Starting last year, the local government where I live organizes a yearly carnival to celebrate the independence day but also showcases locals’ art and creativity of its residence. The participants are mostly from neighborhood associations which usually have around 10 to 60 households. This event involves a parade and various attractions that gathers quite a bit of people which also boosts the local economy. This concept might sound a bit foreign to the international community but over here, this is a part of the community to foster a sense of belonging and even promote public campaigns. And since last year, I happened to be the photographer for my residential block. This year, they asked me to do the same.

I thought we didn’t want to participate in the event but I was told at the last minute that we’re participating in the event. Somehow, I was excited because that gives me time to ground myself back from the news of unrest. The event also reminded us that honestly, what happened out there is just a fraction of our lives. In the end, our lives go on and as a community, what matters is to focus on our well-being and where we live.

My community got the last roll call but I didn’t want to skip all the other participants, so I decided to go alone through the streets where the parade will start. Since it’s just a district carnival, I saw a lot of familiar faces who worked as the staff in the parade.

The parade walk isn’t that far, it only stretches about 300 m walk starting from in front of my house to the business district in the area. On my way to the actual stage, I spotted some cars decorated with assorted snacks and vegetables.

The costumes

Their formation of this parade has quite a template. Usually in the front they will display their mascot. These days, they wear intricate costumes with wings and staff. Sometimes, they can represent Indonesian mythical creatures or characters. Then, it will be followed by people in local costumes, a bike parade and eventually a loud and huge soundsystem where there will be people dancing behind it.

The decorated vehicles

When it hit 2 PM, I had to go back to my own place. It was time for me to take pictures for my neighbors who participated in the event. They were also dressed up but not as grand as the previous one that I have shared above. Since we didn’t really know that we eventually would participate, we were underprepared.

Recycled Costumes

But some of the youngsters in our neighborhood managed to create a creative costume from a plastic bag. This is pretty creative and usually the costume can be worn multiple times. As you can see, these are some of the recycled made costumes. I am pretty surprised they hold together and stayed.

Before we started our walk, I took some more pictures of the participants that I found unique. This young kid dressed as Hanoman, a monkey figure from the Indian epic, Ramayana, caught my attention. When he saw my camera pointed at him, he posed. He literally looked like a statue until you notice he has hands and legs haha.

Candid shots

Halfway through the parade, I caught some expressions from my neighbors. I guess they were so tired because some of these tiaras can be quite heavy. But some of them are quite happy about it all and were enjoying the whole parade.

I personally love candid shots. I think it’s pretty natural and their expression isn’t even forced. Sometimes I think it looks good on the camera compared to the ones where they are aware when there's a camera. These moments can’t be replicated again & that’s also why I like it the most more than the ones where they know I was taking pictures of them.

At some point, my neighbor who worked as a staff member also called out my name. She wanted to take pictures with the military officers and some of the other staff. I helped them take some nice pictures and got a free shoutout haha 😂

Before the sunset, I managed to capture this awesome sun picture. It was so huge and round. And the sky got darker though we hadn’t reached the finish. Just about 100 meters from the finish, we decided not to follow through because we got extremely exhausted. I hadn’t had coffee the entire day and I invited my mom to get some coffee and stretch our legs.

My phone showed that I walked 7,668 steps that day, more than I normally walk which is around 200 on average. In the end, not only I was happy but I got reminded that no matter what happens, it’s always best to look into our surroundings first. Sometimes, the world makes a problem seem bigger than it is. It makes us forget to focus on what we can, and sometimes, we can start small, through our neighborhood or our own community.

Just like the thing that people often say, water your own grass so it grows.