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Dykes On Bikes The good news is, for whatever reason, the shooting seemed to go better with the Dykes on Bikes contingent than last year (which was a good year) 
and I think I got some good photographs. I was more aware perhaps, more
aggressive, and they, for whatever reason, were more into the shooting.
The bad news is that one of the five rolls, a black and white
roll on which I thought I'd gotten some pretty good pictures, was ruined
through my own stupidity. So I'm pissed. Still, four rolls, two color
slide, two black and white. There will be some good shots, but that last
black and white roll, just before the parade began, was the best of the
day and since I'll never see them, they'll always be remembered as the
best shots of the day whether they were or not. Stupid, but, you know.
You learn.
I've never actually shot the parade, by the way. Mostly I don't shoot any of the parades I attend, but show up one or two hours early and shoot the people preparing before they cross the starting line. Once it's underway, I shoot the crowd if I stick around at all, but the preparations for the parade are usually where I find my best photographs. I like parades because everybody is there to show their stuff and photographers are encouraged to shoot. It's part of the program.
At the Gay Pride Parade, the Dykes on Bikes contingent is just one of 200
other parade groups, some hundreds of lesbian women out of thousands of
men and women in the parade itself. This is the grand
There was one woman, wonderful cheekbones, wonderful eyes and I got her on that last roll of black and white as she was hurrying, making last minute preparations with a lipstick in the rear view mirror of her Harley. I know, sounds bizzare, but her face was fascinating, concentrating on the lipstick and the last minute get it done, get ready to roll. This is not the best place in the world to find true love (You do have that firmly in mind, right Prop?), but it's not at all bad for photographs.
Mr. Wuss, by the way, was dozing off last night and I shot these
photographs with the digital camera. They aren't very good, but I was
trying to catch a particular expression (which I missed) and I thought I'd run
them anyway.
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"show the colors" meeting of the
tribes and everybody is seriously decked out, hyped up and ready. There are
maybe two or three dozen photographers milling around shooting, most of them
amateurs, so everybody gets used to us rather quickly and I can usually move
without being totally obvious. I will pick a face in the crowd, someone not
facing me for example, and wait with the camera focused on the back of their
head or the side of their head until they turn around. I wait for the eyes.
I have to be able to see the eyes. You just have a second for the shot, but
that's enough. They notice that you've shot the photograph, but today nobody
minded. You smile, they smile, perhaps you mouth a thankyou and you go on
to the next subject. This requires concentration and two or three hours
is more than enough, get back on BART and collapse.
