Serbianfest...

[rpcrowe]

Rounding out my ethnic weekend, I visited the local Serbian Orthodox Church that holds a Serbianfest every year. I was disappointed to find no-one wearing ethnic garb. I was impressed, however, with this young lady's beautiful smile. She was selling food and drink tickets under a white canopy which provided nice filtered light.

Sony A7iii with Sony 85mm f/1.8 lens wide open



Now, I am anxiously waiting to attend the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration in Old Town, San Diego on Saturday, November Second...

[Manfred M]

She certainly gave you a great smile! There seems to be a nice reflection of you in her glasses. Too bad about the lack of ethnic costumes, that is something I always enjoy about these festivals.

I'm also just a touch jealous. Visiting the Day of the Dead festivities has been on my "to do" list for a very long time.

[rpcrowe]

I only had time for one shot because when I asked if I could shoot her picture, she said "no" at first then broke out with that smile and said O.K.

I attempted to clone out my reflection but wasn't very successful and decided that it was better to leave it in. If she had not been reluctant at first to let me photograph her, I would have asked her to remove the glasses. However, I was lucky to get what I got!

I try to visit a Dia de los Muertos celebration every year. I was invited to one in Manila, Philippines, many-many years ago and spent the evening in a graveyard where the people brought food to the grave sites and celebrated their loved ones who had passed away. It was absolutely wonderful! I'd love to do this again with a digital camera that has virtually unlimited (as opposed to film in the 1970's) ISO...

There are still celebrations in local graveyards but, most of the celebration is done away from the cemeteries such as in Old Town San Diego... For safety reasons, I tend to stay away from the areas in which the graveyards are located...

This is a shot I did at the Old Town San Diego celebration a year or so ago...

[Shadowman]

Nice portrait.

[pschlute]

Very fine portrait. Spot on.

[rpcrowe]

I learned that I missed the activities in ethnic dress. I visited the Serbfest (It is "Serbfest", not "Serbianfest") on Sunday afternoon. Apparently most of the activities involving ethnic costumes occurred on Saturday (when I was involved with shooting the Oktoberfest).

I really enjoy photographing ethnic events and I am very fortunate to be living in an ethnically diverse area that hosts many events of different ethnic groups... One event that I seem to miss every year is the New Years celebrations of the various Highland Vietnamese tribes such as the H'Mong. It usually takes place in mid-December and usually catches me by surprise because Vietnamese Tet Celebrations occur in February or so - during their Lunar New Year.

Here are some examples of local ethnic celebrations:

Italian


Mexican


Korean


Filipino


Pacific Islanders


German


And of course, there are Irish, Scottish. Polish, Portuguese and many-many other celebrations...

There is no one website that references all of the San Diego (and local areas) ethnic festivals so, I have decided to make up my own. I am basing it on this source https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com...y01-story.html and adding information from many other sources. It will be a living list which should prevent me from missing any festival in which I have a photographic interest...

It seems like I could attend a cultural/ethnic festival virtually every week of the year within a relatively short drive... Actually, every other week is more like it. So far, I have listed 24 individual cultural festivals and if I were willing to increase my radius, there would be a lot more. I am trying to find a local Brazilian Madi Gras celebration as well as a Dinali celebration.

It appears that the largest Madi Gras celebration takes place about 90-miles away and there is a wonderful Hindu Temple Complex about 60-miles from my home which should have a Dinali event...

[rpcrowe]

I will be able to attend two El Dia de Los Muertos celebrations this month. One in Old Town San Diego, which I attend just about every year https://www.sandiego.org/explore/eve...s-muertos.aspx

And a second celebration, on Sunday October 27th, at Mission San Luis Rey (actually the correct name is Mission San Luis Rey de Francia - "St. Francis King of France"). https://sanluisreyparish.org/events/...dead-festival/

San Luis Rey is the second in a chain of Spanish Missions beginning in San Diego and stretching up to San Francisco. Each of these missions is approximately a day's travel apart. https://www.google.com/search?q=Cali...K_wu9EM:&vet=1