Adventure

Gay Pride (Toronto)
Toronto Gay Pride - Grand Marshall

Toronto ’s Pride Week Festival wrapped up with its fabulous UNSTOPPABLE parade on Sunday, June 24th. With a Community Fair and Marketplace, concerts, information booths, parties and cultural celebrations, Pride Week 2007 proved to be an amazing experience, whether gay or not!

There are a lot of stories and rumors about Toronto ’s Gay Pride parade.  To be honest, I’d have to bet that 90% of them are probably true.  Despite being a TGP parade virgin, I consider myself to be someone with a very active imagination and felt that I had a pretty good idea of what to expect.
That being said, the parade surpassed the products of my wildest imaginations. 

The first thing you’ll come to realize when you arrive to see the parade is that you probably should have come even earlier to stake your place.  An hour before the parade, I couldn’t believe the hoards of people that had already assumed their position along the Yonge street section of the parade route when we arrived.  It’s then that you realize how big this event really is—no matter how old you are.  We had an extremely pushy set of seniors to our left who insisted on using us as leaning posts in order to get the best possible photos as the parade passed by.  There were two young teens in front of us, reaping the benefits of their prime, up-against-the-fence position by collecting bead necklaces, condoms and other freebies that paraders were handing out to spectators.
Toronto Gay Pride - Naked Guys Toronto Gay Pride Couple
If Nudity offends you then Pride isn't for you. I did find it interesting though how they seemed to keep some of the more racy things away from the cops who were marching in the parade! (Believe me there were TONS of pictures that didn't make our G web site rating)

The second thing you’ll come to enjoy about the parade is the sense of togetherness and well-being. This parade is truly about lovingly embracing our community and its wonderful diversity.  Looking around, I wasn’t able to find a cranky face in the crowd.  People wanted to be there, they wanted to see the glorious costumes, but most of all, they wanted to send the message that they support all creeds and lifestyles.

The third thing you come to experience as a parade spectator is the dripping T-shirt syndrome.  Yes, if you plan to attend the parade next year, be prepared to get WET.  Be it from a hose, a float dancer’s water bottle, or more commonly, a super-powerful water gun, if you attend the parade, you will not escape the free flowing H20! 

The fourth thing that will amaze you are the elaborate costumes and amazing dancers.  From leather g-strings to see-through plastics, from sequins to PVC, from beads to nudity, you’ll see it all (literally ALL…if you know what I’m sayin’ ;) ) 
Toronto Gay Pride - Horse Guy1 Toronto Gay Pride - Horse Guy2
This horse guy had to be my favorite part of the parade!

The last thing you’d expect to see but will, is the mayor of Toronto and other official folk lending their support to Pride Toronto.  Yes, David Miller himself was hugging spectators and practically jogging along the parade route.  Many floats represented other politicians, union-based groups (such as the Teacher’s Union ) and education-affiliated organizations (the Toronto District School Board, for example).

Overall, gay or not, the parade is a celebration of life in Toronto and beyond.  The parade attracts thousands of visitors from around the world each year.   The Gay Pride Parade should be on every Torontonian’s (or GTA-er’s) list of things to do… at least once!
Toronto Gay Pride - Toronto Mayor David Miller
Toronto's Illustrious Mayor David Miller. I would never have noticed him if Nancy hadn't pointed him out...
One of the things you might want to be careful of in Toronto (Especially during Pride), is that some of the super sexy 'Women' might actually be guys. (Either way, the person in the top right of this picture is pretty good looking!)
One of my favorite aspects about the whole pride parade is the total spirit of acceptance.. Whether you are a cross dresser of Spanish descent, or just a guy who wants to dress up as a gay bug, everyone is welcome!
For more information:

Official Pride week website:
http://www.pridetoronto.com/
Gay Pride '08
Nancy was sick as a dog this weekend, so I ended up going down alone (She just wanted to be left alone to sleeep!).

First of all, what an amazing day to shoot! It was overcast for a good chunk of the day, so you didn't get a lot of those super harsh shadows under the eyes that usually show up on bright sunny days.

My biggest tip for photography would be to work your way up to the very start of the parade. There is a point where you can watch the beginning of the parade, but there are no fences. You can actually get into the parade itself and take as many pictures as you want.

My second photography tip of the year is to find someone with a water gun and stand directly behind them. As they shoot people in the parade, you get some amazing reaction shots. MAKE SURE you are constantly ready to turn around and hide your camera from the retaliation though!

Not sure if it's just me who has been missing this, but don't forget to walk up and down Church street. It's blocked off as well, and has a bunch of vendors selling a variety of different things. Even if you don't buy anything, the people watching experience is worth it!
Always be ready to hide your camera at a seconds notice!
Here is one of the girls from Naked News reporting from Queen street
OK, I know this might seem to be a dichotomy, but the pride parade is also a family event. You see lots of kids and families in and watching the parade.
What ever you are into, there is probably a club for it that marches in the parade.
Keep an eye out for all the body modifications. They have some really neat stuff out there!
Gay Pride '09
The day of the parade started out really crappy. It was raining very heavily, and I wondered how many people might decide to skip the parade this year. I once heard a photographer say that if you show up to a shoot and it's crappy you probably won't get many good shots, but if you stay at home, you definately won't... so we decided to brave the elements, and head out anyways. I was so happy we did, as just before the parade was supposed to start, it stopped raining, but stayed overcast (which is great for pics!).

Once again, Nancy decided to stay at home, so Sean and myself decided to head out for a guys day out. While we started at the parade as usual, we decided to spend most of our time on Church street, checking out the after party. (The day portion of it anyways... I hear it can get pretty crazy at night, but it's probably not our kind of scene).