I thought I'd post a few of my favorite images from a recent summer outing to Toronto Island.

I had not been to a Dragonboat Festival before, so when it happened to coincide with the annual Toronto Cosplay Picnic, I took the chance and got up extra early just to beat the ferry crowds.

The Festival was pleasing from a photographers' point of view. Because the races take place on a channel within the islands, there were plenty of spots to shoot from with a variety of angles. There was a different race every ten minutes, so photo opps abounded. The competition for elbow room wasn't bad either, except at the closest viewing point (below). Fortunately a nice man let me hang out of a tree over the water in front of his position. I got some funny looks, as usual, but w/e. (I should used to that by now.)

On the way there it occurred to me that there must be a boat called "Dragonboat Z", because who could pass that up? ...And there was. So I cheered for them.

I was expecting the event to be mostly Chinese, since Toronto's Chinese community is so massive. Instead it was mostly students: there were dozens of school teams (high schools, colleges and universities) present, in addition to various community and company groups. The whole event was quite good. A few of my favorite shots:

Rivals

Salute

Watchers on the bridge

The Field

Later I joined the Cosplay Picnic in progress and got to hang out with some friends as well as a couple of my favorite photographers and videographers.

Jeel as a Katamari

Outlaw Jeff Bryan & Andrada

Ducky madness

Although annually over-bombed by photographers not familiar with cosplay photography etiquette, the picnic is always a good time. For my money Toronto Island has some of the nicest greenery in the city, with lots of little corners for shoots.

Dr Israel Forge

While editing, I noticed that one quiet theme running through the day was isolation. Since I'm an inherent outsider and always alone in a crowd, I tend to notice when other people are experiencing a sense of isolation as well. Some examples:

The best part of the day was probably leaving. We threw down $10 each to take a water taxi back to the mainland, bypassing a massive line and hour-plus wait. Money well spent.

Water taxi back from Toronto Island: $10. Getting to wave at thousands of people lined up for an hour for the ferry, then bask in their hatred: PRICELESS.

The full set can be found here on flickr.