8 Photography Tips Hornbill Festival, Nagaland

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8 PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS HORNBILL FESTIVAL, NAGALAND
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• Been there. Clicked that. It is often billed as
  the festival of festivals. And after attending
  my first Hornbill Festival in Kisama Heritage
  Village near Kohima, Nagaland in  December 2017,
  I was finally privy to what all the hoo-hah was
  among photographers and Instagrammers alike to
  rush to this festival.
• Since 2000, the Hornbill Festival has been an
  integral part of the Government of Nagalands
  tourism drive. Named after the colorful hornbill
  bird, the festival happens every year between
  December 1st to 10th and brings together all the
  tribes of Nagaland to create a mega-event. The
  festival has also played a huge part in
  encouraging the other Northeastern states nearby
  to come up with their own 10-day cultural
  festivals.
• If you are a click-happy shutterbug like me, the
  reasons you have for visiting this festival can
  be summed up in 2 words beautiful pictures. The
  Hornbill Festival does leave a long-lasting
  memory of colors, music and culture, and one of
  the best ways to immortalize this, is by taking
  pictures at the festival.
• So, if you are heading to the next Hornbill
  Festival, here are my top tips for you come away
  with the best pictures of your life! 

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1)    Start at the Amphitheater

• The Hornbill Festival happens over a massive
  expanse called the Kisama heritage village, and
  there are multiple things happening at any time
  inside the village. But one of the best
  experiences in the village happens in the central
  amphitheater where the cultural events are held
  twice every day during the 10-day period. The
  first event is between 10 AM to 11.30. And the
  next event is at 2 PM. While the activities here
  are a little staged for the audience, they are
  always the best place to start clicking around.

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2)    Go early for the best seats

• Of course, you are eager to take pictures of the
  Hornbill Festival. But so are hundreds of other
  photographers both amateur and professional. So
  the key to getting good pictures is ensuring that
  you have the best seats in the house for the
  amphitheater events. In my opinion, this would be
  the center of the red carpet that surrounds the
  edge of the amphitheater, just below the VIP
  pavilion. If you manage to make it a little
  earlier than the 10 AM start time for the
  cultural events, you can grab a spot on this
  carpet too!

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3)    Carry a good zoom lens

• Even if you find a spot on the red carpet I
  mentioned above, note that most of the action in
  the amphitheater is still happening a good
  distance away. You can capture the colours and
  the intricate details a lot better if you have a
  good zoom lens at your disposal.

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4)    Watch the crowds

• If you thought that tourists make up the biggest
  audience during the Hornbill Festival, you
  couldnt be more wrong. Whenever a Naga tribal
  group performs at the Hornbill Festival, the
  audience is mostly composed of OTHER Nagas. This
  could be people from the same tribe supporting
  their artists, or from other tribes who want to
  see how their competitor tribes (if you can call
  them that) perform.

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5)    Dont miss the Morungs either

• Outside the amphitheater, the Kisama heritage
  village also has 16 to 20 Morungs for each of the
  tribes. The Morung  or youth dormitory  is an
  important part of Naga education and culture. At
  the Kisama village, the Morungs are the places
  where the people of each tribe meet, eat, drink
  and generally get-together. Morungs are good for
  visiting tourists to explore the local food (and
  rice beer) of the specific tribe. But they are
  even better to catch up with the tribesmen and
  women in their own cultural setting, letting them
  relax.

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6)    For portraits, Morungs are better than the
amphitheater!

• The amphitheater does have a large group of
  colorfully dressed Nagas at any point of time.
  But you will be jostling for space with the
  hundreds of other photographers to take a decent
  portrait. So, skip the mad race and go to the
  Morungs. The Nagas are usually happy to have
  their portraits taken here, as they are in a
  relaxed mood. Plus they appreciate the fact that
  you are interested in their culture enough to
  visit the tribal morung and hang out with them.

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7)    Focus on the little things instead of the
face

• Ive seen many-a-wannabe-photographer who tends
  to aggressively poke their camera lenses straight
  into the face of a Naga tribesman. The Nagas
  dont rebuke this or say anything because the
  whole point of the festival is to show the Naga
  culture to the rest of the world. But that
  doesnt mean you have to join the bandwagon and
  just keep clicking portraits. Instead, focus on
  the small things that are part of their costumes.
  Their hand gestures during communal dances. The
  tips of their pointy hats. The ornaments they
  adorn. All of these make for much more compelling
  photo-stories than just facial mug shots.

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8)    Pro-tip. The afternoon light in the Morungs
is dramatic.

• Mornings in Kisama village can tend to be quite
  bright (if there is no rain), and you will notice
  that the pictures tend to be flat. It is a
  personal choice, but I prefer to take pictures
  around the 3 pm mark during the Hornbill
  Festival. The sun sets in this region of India by
  4.30 PM, and an hour before that, the light is
  evened out and gives a dramatic tint to the whole
  atmosphere. Also, the Morungs start their
  community bonfires around this time, leading to
  some very interesting smoke trails and colour
  patterns.