On Carna Manila 2010

I ditched a Mishka Adams gig last Saturday for this, and that gig was in Eastwood City, hence it was the easy option. However, I was in the mood at that time to party. Wait, correction: to witness and cover a party.

Cynthia Royo, from Escola de Samba de Manila, in what’s probably my favorite photo of that night.

Carna Manila 2010 started with me trying to warm up to the event: set at the Rockwell Tent, with more than a hundred people, the type who’d spend weekends out (read: not the crowd I belong to), were there. To fit in, and maybe because I was at the event with RF dude Wam, I had a plastic cup of red wine in one hand, and my camera on the other.

Oh yes that is news: my perpetual NO answer to a shot of this, a bottle of that, will now be on a conditional basis. Wine is fine, but don’t expect me to gobble it up like water.

The tent’s lighting was generally awful for a decent coverage, but it can offer interesting scenes:

I started shooting when the dancers from Escola de Samba de Manila did their thing. I almost ignored the other bands/performers and decided to settle covering their performances throughout the night:

The exceptions being Nyko Maca + Playground, a fusion ensemble I first heard that night, but have always wanted to see:

And of course, the expected superstars of the night, Brigada:

Like most events I cover, I single out favorites though, and that night, it was Farida Laura:

I didn’t know who she was, but you can’t miss her. Her group were awesome dancers, and she’s almost always front-and-center. When they didn’t perform, you’d still see her dancing backstage. I even saw her sing backup for one of the bands. Blame it on my cosplay-shooting proficiency, but it can’t be too hard to ask for a photo of hers, right?

And, along with Cynthia (first photo on this post), after a few shots of them, I was offered email addresses, which were duly noted. That’s when I did some quick online research, and, I wasn’t at all surprised to see videos, and write-ups on her samba dance work.

Here I was thinking taking pictures of dancing can’t be my thing at all. Oh alright, looking that amazing helps, too.