Living in New Orleans offers any budding photographer a fantastic opportunity to capture images of a culture famed across the western world. However, there is no more great and distinct an opportunity as photographing Mardi Gras: a two to three week festival of parades, street parties, and extravagant balls.

The question is, what kind of photographs really convey the magic of Mardi Gras and capture the perspective of the reveler? We've all seen photographs of parade floats lining the streets, or a group picture of a bunch of students holding beers and beads in the French Quarter. While they may be nice fun shots, as someone who has experienced and reveled in the Fat Tuesday atmosphere, they don't really speak to my personal experience of the event.

There are many different, great, ways of photographing the carnival, but I'd like to describe just a few of those that get my own attention. My photography skills evolved somewhat over the 5 years I lived in Louisiana, but toward the end there was definitely a distinct style that I was trying to achieve. Rather than capturing expansive wide angle shots of a parade scene, I attempted to create the sense of being stuck right in the middle of the crowd. That meant literally getting stuck in the middle of the crowd. On the big evening parades I would recommend getting right to the front of the crowd scenes, almost to the point where there is barely room to raise the camera!

The reward will be candid shots of revelers begging for beads, capturing the simultaneous desperation, determination, and joy of both the crowd and the parade float riders. Set a large aperture, (f/4 or f/5.6) with a wide angle lens, and focus on one person or one set of flying beads. It may take some practice and many shots to get it right but you will be rewarded with candid shots that stand out from the generic stock shots of Mardi Gras scenes.

Another of my go-to shots are those with a very small depth of focus, f/2.8 or better, or shots taken with a telephoto lens (200mm to 300mm). While taking shots with a long lens will be subject to capturing enough light to stop your shutter down to the corresponding speed, the result will be either a compressed scene, offering the illusion of intimacy in the perspective, or shot where the subject really stands out.

Getting the right perspective is of utmost important though. I tend to think that the shots that please me most are those where I am looking right down the throat of, or face on to, a brass band, dance troop, or line of parade floats. Shots taken from an oblique angle, to me, don't tend to be as appealing. Capturing a line of musicians in a brass band can be all the more powerful when taken directly in front of them, albeit some distance away. A word of caution though - this will involve standing almost in the path of any preceding act in the parade, and in all probability getting a whack on the head for your troubles!

Without a doubt my favourite Mardi Gras shot, is another taken with a long lens: a shot of a crowd of revelers desperately waving for beads, focusing on the arms. To me this is a signature Mardi Gras scene that I don't see a lot of in other carnival galleries. On this note, I'd like to sign off with something of a call to arms: if you have any Mardi Gras shots, I'd simply love to see and share these!

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