Memorial Day, Sea Cliff, NY

This is the annual Memorial Day Parade in Sea Cliff.  At the ceremonies and speeches when everyong gathered after the parade, the master of ceremonies stated that this parade has been held for over a hundred years!  There is such a wonderful charm to live in a town where we still have a Memorial Day Parade.  It's pretty ragtag with all kinds of people marching in organized groups behind banners, or just people marching along the route carrying children with young kids running alongside.  There is a high school band, and there is a fire truck, so it is a real parade!

I always try to photograph spectators as well as the marchers, and this year I think the spectators were more interesting subjects.

I was photographing the parade and turned to walk along with it after taking a photograph and saw this group. They were all smiling and there were adults and kids, and I got one shot!

The participants gather in Memorial Park for speeches and salutes to the fallen.  I spotted this woman and her dog, and though her way of displaying old glory was a bit different and worth documenting it!

Turnabout is fair play! When I am looking through the viewfinder, I am looking at what's contained within the frame and how my composition is balanced, and what is in the foreground and in the background and what's around the edges.  A lot of stuff to look at, and split second decisions on when to press the shutter.  Imagine my surprise when I was looking at the photographs, when I saw this woman in bright red, dead center in the frame, photographing ME!  This is a first in my experience to be the subject of someone else's photograph at a parade!  I was so surprised that I never noticed her in the middle of the frame! (this is a cropped image).  I know, let me show you the whole image, below.

I just thought she was another one of the marchers and completely missed she was looking right at me!