Notting Hill Carnival 2009

Having hardly used my camera this summer, and with the start of the Camera Club season looming, I thought I had better get out and take some pictures. I was free on the August Bank holiday, I just had to decide where to go. One look at the weather told me it would be better to go east than west and I decided a trip to London would be a good idea. When I realised the Notting Hill Carnival was on this was the obvious choice.

I deliberated how much gear to take as I thought traversing crowds with a bulky back pack would be awkward. I had considered travelling very light with only my 17-85 lens on the camera, but thought my longer 70-200 would come in handy ( I am glad I did as the majority of these pictures here were taken with it!).

I had never been up to the carnival before so printed off a route map, and armed with my camera around my neck, and a small rucksack containing some water, the extra lens and an A-Z I headed for London on the train.

Expecting the underground would be busy I walked from Paddington, about a mile, arriving at about 10.30am on the carnival route. Having looked at the route map I had decided the best lighting would be on the south side of the route, to start with anyway. There are many float entry points on the circular route and the following picture was taken on one of these as this procession was about to enter the main carnival.

I initially had my 17-85 on the camera, but quickly changed to the 70-200 to focus in on the happy faces I saw. It was a very joyous atmosphere with most people posing if you pointed a camera at them.

I did try to get some more wide view shots, but not with much success. Waiting for the ‘decisive’ moment when a group of people were in a good position did not seem to coincide with a clear vintage point, and there is not much scope for moving your position in a crowd as the processions go past.