Friendswood 4th of July Parade #5

No parade is complete without a full array of people having fun and we had loads of them at THE PARADE!

By the way, how many parades have patriotic dogs? Only in Friendswood, and only on the Fourth of July.

Enjoy.

Friendswood 4th of July Parade #4

“You cannot play in Texas without a fiddle in the band” and you cannot have a parade in Texas without some horses. Our little parade is blessed with some of the most outstanding horses that any parade has. The only problem I have with them is that I start watching them and forget to take any photos.

Of course, even in Texas, we have some people who think that the horses need a little “fashion” when they go to a parade.

Enjoy

Friendswood 4th of July Parade #3

Of course, every parade must have great floats, The floats are designed by mass teams that spend millions of hours working on their design and then even more hours construction them. Some parades even have giant balloons that float above the crowd.

Well, THE PARADE has great vehicles (all shapes and sizes) and even giant balloons (remember everything is relative) floating effortless over the streets.

In these photos I wanted the down-to-earth nature of the parade to be presented. I tried to select vehicles and, of course, giant balloons, that demonstrated what the parade seems to be all about--love of America and Texas and the hometown nature.

Enjoy

Friendswood 4th of July Parade #2

The first thing that every great parade must have is precision marching bands decked out in their finest uniforms, and our little parade has that it spades. OK. Maybe they do not have fine uniforms and maybe their precision is a little off, but, the music is good and they are having a great time.

I wanted these shots to be a little different "take" on a marching band. I tried to use some unusual perspectives and views to give you another look at what you have seen many times.

Enjoy.

Friendswood 4th of July Parade #1

On Saturday, Janice and I headed to our usual haunt on the Forth of July—The Friendswood 4^th of July Day Parade. For those of you who have not gone to THE PARADE, you do not know what you have missed. It is a real parade. It is a parade of the people, by the people and for the people. It is an all-American parade.

I photograph the parade every year. I do not consider it a source of great photographic art; rather, I think of it as a throwback to when I was growing-up in Fort Smith, Arkansas. It is all about the community and the people who live in it.

My approach to the parade was simple: Nikon D3, Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 VR with polarizing filter attached. Post processing was just as simple: Lightroom processing only. Almost all of the photographs were taken from the same place--on the median with me either sitting down or kneeling as I was taken the photo. I might have liked a less busy background, but I selected this place because I had no trees in the median that would block my view down the street.

I do not think that the individual photographs are anything special. In fact, I really do not think of them as individual photos. I think of the total of the photographs as summation of what the parade is all about--flags, streamers, people, floats, bands, et al.

Today’s photos are some shots of some of the high fashion fans who aligned the parade route. Most people do not know that Friendswood, Texas is the new fashion capitol of the world. Sorry, Paris. Sorry Milan. Sorry New York. Sorry Tokyo. I wanted these photo to show the people who came to the parade and a little of their enjoyment during the parade.

Enjoy.