Navigating harsh midday light at Atlanta's St. Patrick's Day Parade

Atlanta is home to one of the country's oldest St. Patrick's Day parades, and the city was eager to kick off its festival season with the 2026 edition of the annual Irish celebration in Midtown.

It was as perfect a Saturday morning as you can hope for in mid-March: comfortable with tinges of heat building as the sun beat down.

I arrived with plenty of time to get a lay of the land and warm up to both the idea of being perceived in public and creatively (though not early enough to get a good vantage point on the preceding 5K). Luckily, there was plenty to keep me busy from my perch across the street from Colony Square as parade participants streamed into the staging area a block past me and the streets were lined with spectators of all ages.

I feel like most of my photo sets end up following one of two patterns just by virtue of the way I shoot: either I follow a parade or a set path from point A to point B or I stay largely stationery as a procession moves past my location. It's a pattern that I've been struggling to break over the last couple of months that I think has left me blocked in some senses to finding moments of spontaneity.

Varying the types of shots I'm getting has helped me come to an edit with more options for how I want to tell the story of the day on an Instagram carousel or in a photo book.

Harsh midday light is generally thought of as some of the worst lighting conditions to shoot in, but I've learned to enjoy the punchiness and urgency that it gives photos. Not that there aren't sparks in other lighting conditions, but my camera comes alive when the sun beats down. To my eye, it gives the illusion that I'm using an on-camera flash in some instances that's a really fun effect.

One struggle that I did come across with one group in particular were hat shadows covering eyes making the participants seem like empty voids wearing clothes in some shots. Bringing up the shadows was able to salvage a couple of the frames but it was definitely tough going.

I spent a lot of time shooting at a telephoto range from behind the lined up spectators which set up some interesting moments where you can see a spectator directly interacting with the parade procession.

I was surprised by how diverse the participants were: I'm sure you could expect the marching bands and the kilts, but there were also touches of Asia and Latin America which were a pleasant surprise. The parade's organizers make a point of celebrating Atlanta's diversity on a day where "everyone is Irish."