Rio Carnival — Sambadrome Parade Night

Description

Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival — the largest in the world, attracting 2 million people per day during the four- day celebration — centres on the Sambódromo parade, where the top-division samba schools (escolas de samba) each present a 65-minute performance featuring an original samba composition, thousands of costumed passistas and alas dancers, elaborate allegorical floats, and a percussion section (bateria) of up to 300 drummers. The judging criteria are extraordinarily precise — timing, costume uniformity, float artistry, and samba quality all scored by 40 judges. Photography access for the parade requires purchase of archibancada tickets and positioning in the first-level bleachers for front-on float photography. This photograph was made with a 70-200mm telephoto zoom at ISO 6400 to freeze the moving passistas while retaining the full float illumination in a single frame without flash.