The Northwest Folklife Festival, held each Memorial Day Weekend in Seattle, provides numerous, though challenging, opportunities for photographers. With over a dozen indoor and outdoor stages, performers, food and arts and craft vendors, tens of thousands of attendees, plus a few Seattle icons like the Space Needle and International Fountain thrown in for good measure, the photographic potential is great. But the crowds, the intense sunlight (on occasion - like this year!) and equally intense shade, and the general milieu provide a challenge for even the best of photographers in creating a worthy image.
One of my favorite Folklife events is the three-hour long Tango Dance, with both amateur and professional dancers. I stake out my spot well in advance of the first group of professional dancers and wait. And the wait is well worth it. This couple, professional dance instructors, know the ritual of the Tango and exhibit the sensuality of the dance in amazing ways - often subtle, sometimes extravagent and always intense. The combination of ritual and sensuality is what draws me to capture the feel of the dance. Hopefully I've succeeded in some small way.
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