On the last weekend of May each year San Francisco holds a Carnaval celebration that bills itself as "One of the Bay Area’s most spectacular traditions, the free, family-friendly San Francisco Carnaval showcases the very best of Latin American, the Caribbean and around the world cultures and traditions with a diverse array of food, music, dance and artistry."

Well that's one perspective - the 30,000 foot perspective. I've been going to Carnaval and taking pictures for years. It's some those things, none of those things, and mostly something else.

It's an orgy of human drama. That's what come to photograph. It's the families mingling with gang members, the photographic clusterfuck of nearly naked girls in feathery costumes by hoards of middle age men wielding expensive cameras. It's the looks on the faces of elderly residents that have been caught off guard (once again this year) by the spectacle. It's the drunken fighting, teenage love, and the people gorging themselves at overpriced food concessions. It's the the barrage of branding and intrusion by corporate sponsors. Get yourself yogurt samples at the Dannon booth then cure your headache at the Advil booth. Back aching? Stop by the spinal examination booth - the same one that pops up at every San Francisco street fair. How could you not know that you needed a chiropractor.

I'll leave it to the photos to say the rest.