by Weldon Ryan
What a fine day for Mas. No matter the weather we’re going to chip our way to the stage and enjoy the fete! What Richlin and I did was to make sure we arrived in time to get to the beginning of the Carnival to get our photo content right. While we were there, we ran into Florida Senate Democratic candidate Val Demings’s campaign manager . How could we miss her standing by the Demings bus wrapped in amazing campaign photos. We were excited by the prospect of getting some pictures of Val Demings. She is the Grand Marshal this year.
Orlando’s own! Val Demings is running for U.S. Senate and she’s representing!
As Grand Marshal she brightened up the day with this stunning blue and white palm leaf dress and those dimples that make you melt. Val Demings is counting on us to get out and vote!
photo credit:Richlin Burnett-Ryan
As the parade started our Grand Marshal drove past in her convertible looking elated to be among fun loving people that truly support her candidacy. Dressed in a blue and white Palm print dress sitting next to her husband, Orange County Mayor Demings, atop a red mustang convertible alongside her husband Jerry Demings, the Orange County Mayor , she waved and is so committed to her campaign.
photo credit:Richlin Burnett-Ryan
Representative of the House of Representatives and Chief of the Orlando Police Department, she is the first female chief, capping a 27-year career with the department. Lets not forget that awesome Val Demings Custom Bus.
photo credit:Richlin Burnett-Ryan
Soon came a truck of mas players representing St. Thomas. But there was a lag so we decided to proceed noticing that the next precession was slow in approaching. A deluge of rain came pouring down. As predicted there would be 50 percent of rain throughout the day. Rain d'oh stop the fete but it does cause fret from any photographers that’s out shooting the event.
Luckily we had our rain gear including plastic camera bags to protect our cameras. But the issue was shooting as it rained. The rain fell hard and steady with wind which made adjusting our settings very difficult to get our job done.
Regardless of the rain nothing stops the fete. Our players didn’t mind the rainfall one bit. I saw people carrying on as if the rain was icing on a cake or the glaze on a donut. Rain added to the fun. The amount of rain made puddles and streams of water everywhere. But they threaded through. Didn’t mind the wet feathers. Never mind the cost of these fantastic front line costumes. They pranced on.
Finally the rain passed. The fete moved on. The rain ceased but the drinks kept pouring. One of the most amazing thing about our Caribbean People, fire water and a jump up is all we need to be content at carnival. Fun was the main priority as well and getting to the stage. Unfortunately for Richlin and I we were spent at this point in the day. We headed back to home base and vegged in the car for a little bit getting our equipment dry and collecting ourselves. We ran into Sam and Guenet Roberts, the organizers of Orlando’s Carnival and editors of Caribbean American Passport Magazine (www.caribbeanamericanpassport.com) and GGR Marketing and PR. Another thing about Caribbean people, we take care of our own. The first thing that came out of Guenet’s mouth was “You’ll ate?”. They take care of us.
Though in my tired state I ran back out to get some shots at the stage. Hobbling across the field I managed to perch myself along the side of the stage facing the Judges. In June I when to the SFCBLA to shoot the Mas Band launch. SFCBLA exists to promote and develop the diverse cultural art forms of Caribbean Carnival and Masque Sfcbla.org. Almost all of the bands were there. I got a glimpse of some phenomenal creations. I wanted to follow through with catching all of the bands to match my shoot photographs. With the rain delay the Carnival was running late. My favorites are always Ti Chapo, GenX, K-Paya …Oh hell! They are all my favorites. I saw the tail end of K-Paya as I walked. I snapped a few shoots but then realized it was time for the concert. We needed some shots of the performers. But that was it. Doing Jouvert on Saturday and then today? I caved in so we left early. As I suggested this Richlin looked at me like as if I was going mad. Never before had we done that. Rounding 9pm we were both spent by now. We came out at about 9am. Age has its dilemma. I was too gone to recoup. It was quite a long day. We missed stellar performances. But at least we got shots of the next U.S. Senator representing the state of Florida, Val Demings, and got some shots of some great costumes in our effort to document this years incredible Carnival.
Photo credits: Team Ryan at Art of Carnival for putting up with the rough weather.