The 15th Lantern Festival held by the Chinese American Museum was a day of festivities in the museum and spilling out into the plaza and onto the stage of the Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument. I wandered around for the afternoon, taking in some performances, trying out the steamed buns truck (because who doesn’t like some hot steamy buns?), checking out the exhibits at the Chinese American Museum. The crowds were eclectic like the smattering of small museums of the different cultural groups that have settled here over time.
As the sun set I found a perfect place to set myself up stageside for shooting the performances. I placed myself in a small break in the hand railing where the performers ended up placing some of their props. What ended up happening was that I was able to create impromptu portraits of some performers as they were exchanging props or waiting in the open stageside space. Of course, there had to be a photo of the last dragon of the day, all lit up from below by black-lights along the edges of the stage.
Timothy Dahlum 