Posted June 23, 2024
Despite living within walking distance of the Fremont neighborhood, it had been many years since I'd attended its big annual hoopla, the Solstice Parade festival. Indeed, this year it took an invitation from a street photography friend to shoot it together to remind me it was happening and get me off my butt. Startled thus into action, I set out early and strolled my way along the Fremont Canal under a hazy overcast to cross the old drawbridge into the neighborhood and scout the grounds.
The centerpiece of this festival is the bizarre and famous tradition of naked bicyclists, riding in a fleet through the streets at the head of the parade. People plant chairs hours ahead of time, and tremendous throngs gather for a flyby glimpse of pale, middleaged Seattle flesh on wheels, I'm not sure why. To be fair, there's more parade after them: all the homemade costumes, kids bands, street art, etc. The parade is really a throwback to when Fremont was an artists' community with a rebellious quirkiness; I lived there when I first arrived in Seattle in the year 2000, just in time to see the last gasp of that era before it faded into corporate franchise normality. But Dusty Strings is still there, Simply Desserts is still there, the hedgerow dinosaurs and pasteboard rocket are still there, and the Fremont Solstice Parade still happens.
If you've browsed this blog at all you know that I go to festivals not for the event itself but as an excuse to do street photography. I arrived a couple of hours before Bryan, so I got a scone from the local Caffe Ladro for breakfast and started by simply prowling around the little warren of streets to see what was happening as the population grew.
Open Air Living Room
Unexpected Tribute
Acid Bath
Untilted
People Watching
Party Flavors
Pratically Touch It
Photo Booth
"Jaywalk?"
I finally got a text from Bryan, who'd had the bright idea to settle on the far-off side street where the performers were all setting up. I hastened down there and he was right: there was a big open space with everyone milling around, and plenty of room for a photographer to mingle in close proximity to all the figures in fabulous costumes. Indeed, Bryan and I were far from the only ones; seemingly every photographer in the city had swarmed the block, and the poor costumed paraders and nude bicyclists did their setup and rehearsals like animals in a zoo. But everyone was into it.
There's an art to taking street photos of people in costume; I don't claim to have mastered it. You don't want to take "ordinary tourist photos," but how to avoid it? The first betrayal is of course to shoot the whole rainbow extravaganza in black and white, but beyond that you try to look for bizarre human moments or juxtapositions, something that tells a wider story or at least captures the kooky reality of the scene. Of course, sometimes you have to break down and just snap a pic of someone's costume, even if consists of a cutout smileyface. One hopes those hold up too.
Weary Wizard
The Duke
Her Highness Attends
Milk Cups
The Hippy Couple
Paint Misbehavin'
Ready to Roll
Stay
Chintz Appeal
Girls' World
Cadet
Now Hear This
You're on Candid Camera
Greetings Earthlings
Birdman Blues
Nevermore
Fishhead Function Finale
Finally it was time for the parade itself, and all the photographers polished their lenses. To be honest, this was the least interesting part of it to me, and also the most uncomfortable, as the crowds along the avenue were so tightly packed that even escaping from the neighborhood proved difficult. And here I'll confess a street photographer secret: I love taking photos of other photographers. Like I say, there were plenty of us about. So for the finale I'll intersperse nude bicyclists in flamboyant public with secret candid shots of photographers like myself at work. Which are the greater weirdos? I'm not sure.
Bring It
Manual Focus
Zoom Zoom
