2013 Blueberry Festival Plymouth Indiana Parade

The parade was started off with a 5k/10k run.

Labor day weekend is great when going to the Marshall county annual Blueberry festival. The 2013 Blueberry festival was capped off with the annual Labor day parade on the morning of Labor day September 2 2013.

The official Blueberry festival mascot.

The parade was started off with a 5k/10k run with different runners from kids to adults. The most amazing runners were the firemen with full gear going through it all the way. After the runners trickled down a bit the parade started.

One of the motorcycle guys in the parade.

The parade was started with police cars and cruisers with all their lights and sirens on. Followed by marching bands all over Indiana. A lot of good stuff marching by one after the other.

One of the few bands that played.

On parades like these, I like to use my trusty Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS USM. Paired with the awesome Canon 6D, this setup is more than what I need. I never did intend to bring out a secondary body with a shorter lens in it.

A kid and his Mustang.

The 70-200's f/2.8 maximum aperture allows me to focus on a single subject in my viewfinder and isolate it from the background. This time I shot between f/2.8 and f/3.2...very wide apertures but the best for blurring out the background for isolation. I then set my shooting mode to aperture priority so I can shoot according to the aperture that I want. It was pretty sunny and my ISO was set at ISO 100.

One of the weird cars in the parade.

Shooting in very wide apertures such as f/2.8, it requires speed as the most subtle movement from your subject will throw your focus away. The technique is to shoot right away as soon as your focus locks. Wait for half a second or more and your focus is off...you have to be fast.

Triton High School band.

There were a lot of high school bands that were in the parade. All of them were pretty good. Playing covers of classic marching band tunes as well as more modern pop songs.

John Glenn High School.

The parade wouldn't be complete without cars. There were a lot of them. From the classic Model T up to the most modern Ford Mustang. It's like having a parade and a motor show at once.

Cars, cars, and more cars.

There were also a lot of animals. People in horses, and people with dogs from a dog obedience school were among the people in the parade. The people with dogs representing an obedience school even demonstrated the tricks that their dogs learned from the school. Pretty neat stuff.

Another classic car.

Another fun car in the parade.

Argos Maching Dragons.

Comedians in a classic car.

A girl and her horse.

Yogi bear in a float.

Hot rod in the parade.

Great Balancing act.

Another classic car.

Darth Vader walking around.

The bounty hunter.

More troopers.

And then there was the costume guys which in my opinion were the coolest in the parade. Leading them was Darth Vader walking with storm troopers and his other minions. It was a pretty cool moment!

Female version of Kerokerokeroppi?

That dog is well trained.

More costumes.

Beauty queens all in one float.

Labor day is great watching a parade like this. For some interesting people and animals to photograph I would recommend going to the next Marshall County Blueberry festival parade next year!