Hello Steemitverse!
It’s been a while since I posted here, too busy with lot of things lately 😅😅, but I’m trying to manage my #worldsdailyfood photo contest under the 
Anyways, I will be sharing my experience during the Lucena’s Pasayahan Festival 2019 or “Pasayahan sa Lucena” at Lucena City, Quezon - Philippines!
Every months of April and May, festivals are very popular and celebrated in different part of the country here in the Philippines.
Pasyahan Festival or Pasayahan sa Lucena was one of those. It is an annual celebration held between second and third week of May. A less than two weeks of festivity featuring the culture and tradition of Lucena, also known as the Fiesta of the said City.
Like the other festivals, the main event was during the Grand Parade, where you can witness the Sagala, Carnival Queens Presentation, Street Dancing Competition , Float Competition, Hat Competition and the most interesting part for me - the Photography Contest, which the photo entries should be taken only during the Grand Parade with this year’s theme : “Images of Pasayahan sa Lucena Grand Parade”.
The theme is quite simple, but shooting in the hot summer day with El Nino was not an easy task. Aside from that, you need to look for the perfect spot to have a good shot in the midst of crowded people and hundred of photographers competing from each other along the street of the city.
Of course, I joined the contest because it's free and an open competition for everyone wherever you came from, from Pro to Hobbyist like me. The Prizes was also inviting, the 1st Place will get Php 20,000.00; 2nd Place - Php 10,000.00; 3rd Place - Php 5,000.00 and 7 Runner Ups which will receive Php 2,000.00 each. Not bad, right?
I immediately filled up the form and secure my I.D. which will also serve as my ticket to get inside the barricaded route of the parade and main stage of the presentation.
The event started at 1:00 PM, the sun was blazing and I can’t take the heat so I decided to wait the ending of the parade in the main stage at SM Lucena open space ground, for carnival queen’s final walk and presentation of street dancing competition but I’m kinda worried on how can I possibly captured the perfect moment for the contest. 😨
As the waiting game is on, I grabbed a cup of coffee and let the time pass until the parade arrived around at 4:30 PM. I immediately try my luck and positioned my self in the crowd.
Here are some of the photos that I took with my Nikon D90.
Festival Queens from the LGBTQ+ Community.
Lyre Band of different ages.
Street Dancers Contingents.
Street Dancers on their Colorful Hat.
Some of the Floats.
And some more interesting part of the Parade.
And I ended up with these three photos as my official entry for the contest:
Yeah I know, it's only two. Haha! Because the other one was the 1st photo above as the cover, which happened as my winning shot. Yey! I won, as one of the Runner-Ups among the 100 Photographers with 300 photo entries.
Also happened that I am the only Rose among the Thorns, and all of them are Professional Photographers having their own Studios. Ehem! (Sounding too proud. Hahaha!)
1st Place came from Caloocan City, Metro Manila;
2nd Place - San Pablo, Laguna;
3rd Place - Sta. Ana Manila;
Runner-Ups where from Las Pinas City;
Candelaria, Quezon;
Sta. Ana Manila;
Malabon City, Metro Manila;
Tayabas City, Quezon;
San Pablo, Laguna;
And your’s truly - Lucena City, Quezon! 🤗😂
The Final Judging and Awarding Ceremony was held yesterday at Lucena City Complex. Also, the 150 photos passed in the first screening are found at the exhibit inside the complex.
But I was so dumb, I left the event early because I thought I’m not going to win. There are so many beautiful and intimidating entries, and the Judges headed by the Multi-awarded photographer, The Master Travel Photographer - George Tapan just passed by in my photos thrice without putting any mark of recognition.
Later in the afternoon, there was a notification from the Pasayahan sa Lucena Facebook Page, announcing all the winners from the photo contest... and I found my “Pride”.
Sorry about the flooded photos, haha! More will be posted in my next blog.
Thank you for dropping by. 🤗❤️
