When I was a much younger photographer I would attend all of the parades and festivals  that are so much a part of New York City; parades, street fairs, rallies, cultural gatherings and demonstrations. As I got older I paired this activity down to spectacles that I could relate to or were worth photographing because it said something about my world view; The Puerto Rican Day Parade, Three Kings Day Parade, The Blessing of the Animals.  It seems the more I photographed the more the very act of photographing became imbued with meaning and laden with issues. Just like approaching the speed of light where the closer you get to the speed the harder it is to continue, the more I photographed the harder it was to continue photographing care free.

Yesterday was the annual Chinese Lunar New Year parade. It is The Year Of The Pig. As I headed down I kept getting this nagging feeling that I shouldn’t take any pictures. There were hundreds of people with cameras, a lot of them caucasian. So the question was, aside from getting a neat, exotic picture of the dancing dragons and celebrations, why should I (me, myself) make a photograph? I have no connection to it personally. I have nothing of significance to say about it. And so unlike at other times where I just went ahead and photographed because I was already there, I put my camera away and watched. Then I went home unburdened with exploitive images of the other. I wasted no time reviewing them on my computer or backing them up or editing. I went home and had a  nice brunch with my family.