Cuba Dupa

Cuba Dupa is an annual street carnival held in Wellington, New Zealand that attracts performers and street artists from all genres from around the North and South Islands. Over the three-day event, the Cuba Street precinct, adjoining roads, and cul-de-sacs are closed to traffic and opened to the public to roam freely to witness a wealth of performing arts and music.

As a photographer, it provides a treasure trove of opportunities to shoot a wide variety of subjects and performances spanning
endless conditions. But as a musical performer, I rarely tend to have the opportunity to roam the streets with cameras in hand looking for interesting characters and random photographic situations.

This year I hit the streets with my trusty 1DXii with the Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2, and my 5Dsr with the Canon 200mm f/1.8 telephoto lens.

I love carrying this combo in the street….albeit on the heavy side. The 1DXii with the 24-70mm gives me versatility and speed, while the 5Dsr with the 200mm f/1.8 is a glorious combination for high mega pixel portraiture which I just love shooting with even though it does tend to draw a lot of attention.

It was a productive carnival weekend for photography with a final assignment to shoot Wellington Batucada’s street performance which closed the Carnival. A photo montage of the event can be found here on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV2MqPNo860