As previously mentioned, I attended and photographed the annual Doylestown Memorial Day Parade and memorial ceremony. I had a lot of fun as usual and all went well. The reason it went particularly well is that I arrived at the staging area about an hour and a half before the parade started. I’ve touched on doing this before, but I wanted to give it some more focus now.

There are a number of reasons showing up early for this type of thing pays off. First of all, you’re not in a rush as everything starts moving. No jockeying for position with spectators and other photographers. Second, it’s fun just hanging out with the participants. Third, and perhaps most important, is that when hanging out with those you wish to photograph you can take their pictures in a non-hurried fashion, the way you want them to be! Finally, the other thing about getting there early is that when you are ready to head over to where the event will take place … in this case, the parade … you have a pretty good chance of landing a primo location with a clear line of sight from which to photograph the action!

All of the above worked to my advantage and made the event most enjoyable and totally stress free. I haven’t developed my film yet, but I know there are keepers!

I always get to where I’m going early now and the results are worth it!

Try it!

Stay well,

Michael