[Kombisaurus]

Although there were many performers at the Fremantle Easter Street Festival today, these two really made the biggest impression on me.

Their drumming was great, but it was their presence that stopped both me and my friend Tina in our tracks. They were absolutely radiant, their beaming smiles brightening the whole street. And they weren't forced smiles, they were genuinely in a world of their own and could not have been happier. This wasn't part of their performance.
It was quite remarkable, its not often you can be captivated and moved simply by a smile. And it wasn't just me, my friend Tina was equally dumbstruck.



After standing there watching and listening to them for 10 or 15 minutes we finally found out why they were so happy; the man proudly stopped drumming to announce that they had been married a couple of days before.

When Tina and I left, we both felt as though we'd witnessed something very special.

[guerito]

Excellent shots, Kombi! You captured the essence of their happiness.

[Don Schaeffer]

This really is a touching street photo.

[wulinka]

The light in #2 is nice. I assume you converted this, would you mind showing a color version? Why did you go for the b/w? Festivals are usually such colorful events!

uli

[Schellamo]

They are totally gorgeous!!

[adam]

You captured their happiness and brought it here
hehe, nice shots! I like it how they are smiling and making eyecontact with each other, very cool!

[EnglishBob]

Great capture, this proves a picture is worth a thousand words.

[Wedding Shooter]

You nailed it Kombi.

[Kombisaurus]

Thanks
Its hard for me to be objective when looking at shots like this. No matter how the shots turned out they would remind me of the moment, so its difficult to judge how effective they are without showing them to people who weren't there.

Uli, I went for a b/w treatment because in this case I felt the colours weren't adding a lot to the image. The performers themselves were dressed in quite subdued colours, and they were performing at the edge of the festival, in front of a row of cafes and shops that were in dark shadow.
Below is a colour version of a photo I took at the same time as the b/w one above. Its such a shame the woman is blinking though I love everything else about this photo (especially how their hands are in sync). Its almost worth photoshopping her eyes open



Oh, and for the record.. the first shot was taken with a Sigma 28mm f/1.8 (at f/4), and the other two with a Canon EF 135mm f/2L (at f/3.5). I really enjoyed wandering around there with a 28mm prime on my camera (45mm equiv) - it made me feel like I was Henri C-B

[Wedding Shooter]

Almost worth just cropping the shot to show the hands - the sync looks great.

[byrt_001]

hi

great stuff, love the shots, i can almost feel the beat

christian

[shuttertalk]

What a heartwarming story... to go along with a beautiful picture.

Another one of those priceless moments in life...