By Far, the longest parade I have ever witnessed was the Gay Pride Parade in San Diego, which happened today. 2 hours (TWO HOURS) worth of participants walked, danced, rolled, twirled their way down University, down a mile long stretch, lined with 8-person thick crowds on either side. Some 150 groups were represented I think. The most uplifting were those couples that announced their recent or upcoming wedding.

I arrived early to stake out a good photography spot. I noticed some camera women had parked themselves alongside to a radio station tent, which jutted into the road. This allowed an almost front view of the oncoming parade. I joined them. A group of people including 4 rambunctious kids gathered at my left side. The group spoke little English, but the kids enthusiastically threw their arms around any parader that neared the edge of the road, and scurried into the street to accept handouts like stickers, beach balls, t-shirts, lip balm, mints (all advertising various parade float sponsors). This made it difficult to photograph as they were constantly in the way and jostling me, but for me, that's just a part of the challenge of event photography.

















The other photographers grew extremely annoyed however, and one of them poked a woman standing to the right of me and said: "Can you please tell your children not to get in the way of our cameras?" The woman next to me, like the kid-laden group next to me, looked ethnically South East Asian. She didn't seem to speak any English either, and she sort of shrugged and murmured an apology. The kids continued to block the cameras, and the same camera woman poked the woman to the right of me again: "Your kids are still getting in our way!" The woman looked blank. Camera woman: "Are those your kids?" She shook her head No. Mmph. Just because we look the same?!? I kept my mouth shut however, which I now realize was the fulfillment of an Asian American stereotype.