The Colours of Holi One in Southampton

On Saturday I got to photograph something rather new to me...  Holi One - a colour festival.   Don't know what a colour festival is?  Well, look at the pictures below to give you a better idea.  Essentially people throw flour like consistency coloured powered at each other.

This is apparently supposed to be fun, and actually it really was.  Not only that it created some fun photo opportunities.  The only trouble was how to keep this ultra fine powder away from the inner workings of my camera on what was a rather windy day in Mayflower Park.

Other photographers used plastic bags, I even saw one using clingfilm.  Some didn't bother with anything, and their cameras were covered in the colour dust.  Without a full service clean it's hard to see how they got their cameras clean.

I ended up using a rucsac dry bag, which is a kite like material, supposedly waterproof, although that wasn't important here.  I cut a small circular lens hood size hole into it, which was they attached to the lens hood using gaffer tape.  This meant that the pointy end of the camera / lens was protected.  I could just blow off any dust that got into the lens.

I used a longish lens (70-200mm equivalent) to keep myself a reasonably safe distance away from the worst of the hourly "colour throws".  Once home I was able to brush off the dust that did get on my camera with a paintbrush.  No apparent harm was done to the camera or lens.

The music, although not really my cup of tea was mostly quite good, although the annoying DJ who kept saying "What is it?" like a stuck record really got rather boring.   The Indian drummers and dancers were my favourite though.

Given the relatively small area within the park the festival occupied, not letting people out and back in again seemed like a weird decision from the organisers.  I'm sure they had a good reason for it though?

Overall, much fun.  Thanks to Helen, Laura & Georgina for their company through the day.  I'd go again!