documentary

Colours of Holi

Last Friday, I received a call from Samir Dave asking me if I wanted to shoot at Holi. I quickly said yes, thinking we were to fly to India for the colourful festival. He clarified it was an event by East FM  and was to be held at Simba Union Club in Nairobi the following day. I was a bit deflated but excited at the opportunity.

We got to Simba Union at about 4pm and even before I could introduce myself to our hosts, the colours started flying! The reds came in first.

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I call it red but it appears different in the photos. The pigmentation is one that my camera was unable to reproduce accurately.

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I’d been advised to protect my camera as much as possible as the very fine powdered colours can work their way through any weather-sealed camera. Cling film and scotch tape became my best friends.

Then the greens came out to play.

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That’s Samir. You might know him as the guy who takes selfies when dangling from skyscrapers.

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The crowd had really grown by now. People were setting their reservations aside and getting into the mood of the celebrations. Then purple joined the party.

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All of a sudden, we felt really thirsty and had to sip some water.

Holi_Kenya-28 Holi_Kenya-30 Holi_Kenya-31 Holi_Kenya-33 Holi_Kenya-35 Holi_Kenya-36Holi_Kenya-37In a mere two hours, we’d become the most colourful people in Nairobi.

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@Petersize10 found out the colours tasted nothing like glucose.

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You can check out more photos here or search for #Holi_KE on Instagram.

  1. Bedad

    March 30, 2015 at 11:29 am

    This is amazing work kwanza the cling film idea…PRICELESS!

  2. Adip Singh

    April 1, 2015 at 12:48 pm

    Nice pics man…

  3. Eugene Odanga Masinde

    January 6, 2016 at 12:03 am

    Love your work man. Just amazing. Getting my camera soon, mind if I shadow you?:) Also you have some html showing on your page..lol

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