There’s always something crazy happening in London. Last weekend, in the concrete sea of Battersea Park, thousands of people clad in white gathered to turn themselves into rainbows.
The event was inspired by the religious festival Holi, where Hindus gather together in February/March to celebrate the coming of spring and throw masses of coloured powder at each other. The festival at Battersea exported the idea of coloured powder, cast aside the relgious motivations, then added alcohol, a stage and DJs for good measure. The result? A great big messy party!
Thousands of clean-clothed people gathered to Battersea to attend the festival.
It didn’t take long for the powder to be unleashed!
Every hour festival goers were encouraged to throw their powder en-mass. As they did, clouds of colour blocked out the sunlight, and participants were caked from head to toe in layers of powder.
Rainbowed people emerged from the aftermath.
And as the dust settled, the party continued…
When the day drew to a close the underground became populated with a colourful array of people!
Lost in the Midlands 
Looks like so much fun!! Beautiful photos!
Thank you! One day I hope to see it in India…. :)
reminds me of Indian festival – Holi! Great pictures.
Thank you! And yes, that was the inspiration for it.
Amazing Images. How did you keep your lens clean?! :)
Thank you! I wrapped it in a clear bag, cut some holes to put the lens and camera straps through, then taped them back up again around the camera.. It worked pretty well! Still had a few leaks though :)
I’ll be curious to see how long your camera lasts – these events are infamous for trashing cameras and lenses. The particles get in EVERYTHING (including our lungs – yuck). But it does look like fun.
Wow! How colorful and fun! Do you think you will be part of this again next time?
It really was! Definitely. However, I’d REALLY love to go and see the real thing in India.. :)
Hi Justine,
Can I join you and go with you to India? http://www.segmation.wordpress.com
This looks like a wonderful time!
It really was! The time flew :)
Very colorful. Okay that is trite. But mix youth, happiness and just plain being thrilled being alive together and you get the beautiful pictures you took. For a moment of happiness and no cares it is worth the color mixtures. Looks like a great time.
Yes indeed, and it was certainly a great time!
Hahaha messy business… We like it! :D
Yes indeed!!! :)
what fun! great group of photos
Thank you :)
oh seems fun and being an Indian, seeing this is heartening. your pictures are fantastic,,,makes me yearn for ‘holi’..
congratulations on being freshly pressed.
Thank you so much!!! :)
Brilliant!! I just lived the event through these photos… <3
:D Definitely worth going to if there’s one in your area!
Very colourful and looks exciting!
Yes it was! Every hour I would change colour.. blue.. orange… pink… :)
Amazing pic :)
Thank you! :)
Cool. Nice pics. I did something somewhat similar this past weekend, participating on a color me rad 5k race with my kids. We were thrown the color powder or some color water as we raced… the kids loved it!
Oh I heard about that; in London again? It sounded like great fun! Glad it was :)
The ‘Life’ is full of different colors, that is why we enjoy it. We make our choices to fill it with as many colors as we like. Even if we don’t decide, every color is a real joy and beautiful too. Without any color, it is plain and simple and may be dull.
Very beautifully said :)
Thanks ! You can share and enjoy more views on my blog at
http://bornalmost.wordpress.com/2013/07/28/life/
Have a nice day !
Wonderful, gorgeous photography and blog! May I ask what camera/lens you used for the event and how did you photograph with all that powder flying around? I would be scared, lol. :)
Thank you so much! I used my Canon 5D mark 3 with a 24-70L lens. I was pretty scared of bringing it too! But then I wrapped and taped it up in a clear bag and cut a hole to put the front of the lens through (which I then tapped back up to the lens), so although it looked pretty silly it worked rather well! Though I still am finding powder in the recesses even now… :)
Holi is an Indian Festival that reassure the people of the power of the truth
And long may it continue….!
This is awesome! Wish I was there….
I think they will do it every year all over the world now – keep a look out! :)
Yeah I’ve heard about them being local here in Massachusetts. They have the”Color Run 5K”, which I’m looking forward to hearing of the next one to join :)
These photo’s are amazing, nice work and very deserving of Freshly Pressed :)
Thank you for such kind words :)
Love your blog, I am following.
