So Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday takes place for 2 weeks prior and up to the actual day. There are parades all over New Orleans and the surrounding cities. The actual day is a holiday so Starbucks, Whole Foods etc will be closed. Traffic is a mess. Get to where ever you want to get to really early like 7-8 am otherwise the streets can be closed off. Bring water and food since you’ll be out all day and lots of places are closed.
I shot on 2 days in 2 very different areas of the city. On March 3, 2019 I shot Magazine St and on March 5, 2019 the actual Tuesday of Mardi Gras I shot on Orleans Ave. I parked at Whole Foods, charged, and walked over to Orleans Ave.
Locations will determine experience, food available, float organizations, music, racial demographic, everything really.
People go crazy to get the free stuff being handed out. Beads are the main gift, but frisbees, cups, coconuts (Zulu), stuffed animals, all kinds of stuff. Honestly though it’s just junk that you’ll end up throwing or giving away.
The clean up crew that comes in afterwards is a fine tuned machine. First the water trucks, then human street sweepers, then the tractors, dump trucks, and street sweeping machines. In an hour or so, the street is back to normal. Amazing!
Super wasteful. I read this futurism.com article and 1300 tons of trash end up in the landfill. There’s got to be a better way?? Biodegradable beads is one answer. There is a flatbed truck that comes at the end of these parades so you can throw stuff back you didn’t want and they can save it until next year. Mardi Gras does ad over $5 billion to the LA economy so…
My next Mardi Gras I plan to go to Bourbon Street for the costume contest.
Photo notes: Run and gun. Know your autofocus and exposure settings. Only time to compose. It’s very colorful and fast moving so be ready with an empty SD card and full battery. Several times the camera focused on the wrong subject. FF or APS-C? Whatever camera you know the best. I was using an EOS-R and couldn’t even find the FPS setting after a few minutes of trying. Best to get everything set and use the camera you know the best. Contrast is tough since depending on the sun location the area and people inside the float can be in dark shadow so you may have to photoshop every shot. I did for Orleans Ave.
Canon M Cameras 