LA Pride Parade 2023

The LA pride parade seems like it might be a new tradition for me.  Last year, I found myself in northern Los Angeles right before the parade started, and was free the rest of the day.  So at the last minute, I decided to go.  I found myself wanting a real camera (not just my phone) and a bottle of water and sunscreen.  But I enjoyed myself thoroughly anyway.  

This year I was slightly better prepared.  Brought two cameras to overcompensate for a lack of camera last year, and a bottle of water.  I skipped the sunscreen though.  It was fairly overcast, so I was not punished for my blatant disrespect of our nearest star. 

I love this parade.  Everyone is happy and enthusiastic and friendly.  There's a particular energy and sense of community that I haven't felt at this scale, except here.  It is kind of funny seeing large corporations with floats (TikTok, Amazon, Blizzard...) represented, but it's still nice to see that more and more companies are pushing for inclusion and awareness.  Even if the majority of their efforts are concentrated toward a single month of the year.  It could be better, but it could be far worse.  

I took a lot of pictures, and even some videos.  Most of the photos are just okay.  The autofocus on my camera was necessary to get focus on the moving subjects, but kept locking on to parade watchers in front of me waving flags, which makes sense.  Or someone in the background, which is also pretty reasonable, I guess.  

I would have loved for this photo to have been focused on the signholder rather than the flag (and I swear it was when I pressed the shutter!), but it's still kind of fun, even though the focus is totally wrong.  

 

 

I am still getting used to the focus system on my camera (Fujifilm XT-4), plus the new lens (a Fujifilm 27mm f2.8!  The pancake!) was another relatively unknown quantity.  My most-used lens is a 90mm manual focus lens that I'm very comfortable with now, but it means I simply haven't used the autofocus in my camera much.  The best way to learn is to do.  And I did get more comfortable with the autofocus system.  

Oh, that second camera I mentioned?  That's a film camera!  A Fujica AX-3, to be exact.  I got the camera and lens off ebay very recently. 

 The film has been dropped off at my local shop, and they estimate two weeks before they deliver the scans.  They're pretty swamped at the moment.  So, more photos to come (hopefully). 

This year there was an emphasis on trans rights.  I don't recall as much at the last parade.  I assume it's because transgender healthcare and the rights of transgender people are being eroded and actively legislated against in many parts of the US right now. 

It was nice to see the support, but it was also a sobering reminder of the grim reality some people must face.

I took a lot of photos of the parade.  So many people, so many colors. 

This kid was definitely chewing on that flag. 

 

 

This float was amazing.  The men up front were dancing so enthusiastically the entire float was rocking back and forth. 

 

 

 

 

 

This man was moving fast, back and forth down the street, flourishing a rainbow ribbon.  Google tells me this is a gymnastics ribbon, and that a high degree of coordination is needed to not tangle it while also creating wide, sweeping movement.   

I was using a 27mm lens, which was not wide enough to capture the full length of this man's hairpiece.  It went through every color in the rainbow, and was very, very long -- and very, very beautiful. 

 

 

More pictures!