Experience Thaipusam

Red Dawn · 19th January 2003

Hi

i titled this post as such cos this is the first time i witnessed this extraordinary event and experienced the sights and sounds of Thaipusam. i dun pretend to know the exact details of this festival, but i tried to capture wat i think are the significant portions of it. it's a hotbed of activity - i was splashed by coconut milk, some powder thingy and other stuff, pushed around, but at the end of it all i'm glad i went there to soak it all up!

All shots taken with 28, 35 and 50mm lenses. i brought the 70-200 f2.8L along with me and regretted every minute of it. it never saw the light of day - it sat in the bag all throughout the 3 plus hours i was there shooting, and caused a strained shoulder at the end of it. i wished i had just gone there with my rangefinders only. i saw a lot of pple wielding 70-200 / 80-200 class zooms and i was wondering wat they are shooting cos i cannot "see" any pictures at those focal lengths....or maybe i'm missing something!

Hopefully you will enjoy thee pictures, in Red Dawn's wide angle style (tm)!

Kavadi March

The procession started before i arrived at 6:30 am - and i thought i might be too early!

I can do it

A devotee receives encouragement from a friend and gives a wink as a sign of confidence that if they can do it, so can he.

Carrying Milk

Ladies do their part by carrying milk in urns on top of their heads - this is one rare lady i saw who actually had her mouth pierced - most of them only carry the urns.

Red Dawn · 19th January 2003

Hi

curious about the milk, i did a little snooping and found industrious ladies who stayed up the entire night pouring milk into those urns....

Milk Pouring

Red Dawn · 20th January 2003

Hi

here's 2 more pics early in the morning.....

Kavadi in front of temple

Tall Kavadi

StreetShooter · 20th January 2003

General comments on the whole series:

1. I thought it was a good choice to use relatively slow film (400?) for the series, as the movement blur in the shots of the crowds (not the "Energy" series, though

) gives you a sense of the frenetic activity that must have been part of the scene. Using a wide angle helps reduce camera shake while preserving motion blur.

2. I'm glad you covered the ladies and other "supporting staff". There were a couple of extraordinarily good looking women there.

3. It might have been interesting to get permission to take a picture right next to the head of one of the kavadi bearers, to see what HIS view of the world was like. Problem is not getting pricked by the kavadi yourself while getting close! Maybe next year, huh?

4. It would also have been interesting to see the expressions of the kavadi bearers while the hooks and stuff were being removed - pain, relief, joy?

Overall, a pretty good job. Missed that Leica glow, though...

hyun · 20th January 2003

hi reddawn .. for the 1st shot, seemed pretty early and dark, was it like monopod wide open ?f/2.8? with flash? handheld wide open without flash iso400?

Red Dawn · 20th January 2003

Quote:

Originally posted by StreetShooter

1. I thought it was a good choice to use relatively slow film (400?) for the series

ISO 200 - i used Kodak E200 slide film. Usually i would pushed it. and yup i'm glad i didn't do so this time

actually i think i could have been more experimental with the "Energy" series (you didn't like that? ;P) - could have used even longer shutter speeds. ah well...next yr....

Quote:

3. It might have been interesting to get permission to take a picture right next to the head of one of the kavadi bearers, to see what HIS view of the world was like. Problem is not getting pricked by the kavadi yourself while getting close! Maybe next year, huh?

hey that's a fantastic idea which didn't occur to me. yes, maybe next yr! thanks for the tip!

Quote:

4. It would also have been interesting to see the expressions of the kavadi bearers while the hooks and stuff were being removed - pain, relief, joy?

oh i got that - at least the part where they were putting on the kavadis (i only shot in the morning for 3 hours). Still scanning. it's supposed to be part of the "Preparations" series. but i can't bear to bring myself to see some of them though.......i mean...OUCH that must have hurt! for example, this one of a woman cheering the man on having his tongue pierced..........

someone there asked if i would like to try it sometime. NO THANKS!

Quote:

Missed that Leica glow, though...

hehehe...wat??? u mean u can't tell which of them were shot with the Leica???? dun they simply look better??!!?

ok ok before i get jumped on by u guys, the above statement was said in jest. Truth is, I used both the Canon and Leica for the shoot, for the simple reason i do not have a 28mm lens for my M6, and many of these situations required me to go even wider - in fact even the 28mm was too limiting in many situations when everybody was just crowding around each other.....

this is one case when i regretted selling the Sigma 20. wat was i thinking?!

Red Dawn · 20th January 2003

Quote:

Originally posted by hyun
hi reddawn .. for the 1st shot, seemed pretty early and dark, was it like monopod wide open ?f/2.8? with flash? handheld wide open without flash iso400?

Kodak E200 at ISO 200, handheld, f2.8 with flash, with a 28mm lens.

anyway the original slide had much more detail in the background. in fact, the original slides are much better compared to any of the scans posted here

i find it extremely difficult to scan high contrast slides - when i scanned Kodak E100VS shot in daylight during Thaipusam it was much better, but once i got to the early morning scenes, it was a pain, whether it's E100VS or E200. think i need to improve my scanning skills

ckiang · 20th January 2003

Quote:

Originally posted by Red Dawn
Hi

All shots taken with 28, 35 and 50mm lenses. i brought the 70-200 f2.8L along with me and regretted every minute of it. it never saw the light of day - it sat in the bag all throughout the 3 plus hours i was there shooting, and caused a strained shoulder at the end of it. i wished i had just gone there with my rangefinders only. i saw a lot of pple wielding 70-200 / 80-200 class zooms and i was wondering wat they are shooting cos i cannot "see" any pictures at those focal lengths....or maybe i'm missing something!

