When: Saturday March 27, 2010 at 12-7pm
Where: Krishna Temple, 8628 S Main St., Spanish Fork, Utah
What: COLORS – There will be 50,000 bags of Colors for sell.

They will do the event TWICE this year 12pm and 4pm
The initial start of the throwing will happen about 1 hour into each event so about 1pm and 5pm

What happens? Throwing of colors, dancing, chanting, body surfing, indian cuisine, people watching etc…

FB Event with about 9,000 people going and another 4k maybe going + Another FB Event

FB Event for the PHOTOGRAPHERS going to the event – to discuss stuff

Photography

I will be there from before sunrise until after sunset. I will have about 12 other photographers there helping out. (See bottom or contact me for details)
Anyone is invited to come and take pictures, they love having you there and seeing your pictures.

Last year I wrote a post that dealt more with the philosophy of being smart with your camera. It still applies.

This year while I would go without any protection to the camera… I will also be buying underwater bag so I can get a little more crazy and closer.

Key Suggestions:

Stay away from people that are throwing if you don’t want to be thrown on.
Consider a long telephoto lens to shoot from far.
Consider staying in no throw areas. (If you’re more worried)
Use an internal focus, internal zoom lens… or a prime.
Pro lenses will handle the dust better than cheap lenses.
Use lens filters.
Consider a lens hood.
Don’t change lenses, specially not anywhere near the action.
Don’t change memory cards, specially not anywhere near the action, dust can be even more dangerous than water to a memory card.
This means get a big memory card.
Bag them cameras and lenses up… get some tap and cover any openings.

Wear a jacket and tuck the camera inside when not being used.
Make it known you’re not part of the action and they’ll tend to be nicer.

This festival is meant for the throwing of colors, what do you expect? You’ll probably get stuff thrown at you. If at once you involve yourself you become part of the crowd and you’re probably fair game to everyone. If you’re clean you could either be a target to some or a keep-clean-sign to others that this person isn’t here to be thrown at.

People in the middle of the fray are way into this and expect anything and do anything.
People on the outskirts tend to do a little throwing hear and there but aren’t as hard core as the center.

Watch out for un-savory characters who don’t care that you’re carrying a nice camera. 99% will respect the fact the other 1% don’t care.

My 1st time experience

I took my brand new DSLR and didn’t cover it with bags or anything. I had a jacket which helped. I kept it under the jacket most of the time until all of a sudden i needed to take a pictures and I pulled it out fast took a picture and put it back inside. When I was in an safe spot I didn’t worry as much. More so when going through the crowds.

I even changed lenses and used an external focus and external zoom lens along with a prime 50mm.

Result: I was fine! The camera bag I was carrying was the hardest thing to clean. (Washer in delicate mode was best) The bag got hit hardest because from behind no one knew I was carrying a camera.
I made a lot of eye contact and was always vigilant of people with bags of colors ready to throw. I avoided areas that might be problematic

Safe Zones – and Crazy Zones

There will be areas (on or in the temple) where throwing will not be allowed for those wanting refuge.
The closer to the throng of people the more you should not have problems with claustrophobia and the ability to hold your breath when the initial throwing happens.

Colored corn maze gets inside the camera and you need to take the camera to Kew’s in Provo and for $135 he cleans a large DSLR, meaning he opens it up and cleans out the intire insides.
He’s done a lot over the years after Holi

Photography for the more adventurous or the more paranoid.

Get an underwater casing. They can cost $1500 and up or perhaps get an ewa-marine bag. B&H sells them. for $300-400
They’ll make it a bit harder to navigate your controls but you shouldn’t have any problems taking pictures.

You can even use a point an click made for underwater.
I’ll have an EWA bag for one of my D-SLRs and my G-11 will be in the underwater casing.
Then I’ll probably have another 1 or 2 DSLRs that I’ll prep with bags and tape the night before.

I’m mounting a camera for time lapse pictures right above the stage.

Join JarvieU photographing the event

We will have about 12 photographers shooting the event.
We will have our own safe and clean staging area.
We will have an area for people to come and get portraits done quickly.
We’re syncing our cameras, they’re all getting sorted and edited at once (each photog can use their own pics at home As Well)
We’re printing up 10,000+ business cards with the link to the pictures photos.jarviedigital.com/holi
We’re donating half of the enlargement profits to the krishna temple
We’re using other of the money (if there is any) for future JarvieU events and projects.
We’re contacting newspapers and national media outlets to tell them about the event and offer our pictures for use.
If we can get it done in time we could even do banners they said.
We’re trying to get them all done and online in one day.
We’re experienced on how to edit them well. (But we’ll take as much help as we can that next day)
We’re having a prep our cameras party the night before.

This really isn’t a photo-making event… for me it’s a labor of love.
So if you’re thinking of joining us because you want to make money… sorry think again. You’re free to go on your own and do your own thing.

I do need some help on some of these things.

Let me know what you have to offer.