SHAH’S RAMBLINGS

Braved through the traffic jam on Saturday night in order to catch the International Cultural “Parade” in conjunction with the KK City Day celebrations at the Promenade Boulevard. Since live event photography was one of my favourite genres of photography, as well as one of the most challenging to get right, I was hoping I could get some good photos of the colourful traditional performances scheduled to be performed at the night’s so-called “parade”.

What a disappointment it was to find out that night that the organiser’s definition of “parade” was to have the dancers perform their routines in front of a grandstand filled with bored looking VIPs. To make matters worse, the more enthusiastic public, most with little kids in tow, were held behind heavily police-guarded barricades far away from where all the performances were taking place, and could only get a good view of all the action being projected on some poorly placed canvas screens.

Unlike some of those lucky few who somehow managed to get hold of photographer passes that night, I had no way of getting a good enough angle for any decent shots. From where I was standing, even when I was zooming in to the max with the 180mm lens, I was still unable to get close enough.

And standing on my tip-toes behind the VIP grandstand and holding the camera high up above my head could only yield this pathetic shot of the main performance area.

So instead of wasting time walking here and there trying and failing to get any decent shots of the live performances, I went behind the scenes to catch some of the performers before and right after their slots.

A familiar face we previously met at Monsopiad

___________________________________________________________

Some of the ethnic Cocos Malay performers who originally hail all the way from Cocos or Keeling Islands which is an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean. I was surprised to find out that there’s actually a Cocos Malay population right here in Sabah itself mostly concentrated at Kampung Cocos somewhere in Lahat Datu, most of whom are descendents of Cocos Island Malays brought to Sabah by the British in the 1950′s.

_______________________________________________________________________

Some not very Maori (from Sandakan actually), Maori looking performers who performed the Haka & a traditional Maori number

_______________________________________________________________________

A group of aunties from the Philippines who all happen to be cousins

______________________________________________________

This must have been the most number of lions I’ve ever seen performing a lion dance – there must have been close to 50 of them altogether

______________________________________________________________________

By the way for those who are interested, the Orang Kuat Sabah strongman challenge will be held at Padang Merdeka on the 27th  & 28th of this month. Some of these strongmen were there that night to promote the group and the upcoming event.

___________________________________________________________________________

Yeah I know, group poses like these don’t really seem like interesting photography at all. Well at least the colourful costumes and gorgeous faces diverse ethnic facial features are interesting to capture for the blog

_________________________________________________________________

Although I couldn’t get good shots of any of the live performances, all was still not lost. Before the end of the cultural shows, I planted the tripod and myself far away from the crowd while crossing my fingers and hoping that I was far enough and had the camera pointing in the right direction in order to capture the other main reason for that night’s photography outing – all of these shots below…..

My wish for next year’s celebration – make the parade a proper parade and not just a static, only-for-the-VIP-performance like the one that night. If not, then why not just have it at the stadium where everyone can enjoy a good view of the whole show, where there’s no need to clog the city centre on a Saturday night and where there’s no need to waste money building and then dismantling the VIP stand. Just as long as they make sure next year’s fireworks are as good or even better than the one this year.

Random Posts