One of the “rituals” of the year for me in the last few years (except during the Covid years) has been to photograph at the Nerd Parade in Malmö, Sweden in May. It’s an event put on by the local Science Fiction bookstore where people are encouraged to show off their pride in everything nerdy in sci-fi, fantasy and other genres of popular culture.
This year was no exception to that - even though I still have a lot of pictures from my spring USA journey to edit and put into a travel book of the adventure. I guess I needed a little visual break from the epic southwestern desert landscapes! A whole bunch of cosplayers parading through the streets was a very nice distraction from that!
I’ve written about it before, but one of the best parts of being at this event every year is to see the looks on kids’ faces when they see grown-ups in their costumes who aren’t afraid to play. I didn’t see it this as much this year, but I still remember one of the best parts of last year’s march was when a little kid was allowed to have a light saber duel with a fully decked out Darth Maul. I am sure the kid thought he was the best Luke Skywalker out there!
When I’ve seen these parades through the years I’ve often thought it’d be fun to take part in these parades as more than a spectator/photographer - to put together a costume of my own. I don’t know what franchise or story I’d pick from though. As a massive Tolkien fan since childhood I must admit that a dwarf costume (which would go nicely with my beard) could be cool. We’ll see if I want to put in the effort of making all the costume parts and props (somehow I doubt it, but you never know).
