And so another year passes and it is that time for the various Christmas Parades that take place this time of year. In the last previous years myself and the family have missed out on the main Swansea Christmas Parade, and have attended the smaller parade that takes place in Port Talbot. Well… This year we put an end to that, and braved the chilly weather for this amazing event.
Taking place in the centre of Swansea City, the parade follows a route around the city, and the whole parade takes around an hour or more to pass by. It is that big! Full of marching bands, performers, floats and so much more, it truly is a sight to behold. There were tens of thousands of people lining the route, and the atmosphere was out of this World! Also of course, it was a great time to use the camera (there is always an ulterior motive!).
For the night I decided to take my Nikon Z6ii along with the Nikkor Z50mm F/1.4. I was tempted to take the Z35mm F/1.4, but I was not sure how close we would get to front of the crowds, so I went with the 50mm, and I am happy that I did. It is such a nice lens, and the focal length is growing on me. It was also handy, because we made our way through the Christmas markets, and it allowed me to grab moments I might have missed with the 35mm.
All EXIF data is available in the images. Please click on them to see them full screen. All images are straight from camera.
To say I am impressed with the images is an understatement. I am really happy with the performance of the lens and the camera in low light. The majority of the images were shot at F/1.4 and F/2, although the final image was shot at F/5.6. For the most part, it was extremely dark (as can be seen in some of the images where they have used lights to light themselves up).
The camera was set to Aperture priority, with the EV set to -0.3 to protect the highlights. Minimum shutter speed was set to 1/320 as I do for all events, especially where things move at predictable speeds. Autofocus was finding eyes easily enough, although I also took control with the tracking when I wanted a particular subject.
I know F/1.4 lenses are all about the light gathering capabilities, but the look the lens gives is just so nice. The bokeh is beautiful, and the subject separation really works well for the photographs that I like taking.
I hope you enjoyed these few images, I actually took over 350 of them. A selection of 71 images can be found on my Facebook Photography Page, and I would be happy if you visited it and liked the post (oh! And subscribe!).
If you liked this post, then check this one out! You’ll love it!
One Camera One Lens Photography 
Beautiful shots and great colours as well. At first I was surprised – I expected something different, more along the line of astrophotography, but it turned out to be a very nice series. We don’t have anything quite like that here in Belgium. Market stalls, yes, but no parade.
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We would need clear skies for astrophotography! 😂😭😂 You know what our weather is like, it was even raining here on and off.
Astro is something I have dipped into, but I get disheartened when I see others work who have those tripods that follow the stars so they can take thousands of photos and then get those amazing images!
Thank you Marc, you do have wonderful market stalls, I’ve been to Belgium a few times over the Christmas period.
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You’re absolutely right – it’s the same over here. The past weeks the sky has been completely closed almost every night. And on top of that, light pollution makes things even worse. Where I live, the proximity of the big city is basically one giant lightbulb hanging over everything.
The market stalls, yes, we have those too. But parades like that? Not really. We get them for Saint Nicholas and for carnival, but not for Christmas – at least not in the small towns around Antwerp.
And it can be confusing for outsiders: Saint Nicholas on 6 December isn’t something you have in the same way, and it comes before both Santa Claus and Christmas. In our version, he “arrives from Spain” and brings toys for the children – and then a few weeks later the Christmas holidays start and Santa shows up as well. So kids here get presents twice in a short time. A very expensive tradition every year ! 🙂 Take care !
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