Bloom

Image

This was an “organized” throw—the crowd is given a countdown and encouraged to throw colors in the air at the end of the countdown. I’ve got some shots from within the crowd during a throw, but my favorite ones are the ones like this one, taken from a distance. This crowd from Sunday is markedly smaller than the Saturday crowd, but it was still an amazing thing to see.

Daily affirmation: Create beauty; in outward expression, in response, in artistic endeavor and in relationships.

Note: This was taken at the 2012 Holi Festival of Colors in Spanish Fork, Utah. Many thanks to Scott Jarvie for organizing the epic weekend. Here’s his Day 1 recap post.

  • http://twitter.com/Top45at45 Theresa Boisseau

    I really like your daily affirmation today…

  • cthomson

    Awesome shot! 

  • americanrecluse

    This photo just about stopped my heart. Seriously, I saw it and thought ‘my god, my god how lovely.’ And it is.
     

  • Becky Cochrane

    That is freaking gorgeous. All your shots from the weekend are.

  • http://profiles.google.com/kymmi.tuttle kymmi tuttle

    Love this, a bit Dr. Suess-ian.

    Beauty, indeed.

  • http://blurbomat.com/ blurb

    Thanks for the kind words! You should really look at Jarvie’s shots. They are phenomenal.

  • http://thomashawk.com/ Thomas Hawk

    Nice meeting you and hanging out in Utah Jon.  Great version of this and glad you decided to put your camera through the torture after all.  :)

    • http://blurbomat.com/ blurb

      Thanks for stopping by and thanks for the compliment. It was great meeting you as well and your bravery with a brand new camera was definitely an inspiration for me to unclench and go for it. Can’t wait to see more of your shots from the weekend!

  • becto

    This is unbelievable. Just beautiful. 

  • Debbie Ferreira

    gorgeous shot. joy, celebration and beauty captured in a millisecond.

  • Lilly O’Handley

    The ONLY thing better than what my mind immediately conjured up is the imposition that each color carries its own scent. And yes, I secretly admit, the pink one is patchouli. There I said it. It’s “out there.”  ;oD  And you are right, Jarvie’s shots are great…both of you captured how much you REALLY wanted to be there! #TryingNotToBeJealous

  • http://twitter.com/PyjamasandTea Daphne Gilbert

    That is a truly SPECTACULAR shot.   Just gorgeous.  

  • http://twitter.com/dangermonkey Justine

    This is just beautiful! 

  • http://twitter.com/digression digression

    Absolutely gorgeous image!

    I just had to look at it up-close and discovered that some of your right-side ads are interfering with the larger version of your images. It looks to be the double-height ads -  Scion and Hotmail are the two I noticed. When looking at larger images, the ads are laying overtop of the image — sort of defeating the purpose of enlarging the image. 

    • http://blurbomat.com/ blurb

      Flash bug. I’ll see if I can’t fix the CSS. Thanks for the heads up.

      • Amanda Turner

         I too am seeing the ad over the enlarged picture.

  • emleigh

    LOVE this picture! If you are selling I want a copy of this please!!! 

  • http://www.ryanwaddell.com Ryan Waddell

    This is *awesome*. I love that there doesn’t appear to be one person in the whole crowd doing the same colour as the person next to them.

  • Yixo

    Enjoying the change from shots of trees and lamp posts to humans!

  • Lotus Carroll

    I love it! :)

    • http://blurbomat.com/ blurb

      Thanks!

  • Amanda Brumfield

    So Beautiful!

  • http://twitter.com/bassovita bassovita

    Brilliant shot! The grey sky above the burst of colour (that looks so soft — like bursts of cotton candy) is amazing.

  • Suzanne Curtis

    First time commenting.  Really, really love this!  Want.

  • Wolf Pascoe

    Jon, these are wonderful. Now I have to join Pinterest just so I can pin this shot. 

  • ShesSleepingSoundly

    An amazing photo.  It’s beautiful.  
    Question.  When you were in the crowd taking pictures, how did you protect your camera and lens from the flying colors?  Just curious…

    • http://blurbomat.com/ blurb

      Thanks! Gaffer tape over every opening except the viewfinder. A one gallon zippered plastic bag. I turned off previews and only checked the LCD when I was out of the crowd and haze. Jarvie hooked up a truck where we could use compressed air to clean lenses, change lenses and swap memory cards. He had a great technique of sealing where the lens attached to the camera. I copied that technique involving cling wrap and gaffer tape. I was amazed at how well it worked. A couple of the photographers were shooting with brand new cameras! A couple of Canon 5D Mark IIIs and I think a couple of Nikon D800s. They all swear that the cameras got clean. Most of the seasoned vets used rain covers/rain sleeve. I will use one of those next time I shoot something like this.
       
      I chose one lens (70–200), put the hood on it and taped everything (set the focus to auto and image stabilization to on) except the zoom ring. I chose that lens because the lens doesn’t move in and out across the focal range. It happens inside the lens. It was great to shoot this way and this was a great opportunity to shoot people with a massive lens with relatively few cases of camera avoidance.Note to self: I should have had about 18 more memory cards.

      • americanrecluse

         I was just reading through comments to see if you were using an underwater housing, or what. Gaff tape and plastic wrap! Brilliant!

  • http://splendorinthelemongrass.com/ Susan

    Jon, this photo is captivating! I can’t stop staring!

    Great work.

  • Tabatha Yeatts

    Wow!