I too, brought the big and heavy Nikkor AFn-D 80-200mm f/2.8D but didn't use it a lot. Tried to, but couldn't "see" anything good through it. It's just too difficult to use for this situation. I ended up putting that lens in my bag most of the shoot, using the 20mm most, followed by the Tokina 28-70.

Nice note about streetshooter about shooting from INSIDE the kavadi. That thought never occured to me either. Otherwise could have gotten a winner....

Reddawn : actually they don't hurt. You don't see girls crying that their earlobes hurt when they get them pierced right? Same goes to those people into body piercing, tongue piercing, etc. I guess they are pierced at places where there's minimal nerves running across? Besides, they are supposedly "helped" by their deities. Some are also wearing nail-shoes, in addition to carrying the heavy kavadis.

Regards
CK

Derrick · 20th January 2003

Quote:

Originally posted by ckiang

Reddawn : actually they don't hurt. You don't see girls crying that their earlobes hurt when they get them pierced right? Same goes to those people into body piercing, tongue piercing, etc. I guess they are pierced at places where there's minimal nerves running across?

I saw one young guy who was in obvious pain when they were doing the body piercing. He was in tears and had to bite on the large lime just to keep himself from crying out. I did take some shots of him, but i doubt i'll be posting any.

Sin · 21st January 2003

Quote:

Originally posted by ckiang

Reddawn : actually they don't hurt. You don't see girls crying that their earlobes hurt when they get them pierced right? Same goes to those people into body piercing, tongue piercing, etc. I guess they are pierced at places where there's minimal nerves running across? Besides, they are supposedly "helped" by their deities. Some are also wearing nail-shoes, in addition to carrying the heavy kavadis.
Regards
CK

Friend, you wanna try it and then tell me that it doesn't hurt?

The pain is supposed to be penance for their sins.
I would gather that it's most painful when piercing and removing...

19th January 2003	#1
Red Dawn Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Singapore Posts: 2,212	Experience Thaipusam Hi i titled this post as such cos this is the first time i witnessed this extraordinary event and experienced the sights and sounds of Thaipusam. i dun pretend to know the exact details of this festival, but i tried to capture wat i think are the significant portions of it. it's a hotbed of activity - i was splashed by coconut milk, some powder thingy and other stuff, pushed around, but at the end of it all i'm glad i went there to soak it all up! All shots taken with 28, 35 and 50mm lenses. i brought the 70-200 f2.8L along with me and regretted every minute of it. it never saw the light of day - it sat in the bag all throughout the 3 plus hours i was there shooting, and caused a strained shoulder at the end of it. i wished i had just gone there with my rangefinders only. i saw a lot of pple wielding 70-200 / 80-200 class zooms and i was wondering wat they are shooting cos i cannot "see" any pictures at those focal lengths....or maybe i'm missing something! Hopefully you will enjoy thee pictures, in Red Dawn's wide angle style (tm)! Kavadi March The procession started before i arrived at 6:30 am - and i thought i might be too early! I can do it A devotee receives encouragement from a friend and gives a wink as a sign of confidence that if they can do it, so can he. Carrying Milk Ladies do their part by carrying milk in urns on top of their heads - this is one rare lady i saw who actually had her mouth pierced - most of them only carry the urns.

19th January 2003	#2
Red Dawn Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Singapore Posts: 2,212	where does the milk come from? Hi curious about the milk, i did a little snooping and found industrious ladies who stayed up the entire night pouring milk into those urns.... Milk Pouring

20th January 2003	#3
Red Dawn Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Singapore Posts: 2,212	Hi here's 2 more pics early in the morning..... Kavadi in front of temple Tall Kavadi

20th January 2003	#4
StreetShooter Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Katong Posts: 4,702	General comments on the whole series: 1. I thought it was a good choice to use relatively slow film (400?) for the series, as the movement blur in the shots of the crowds (not the "Energy" series, though ) gives you a sense of the frenetic activity that must have been part of the scene. Using a wide angle helps reduce camera shake while preserving motion blur. 2. I'm glad you covered the ladies and other "supporting staff". There were a couple of extraordinarily good looking women there. 3. It might have been interesting to get permission to take a picture right next to the head of one of the kavadi bearers, to see what HIS view of the world was like. Problem is not getting pricked by the kavadi yourself while getting close! Maybe next year, huh? 4. It would also have been interesting to see the expressions of the kavadi bearers while the hooks and stuff were being removed - pain, relief, joy? Overall, a pretty good job. Missed that Leica glow, though...

20th January 2003	#5
hyun Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Farrer Road Posts: 394	hi reddawn .. for the 1st shot, seemed pretty early and dark, was it like monopod wide open ?f/2.8? with flash? handheld wide open without flash iso400?