The amazing Magic Lantern Festival arrives at Chiswick House & Gardens on 3rd February. It is a premier event for London and is fabulous with around 50 hand made beautifully designed lanterns.
It was a windswept night when I went on a press preview of the festival, all the lanterns were made in China and shipped over. On February 8th it is the start of the Chinese lunar year. This year it is the year of the monkey with quite a few monkey lanterns on the festival trail.
The trail takes around 75 minutes but for photographers, it might be a little longer as there are so many things to take pictures of. It took me 3 hours to go round!!!
There are spectacular herds of animals from pandas to zebras and to reindeer.
There are over 56,000 LEDs used in the festival and the lanterns range from the small to the massive temples.
The festival is open to the public from the 3rd of February till the 6th of March 2016.
After the Lumiere in London last month this should be another light extravaganza one for all to enjoy. Highly recommended.
The lantern festival is a Chinese tradition with a rich 2000 year history. It is where families gather for the start of the lunar new year.
Getting there
The easiest way is via public transport. I went via Gunnersbury train station and walked to Chiswick town hall. From there take a bus (E3) to Chiswick gardens.
To purchase tickets visit the Magic Lantern website – https://www.magicallantern.uk/
You can view more of my photographs on Flickr or Instagram the links are below.
Below are links to more of my photographs of the lanterns.
httpss://www.flickr.com/photos/alalchan/albums/72157664167061616
httpss://www.instagram.com/alalchan/
