Festivals are difficult to photograph. Things happen quickly, backgrounds are usually messy and distracting, and the light is often less than ideal. This was the case with the Agew Equestrian Festival in northern Ethiopia. It commemorates the victory over an Italian invasion in 1896 when the Ethiopians were vastly outnumbered and horses played a significant role in the defeat. Thousands of people attended the festival, and my photo tour group were the only foreigners. It was funny that dozens of locals wanted selfies with us. To get this shot, I positioned my group to take advantage of optimal lighting, given the cloudless sky. We shot with the sun at our backs to get direct front light. This minimized shadows in the contrasty situation. I used a 100-500mm (set to 270mm) lens to fill the frame with the action and to compress the horses and riders, and a fast shutter speed to insure even the legs of the horses were sharp. My settings were 1/1600, f/11, and 1000 ISO.
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