Worth a Second Look 5

This from Victoria's Victoria Day Parade in 2011. I photograph this parade every year and of all the dozens (or hundreds) of photos I've taken of the parade this is my favorite. I think it's pretty hard to go wrong with a bunch of bare legged teen girls leaping with such energy, but the black-suited marchers in front of them make a nice contrast and the low angle in this photo also contributes to the sensation of bursting upwards into the blue spring sky. I've tried a crop that cuts out a lot of the right side of this photo but I ended up not cropping it since I like the way the relatively empty space on the right makes the photo feel less crowded. Those little girls sitting on the pavement are also sharing this low point of view so I like to have them there too.

Victoria Day Parade

May Choices!

As I wrote yesterday, "Every year I put together a calendar for friends and family, of photos I have published on this blog for the last year or so. However, it's always difficult to make decisions about which photos to use. I am hoping visitors to this blog will help out. Every day for the next few weeks I will publish two or three photos from a given month and hope that comments and choices made by visitors will help me make a final decision which photos to use in this year's calendar. As an incentive, I will offer an online downloadable/printable file of the calendar to anyone who helps me make a choice."

Thanks to everyone who has given me their opinions so far, and it really helps when you give reasons for your preference.

Below are my favorite May 2016 photos. There are four to choose from today - Three from the Victoria Day Parade - always an interesting event though it is now being eclipsed in popularity by the Pride Parade later in the year. Anyway, here's four photos of Victoria in May. Which one do you prefer?

Legislative Assembly Building

Falun Dafa Marchers - Victoria Day Parade (I really like the spirit and joie de vie that these women displayed in their marching, so full of life and energy.)

Penny Farthing Cyclists - Victoria Day Parade

Marching Band in Front of Victoria City Hall - Victoria Day Parade

Kids on Parade

There's always lots of kids in the Victoria Day Parade here, most of them marching or riding on or in some kind of vehicle. Marching the length of the parade is an achievement, but I've got to salute these kids who do it with cartwheels and handsprings all the way. The boy in the center doesn't even have gloves on - I bet his hands were sore by the end of the parade.

Made ME laugh

The kid wearing this "costume" in the Victoria Day parade was really dancing along in such a carefree fashion I had to laugh. My hat's off to you, kid!

Victoria Day Parade 3 - Wheels

Lots of different kinds of wheeled vehicles in the parade. And though I neglected to get a photo, I was pleasantly surprised by the large number and variety of electric vehicles in this parade. People are becoming enthusiastic about these and manufacturers are finally waking up to this. Below, it was nice to see a little girl riding one of these muscular little dirt bikes.

Victoria Day Parade 2

Many civic organizations were in the parade as usual but one of the most impressive groups were the marchers representing the Falun Dafa organization. I understand this organization is a type of Buddhism. What captured my attention was how enthusiastic and energized these marchers looked.

Victoria Day Parade

Not surprisingly, Queen Victoria's birthday has a special significance here in her namesake city. Consequently I have been a bit disappointed in the last few years' parades. It seemed to me that participation was down and the enthusiasm was lacking. This year, however, I thought the parade was much improved, a little more of everything. Victoria Day is the kick-off day for the summer season and from now until October nearly every weekend will see some special event or festival taking place. Next weekend is the Swiftsure Yacht Race. Above is one of the many marching bands that participated in the parade, as they marched past Victoria's City Hall. This is the Klamath Union High School band from Klamath Falls, Oregon, USA.

Air Horns

As well as colorful and fantastic, parades are usually noisy - sometimes too noisy for little ears. The sirens on our local fire trucks were OK but whenever the air horns let out a blast this little boy plugged both ears.

Victoria Day Parade

The Victoria Day Parade took place on Monday the 20th of May although Queen Victoria's actual birthdate is today, May 24th. Her birthday and that of the current monarch, Queen Elizabeth, are now celebrated annually on the last Monday before May 25th. Queen Elizabeth's actual birthday is April 21. She was born in 1926 and so celebrated her 87th birthday this year. She has been on the throne for 61 years, a reign for a British monarch only exceeded in duration by Queen Victoria, who ruled for 63 years.

As usual there was a large variety of parade participants - community groups, floats and local and visiting marching bands and many of the pipe bands who came for the Highland Games also marched in the parade. The red building in the background for most of these photos is Victoria's City Hall, a Canadian National Historic Site, built in 1890.