take place. I am glad it did and I was able to see a fraction of it alongside the other 1.5 million visitors! Hopefully, the German saying "Totgesagte leben länger! (The condemned live longer!)" will hold true and I can attend it again in the future! It was quite an experience to see so many people - masses of them - working for one aim: Party and Enjoy Life!
Here is a link to this event with more information in English. For all of you reading/viewing with iPhones or Androids please click/follow the link below to see the photos of the slide-show above!
https://picasaweb.google.com/102895067673602587741/KarnevalDerKulturenBerlin?authuser=0&feat=directlink
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Feel free to tag yourself in the photos on my Facebook Photography Page. Should you want to have your photo removed or have a query, you can also contact me there or at "chrissie at cnicely dot com". I'm looking forward to hearing from you and hopefully to see you again next year!
