The Participating Spectators

After 24 years of being the subject of photos, this year I shot back. They are simple enough that I was able to manipulate Igo's left hand with my left hand and capture crowd reactions with a kodak Max camera in my right. They're cheap enough that I felt OK in handing them to strangers to get pix of me in action. I'm fairly happy with the quality of the pictures. They did need a lot of Photoshop work to bring them up to snuff, but their ease of use makes spontaneous pictures more likely to happen.

Most of the big puppets in the parade are not meant for close encounters. But that's what I enjoy the most.

This is why I've come back for so many years.

Kids like to shake hands with Igo, some (not these girls) don't like to let go.

It's always great when you get a cop to smile. So many of them put on a stone-face.

This guy wasn't sure if he wanted to shake Igo's hands. I don't think his companion was really sleeping.