The annual Capital Pride parade takes place in Centretown Ottawa every August. It can always be counted on for colourful, fun pictures, especially on a beautiful late August day like this year. I don’t have money for travel, models, or anything really, so I take advantage of whatever is available to me in my local area, especially when it’s right in my neighbourhood.
Most of the parades here take place around the middle of the day, so the midday sun can be a little harsh. On this day, after a little pre-parade scouting, I was able to find a position on an east-west block that would allow me to take advantage of the contrasty but usable light from a sun slightly off to one side, with enough natural fill from the pavement and buildings along the street to help with the harsh shadows. I did not use a Speedlight, because I find that not very useful for parades on a very bright day. The subjects are too often far enough away that the Speedlight has little effect, and the camera’s flash sync speed isn’t fast enough to freeze the action on its own.
All the people waving or posing for the camera are doing so for my benefit specifically, because I was the only one with a big camera at that particular location. Given that, I tried to include as many of the participants as possible in this gallery. I never like whittling it down to the point where I’m excluding people.
Shot with a Nikon D7500 and AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR.
