What: Dinagyang Festival 2012
Where: Iloilo City, Philippines
When: January 20-22, 2012

Ladies and Gents, Welcome to a religious and entertaining cultural festival in Iloilo City held every 4th Sunday of January, in honor of our patron Santo Niño; The most prestige, energetic, loud, and eye-catching Dinagyang Festival!

And since it’s my first time to witness and be part of this huge event, I just wanna share you folks my shooting experience that you might find helpful and interesting (specially for those who are planning to take photos in this event next time).

#1 – The golden rule and the secret for having good pictures…
– None other than having an ID/ Photographer Pass. And that folks is absolutely a must! Why? coz good gears aren’t that good without having an ID; And I’m quite sure you don’t wanna find yourself pity, rejected by the Marshals, sneaking for a good shooting spot.

#2 – So now you have the ID, what’s next?
– Prepare the right tools for catching a good fish! Ask yourself, what are the kind of shots you want to achieve. If your answer is ALL, then bring your Ultra-Wide Angle, your General-Purpose Lens and a Telephoto. In  my case, I only used a Telephoto since I’m only aiming for capturing moments and expressions.

#3 – Plant yourself on a perfect spot.
– Since your not the only one photographing this event, It is important to have a good spot.  My opinion? Front row-center. Be here as early as you can coz I’m gonna tell you once again, your not the only one who would like to be in this position.

#4 – Protect yourself at all times.
– Yeah, yeah, I hear ya! There’s no trouble planting yourself on a perfect spot, but be aware of the sunlight, coz this one will ruin your shooting momentum (just like what we’ve experienced). This is the lesson I’ve learned in this event, and my suggestion is… Bring something to cover you up when the sun strikes your spot. A hat, scarf, long sleeves, etc..

#5 – Water/ Thirst Quencher.
– If your planning to plant yourself in one spot, then water is a must.

So that’s it folks, I hope what I’ve shared to you can be something useful. Moving forward, here are some of the photos taken during their performance at the Freedom Grandstand. Hope you’ll like this one. Check this out!

ATI TRIBE No.1
Tribu PAGHIDAET

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ATI TRIBE No.2
Tribu BUNTATALAN-ON

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ATI TRIBE No.3
Tribu SALOGNON

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ATI TRIBE No.4
Tribu LUNOK

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ATI TRIBE No.5
Tribu MILAGROSA

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You can also view the complete set of photos here:

Dinagyang Festival 2012 Photos on Facebook

Dinagyang Festival 2012 Photos on Flickr

– The End

Thanks for dropping by to my Dinagyang Festival 2012 Photo Gallery! By the way, if you like this post, you can drop some comments or just rating it by simply clicking those stars above, and gimme a hell yeah! \m/

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Gears Used:
Canon EOS 50D
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM Lens

OST
Track: More Human Than Human
Artist: White Zombie
Album: Astro-Creep: 2000