Crowds

Here's a confession: I don't like crowds. I like most individuals I meet but put 40,000 of them in a small space with me and I start looking for a way out. Some people are energized by crowds. I just get debilitated and exhausted. Clearly the people in the above photo don't feel that way. They've all assembled on the grounds of the Legislative Assembly Buildings, the Empress Hotel and the Inner Harbour Causeway to listen to the Victoria Symphony Orchestra hold its annual Symphony Splash concert. The orchestra plays on a stage erected on a barge that floats in the harbour just off camera to the right. This was only one of many special events held over the long weekend to mark the BC Day holiday on Monday. Before getting entangled in the above crowd I attended another musical event in Victoria's Centennial Square, the Victoria Electronic Music Festival, definitely a different slice of the musical pie. Another Victoria blogger, Davin Greenwell, has posted a bunch of good photos of this event, at which he was a participant as well as an observer. Visit his blog to get a good feel for the flavour of the VEMF. Below are a couple of shots I took at the VEMF, with some experimental processing....