After having a great time shooting the 2015 Village Halloween Parade, I decided I would definitely return. The past year's awful headlines made me a little nervous to head into the city for a mass gathering of any kind, but like many people, I've decided that I can't live my life in fear. I will confess that I did feel a lot better about the fact NYPD officers were everywhere I looked. Shoutout to New York's Finest for looking out for all of us and for being super cool to everyone from yours truly to drunkies wanting selfies with a Man in Blue.
The most popular costumes seemed to be Harley Quinn from this year's film Suicide Squad, humorous political costumes either attacking or supporting the Democratic and Republican candidates, ghoulish getups, and tributes to the recently departed David Bowie and Prince.
Efforts ranged from going above and beyond, wearing regular civilian clothes with a mask thrown on at the last minute, or not dressing up at all. I can't understand not making any attempt at getting into the spirit of the event, as there were quite a few dogs who even showed up in disguise.
One costume accessory that was common across the board was a smartphone in hand. It seemed every other person in the parade was looking down at their phone texting, or stopping to take a selfie. "Don't they want to be in the parade?" a nearby officer asked, wondering why they weren't engaging with other humans and missing all the fun. In an extreme case of being oblivious to their surroundings, one of the last of the costumed marchers blocked an FDNY truck from turning the corner so she could get the perfect pose!
Thankfully the famous Village Halloween Parade was more than armies of faces glued to their cell phone screens. There was plenty of eye and ear candy, including talented marching bands playing a variety of musical styles and floats full of revelers blasting remixes of Thriller, Queen and Phil Collins as accompanying dancers energized the sidewalk crowds lined up to see what New York's most creative had to offer.
If you'd like to see my whole photo set from the parade, click here.
Highlights below (click photo to see a larger version):
