The last weekend of June brings the annual St. Louis Pridefest and parade. The parade itself is a candy store for photographers. Everybody's friendly, everybody loves to have their picture taken and everybody's out there. Now, I'm as straight as the shortest distance between two points. I'm walking around bristling with photo equipment and wearing a wedding ring. No problem - it's all warm and fun. If I walk up to someone and say, "Wow, that looks great! Okay if I take your picture?" the subject strikes a pose, then asks for my card. I got enough blog material yesterday to keep me going until we all get sick of it.The person in this photo is, well, some kind of nun. The red name tag reads "Novice Sister Kristi Kreams, Abbess, Gateway Sisters of Indulgence, St. Louis MO." Looks like the good sisters have their convent ranks confused. (Notice how I deftly avoided the use of gender-specific pronouns in this paragraph?)
Photography tip: if you want to shoot a parade, go early wnd walk around the staging area. Plenty of room to compose your shots, everybody is standing still, you get to chat people up and then they all want to be converted into pixels.
TOMORROW: My most obscure Theme Day post so far.
The first thing I spotted was the hair. I am not sure why except it was or is there.
ReplyDeleteI am like you when it comes to pride parades because they bring out the most dramatic styles in fashion I have ever seen. I am an old man at 74 and throughout my lifetime I have seen many things but never anything more interesting than this Kabuki decorated person looking for all the world straight out of a Japanese theatre in which elaborately costumed male performers use stylized movements, dances, and songs in order to enact tragedies and comedies and other things.
It surely required a great deal of work to get ready for the parade.
Oh my goodness. They do seem to have their cultures and eras confused.
ReplyDeleteYep, I was right ! We will no doubt NEVER get tired of seeing these photos. Keep em coming. I might have to come to St. Louis for this next year. Somehow I don't think we have Pridefest parades down here in Birmingham!
ReplyDeleteWow! What a colorful character!
ReplyDeleteyess, portrait superbe et vraiment surprenant ce coté japonais. bravo
ReplyDeleteyess, portrait superb and really surprising that Japanese side. Bravo
Thank you all for your comments. Yes, the subject has a very Japanese theme going with the makeup and parasol. I suggested applying for a job in a production of Madam Butterfly (or M. Butterfly?). Abe, you are exactly right. I think you were in the military in Japan after the war, weren't you? The makeup job could have been done at the Grand Kabuki theater in Tokyo.
ReplyDeleteLove the contrast of hard (leather) and soft (geisha) theme here. Cool photo!
ReplyDeleteI wish I was able to get some close-up photos of the marchers but the crowd on 5th Avenue was too prohibitive. Plus it rained halfway through the parade. :-(
You all can comment all you want about the subject of this photo, but unless you know about the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and their methods of assigning titles, you're just showing your ignorance when you make comments about Kristi being confused. As founder/leader of the St. Louis mission, Kristi is their Abbess, and as leader of a missionary order, not yet fulling professed house, she is a Novice. Go to SPI.org and learn about a subject before you write something.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - thank you for informing us. I certainly did not mean to imply that Kristi is confused, just that those of us with a Catholic background understand novice and abbess to be opposite ends of the scale. I'll check out the web site and learn more.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great close up shot. As you might remember, Knoxville had their Pride festival earlier. The GLBT community is a bit more circumspect 'round here because downtown may be tolerant, but that decreases exponentially once you wander further afield.
ReplyDeleteI have been fascinated with the the Pride Parades around the world featured on mnay sites this year. This is a wonderful portrait. You nailed it.
ReplyDeleteRe anonymous. We try our best to provide accurate info but we are in the main just bloggers trying to show a slice of our town life, not journalist, historians etc. Politely making your point would serve you better.
Ah, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Love them! Great photo.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, why are you are waisting your time in law when you should just write. You are fabulous. Okay, okay, you need to eat. But keep writing.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I'm glad Abe mentioned the Kabuki plays, because that's what that headpiece and the white make-up base really remind me of (and I love the detail of the three tiny ribbons).
And third, I didn't know the Sisters had chapters in other cities! I'm way behind the times. I remember seeing many of the original Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence dressed in habit when I lived in SF in the 80s. It was less camp and more edgy protest at that time.
-Kim
Seattle Daily Photo