This was the most visually varied festival program I had seen in five years of attending. The stage acts ranged from traditional to unexpected: a Japanese-style dance with a folding fan and a cherry blossom branch, a synchronised parasol dance in pink and blue, a fan dance in bright fuchsia, and a hula hoop performer in a silver leotard spinning multiple hoops with two golden Buddhas watching from behind.
The hula hoop act was not something I anticipated and turned out to be the most photographically productive twenty minutes of the day. The combination of the modern, athletic performance against the sacred backdrop was startling in a way that made me keep raising the camera. I got many frames and kept a handful.
On the Japanese dance: The dancer in the Japanese-style costume turned away from the audience mid-performance, extending one arm back, the trailing sleeve opening behind her. I have found over years of stage photography that backs-to-the-audience moments are often more interesting than face-forward poses — there is a different kind of energy in the body when a performer is moving away rather than presenting.
On the parasol line: The synchronised parasol dance produces a reliable diagonal composition. Four dancers, each parasol tilted at the same angle, the line receding into the frame — it is almost a geometry exercise. The challenge is being positioned far enough to the side that the diagonal is clear without losing the detail of individual faces.
On the altar details: Before the performances began I spent time photographing the decorations — the floating lotus arrangement in the pond, the stage floral offerings, the ranks of small statues. These quieter images are the ones that read as documentary rather than event photography, and they provide context for everything that comes after.
The festival remains one of the most generously visual events on the Brisbane calendar.
More Buddha Birth Day Festival coverage: Buddha Birth Day Festival 2011 · Buddha Birth Day Festival 2012 · Buddha Birth Day Festival 2013