Here’s some photos from this years’ Leeds West Indian Carnival that took place on Bank Holiday Monday in the Chapeltown district of Leeds; There’s not much more to say that I didn’t cover in the preview article a couple of days ago, but these photos are at least more up-to-date!
To immerse yourself in the experience more, I’ve managed to track down the Soca track that most of the sound-systems were playing heavily throughout the procession – Water by Iwer George (Things tended to get very wet when this played, with the contents of water bottles splaying in all directions!)
Once again, we had a great time and I’d recommend it as one of the must-see events in Leeds – great atmosphere, good food, and really inclusive – while it’s a celebration of West Indian culture, the procession and crowd was filled with people of all nationalities coming together as one to have a good time. It’s hard to fully represent through photos as you can’t see the dancing, hear the music, or smell the food, but hopefully these should give you a little flavour of what takes place.
From a photography point of view, I like events like this, as along with being entertaining they present a real challenge to get good photos – nothing stands still – everyone’s dancing, and they’re all bunched up to each other really close, so it calls for a lot of observation, running around, and no small part luck – all the while trying not to get in the way of the dancers or upset the stewards keeping the route clear!
Finally, a big thankyou to the organisers and the people taking part for a great day, especially the dancers who smiled and played up for the camera (which thankfully was most of them 🙂
When not working for digital agency AWA, Rick Harrison is a Freelance photographer based in Leeds.
He’s had work published in many magazines and on TV. For more details check out his portfolio.