Yesterday saw the confluence of two annual Venice Beach events, the Venice Beach Mardi Gras and the L.A. Urban Iditarod. With so much activity planned, we had to go check it out. I didn’t get much of an opportunity to photograph the Iditarod, a race started in Portland – where else? – that usually coincides with the actual Iditarod, and involves teams of racers (dogs) dressed in crazy outfits, pushing shopping carts (sleds) decorated to tie in with their theme. We caught glimpse of a team dressed as Cuban Revolutionaries and ancient Egyptians when we got there, but only caught the tail end of the race. The two guys pictured above were not detained for not having a clearly recognizable theme, but because the police decided to try to crack down on the event by questioning the participants on how exactly they obtained their sled-carts, which were most likely “borrowed” from a nearby shopping center. Which, I suppose, is better than taking it from a homeless man. We didn’t stick around long enough to see what became of these two, as the Mardi Gras parade was fast approaching from the other direction. “Another one!?” a police officer was heard to say, as a colorful crew of revelers marched south along the boardwalk. They must not have been informed. What I guess to be about 50 participants took part in the parade, all wearing some sort of costume, from simple masks to clown costumes and even a “bedazzled” cod piece, and some playing trombones, tamborines and bass drums. I marched alongside the parade taking photos as it made its way through crowds of camera-toting tourists and other Boardwalk regulars. At some point a band of Hare Krishnas also made their way through the crowd. It was quite an active afternoon and was the first day in awhile that felt like summer was on its way. This time, I decided to stray from my usual “no flash” policy for street photography in favor of stopping down my camera to underexpose the background and blasting the scene with a direct, on-camera flash, which helped to pop the colors quite a bit. I like the results in this situation. After staying in step for a few blocks I decided I’d had enough. I found Erinn, and we ducked into a side street to walk for a while away from the chaos.
