Toronto - Well. What can I say? I was asked to shoot assets that people display in the annual Toronto Caribana parade. Now that I have, I will state that approximately 50% of the population has them, some of whom should not be terribly quick to expose the public to their collection. But I digress.

This year’s Caribana parade, I felt, was beset by Murphy’s Law. There were technical difficulties (generator’s down, trucks not moving, etc), weather (freak thunderstorm with torrential downpour followed by sunny skies followed by heat), and a general lack of organization. I got to the parade route along Lakeshore Blvd by 10:30AM (which btw is always a hard won battle on TTC), since it was supposed to be from 10AM-6PM. I hurried, count myself lucky to have found a perch of concrete above the fences, and started the long wait. First assemblies I saw was from the Toronto Police. Then there was Falun Dafa (no feathers, no scantily-dressed Chinese), and NDP (saw Jack Layton; at least they had feathers…) Couldn’t we restrict political showcasing to Queen’s Park? Anyways. I then waited 1 hr before the first real troupe walked in sight. And then the rain hit - crowds dispersed, the larger show-pieces were briefly abandoned because they were being blown away… Yours truly had the prescience to setup his umbrella on the fence - so while other people ducked away in tents or had their cameras soaked in brine, I was dry and taking pics of paraders reveling in the rain. Quite fun. The parade was slow going, if nothing. It was literally 20 minutes of continuous shooting in all, punctuated by 30-45 min of waiting for the next troupe. Since I wasn’t on the ground, I was simultaneously finding desired and undesired in one frame, all the time. At one point people started to pour into the parade lanes from a gap in the fencing near-by… police frantically called for backup and herded people back. Trucks (of food, water, and yes, porta-potty) would block the parade on either side, Seriously, if the organizers were to expand their budget next year, I would recommend a Blackberry, and hire one of those laid-off CAW assembly line engineers. By 4PM I left with sore calves/back and the rest of the show un-shot. Although I can’t be sure, I figure the other 9 or so troupes was more of the same.

While it lasted though, the parade was very energetic. Bodies swaying, arms waving, and people rehersing for the bedroom. Steel drums were clean and crisp, but the music in general just consists of bass, which in my book is no replacement for real melody. I had my headphones on - one foot on the ground and hear the music through your bones. So. Enjoy the collage. Bottomline: I recommend going to Caribana. This year’s just happened to be a bit of a let down.