Went to the Diwali Festival today – it’s the Indian Festival of Lights. Whilst I would have to say the lights part somehow didn’t translate all that well on its way down under, there was lots of see and taste and photograph… My favourite shot of the day is this little girl, playing in the fabric fingers of a giantess on stilts. There were lots of children there – but she relished it like no other.
This is look at the photo right out of the camera. The light was changing, it was around sunset and it is underexposed. Click to enlarge.
Titirangi Storyteller 
It’s all about making connections. What a delighted little girl reaching to get the attention of the stilted one who is mostly out of reach. Movement, color, light would be her view, I’m thinking. Didn’t think about the India Festial of Lights being down under. Great to have different cultural events in your own backyard 🙂
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Auckland is so multicultural – 1.4 million people and huge minority populations of Maori, Indian, Chinese, Islanders along with substantial numbers of immigrants from everywhere else – I love the ethnic mix – how when you walk down Queen Street, if you didn’t recognise the landmarks, you would have no idea in the world where you were… And whilst I don’t miss the daily 9-5, I do miss working with a variety of different kinds of people.
As for this little girl – I suspect she is seeing something not usually visible to the naked eye…
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Seeing that child’s delight makes me think of the first time I saw Ice Capades. Transported from a no-television/no-magazine world into a performance of beauty and grandeur, the 2-hour show lasted a nanosecond in my mind!
Great shot, Titi.
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Thanks – interesting to look at it the following day and I am wondering why I muted it so much – the colours were absolutely vibrant – jangly pinks and greens… hmmm – perhaps I didn’t want them to take over…
I loved the Ice Capades the first time or two I saw them as a child. (We also were a no-TV family!) As an adult, I hated them… so much had changed, for both them and for me…
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Somehow, the children always find the magic.
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We can too! It’s still there, I am sure of it.
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When you mentioned the vibrant colors in your original shots of this scene I wondered if you could do a “Before and After” showing how you change and embellish the photos? Just a thought 🙂
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I added it to the post, if you click it becomes a bit larger, but I saved it smaller than I thought – actually, I think it’s the right height, but since the proportions are different, it came out narrower and so looks a lot smaller.
One of the things I fret a bit over is theft of my images. I used to think it was one of those overblown worries – until an Egyptian friend of mine had a photo she took of her daughter (here in New Zealand) swiped by an Egyptian newspaper during the protests earlier this year and then used in banners and billboards, without her permission, never mind payment or even a photographic credit!
Anyway, this one kind of went from a dark, not-so-good photo to something cute – not that dramatic of a change.
However, the girl dancing in the green skirt along the right hand column (going to my Flickr page) has a whole new background and I decluttered the stage. The performance area for the festival was truly shocking – there were aome lights, but they were carelessly hung, boxes and junk all over the stage and speakers and lights along the front of the stage blocking the line of sight to the dancers. Very poorly executed… (Same with the guy dancing the bhangra…)
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I can see clearly now…Thanks! The words and lettering you added enhance it and make a perfect accent to the scene. Good of you to put up with my amateurish questions. I love looking over the shoulder of an artist 🙂
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Happy to oblige. It’s also a chance for me to step back and look at what I actually did. Sometimes I think I did a lot more than I really did, like this case. Other times it’s the other way around…
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