:D Glad you like it!!
Loved the photos, and it is good to see other people embracing what is one the most festive occasions over here. One point though, while the festival of Holi is certainly hindu by origin, in India we celebrate it entirely as a social festival, having cast those religious motivations around this occasion away long ago. Oh and its not just dry powder that we throw at each other, people drench each other in buckets full of color as well. Once again, great shots! Thank you for them.
Thank you for the correction/extra information :) I would love to go to India to see the celebrations there…
WOW! Funny and beautiful )
Thank you :)
This is amazing! Stunning photography!
Thank you everyone for you wonderful comments!!! I am truly honoured – and seriously excited about having been freshly pressed! Thanks again :)
Fantastic photos! Such vibrancy
Thank you :) And yes, so many bright colours! Though by the end of the day everything seemed to turn orange ;)
love everything about this post!
Thank you so much! :)
That’s pretty cool! As a designer, I love colours!
Great job…love the pictures! We did this at my uni a couple of months ago! Had a wicked time and theres something quite wonderful about having usually drab, grey buildings covered in masses of bright colours.
We did this during our college’s acquaintance party and it turned out to be the funnest parties our college ever had! :-) #CAFAcolorfest
funnest party**
I love this – your pictures are beautiful! In the US there are a lot of Color Runs, where you run a 5k and people throw different colors on you as you go. I much prefer an idea of enjoying some alcohol and a DJ while the colors are thrown- no running required.
cool :)
I wish I could be there! I absolutely love these shots, especially how you capture the powder in mid air, people’s expressions, emotions, colors,..pretty much everything :) Everyone looks so happy and the event looks like it was a blast.
Thank you so much :) Yes, there was such a cheeky happy fun feel to the whole day. They are popping up all over the place at the so keep a look out!! :)
So jealous
Love it! I’ve been planning on going to a Holi festival for awhile now. This definitely makes me want to find one immediately!
This looks like so much fun! I love the photos too. So much color!! :) Great shots.
Read that India’s Holi is fast becoming popular world-wide. Your photos prove it
That doesn’t surprise me – it’s just so much fun!
This looks awesome!! I’m running the ColorRun this weekend which puts this festival and a marathon together. Your post has gotten me super excited for the weekend!
That sounds great! I need to go photograph one of those too.. Hope you have an awesome time :)
Beautiful shots! (My daughter ran a 5K race were colored powders were thrown. I quickly retreated from using my point-and-click with zoom, knowing I’d regret it.).
Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed!
Beautiful photographs of beautiful people having a beautiful time. So cool – I love the spontaneity of it – the unpredictability of what color ends up where on who. Thanks for sharing!!
These photos are stunningly beautiful! We are having the Color Run event this weekend in Singapore… Pretty excited!
Thank you so much! I hope you have a fantastic time :)
Lovely Pics, its really fun to see Holi in India, specially in some places like Mathura and Avadh in Uttar Pradesh, where colors mixed with traditions really enthralls you.
Some of these photos are absolutely priceless – well done! That looks like such fun. Oh, London. <3
http://kmkinsleybooks.wordpress.com
Love the pics, colors and the fun! So care free <3
Great pictures. Color sure does brighten up your day!
Brilliant, wonderful photos showing a lovely array of colours!
Wow! I super love the photos! So much fun!
Beautiful candid shots.
i am from india, and holi is fun. amazing shots. I have always wanted to take pictures during holi but i could somehow never bring myself to risk exposing my camera to all that. How did you do it? and more importantly, did your camera lens survive this? Please do let me know so i can try it out too in March :)
Thank you! As far as I can see my camera and lens did survive… I just wrapped it in a clear bag, cut a hole in the front to put the lens through (which had a filter on – very important!), then taped the hole back up around the lens/filter. The lens was spotless! It leaked onto my camera a little but nothing major… Another idea might be to buy underwater casing of some sort, but it will certainly affect the image quality. Hope this helps!
Love it!
nice colorful pics!