Paper Tigers...and paper pandas...and paper birds and...
Some shots on film at the North Carolina Chinese Lantern Festival in Cary
Using over 15,000 LED lights and hundreds of parts, some of them moving, the North Carolina Chinese Lantern Festival in Cary is a feast for the eyes. There’s adventure and whimsy as all over the Koka Booth Amphitheatre, which has been the host of this annual event since its inception in 2015.
Before the festival starts, usually mid November and runs through mid Janurary there a ton prep that starts way earlier in the year. Each lantern, amounting to around 40 displays, is handmade in Zigong, Sichuan, which has been making lanterns since the Han dynasty in 206 BC. They’re then shipped over, arriving in the port at Wilmington, NC, transported to the Triangle where they are assembled by about 25 artisans from China. Each display is created specifically for the festival
Camera: Canon AE1 (in manual mode)
Film: Lomography CN 800 (pushed one stop)
Photos taken December 2022
