This is the last post in a series about the Hakka Yimin festival, an event which takes place every year to honor ancestors who fought in a military struggle against certain rebel factions in Taiwan. It is celebrated by the Taiwanese Hakka community and coincides with Ghost Month. These are from a special performance put on in Jhubei and heavily funded – every ticket was free.
The above three photos show a show being put on by firethrowers. While much of it was hard to shoot, I was able to get a relatively nice set of shots on a set shutter speed with a high ISO. Notice how still the man holding the hoop is. I’d be thankful for that if I had to jump through!
The above two shots were taken during separate dances. The dance in the top picture included elaborate and quite crazy costumes and was actually quite hard to capture at 300mm without an f/2.8 lens. The bottom picture was not as hard, as there was less movement.
This aerial silk artist was also posted on this blog the first time I posted shots from this festival. My favorite shot from this series can be found in the first post.
As usual, Taigu (太鼓), or as the Japanese say, Taiko, drummers were a big part of the celebration. I’ve been able to get better photos due to the bad angles I had, but loved the dramatic lighting.
