The crowds were crazy, but u can’t beat the fun and family time.
Shooting fireworks is fun. But including a sense of surrounding and the mood really makes it even more interesting. The crazy laser show and the pyro works was nice touch ! Here is my take and hope u like the same :)
Canon 7D : Canon 10-22 mm : ISO 100 : 10 mm : f8.0 : 20 sec
| Stone Mountain Park Stone Mountain, Georgia, USA |
Buckingham fountain, in the middle of Chicago downtown, had become a favorite spot for me when it operated during summer. It was amazing watching the water and light show. Lining up the fireworks was an added bonus.
In Chicago – Navy Pier the fireworks go off pretty much twice a week (Wednesdays / Saturdays) in summers and for additional preplanned events. I am always on the lookout of interesting foreground for fireworks like this at Seattle or this one from St. Louis (my favorite).
TPE helped with the initial planning. But with just a tentative navy pier area for fireworks, it was a hit or miss. To add to it, that was one of the last weekend of regular firework show for this season (the next one for the year being on Halloween). After quiet a bit of planning and lot of uncertainty, decided to try out the shot I had in mind. The distance between the foreground and the actual firework show was not advantageous, but the grand bursts from the finale just made up for it !
At the end, it all came together. I love it, when a plan comes together – or may be I was just lucky ;-)
Canon 7D : Canon 10-22 mm : ISO 100 : 20 mm : f11.0 : 15 sec 
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Fireworks @ Buckingham Fountain Chicago, Illinois, USA |
An arch consists of two weaknesses which, leaning one against the other, make a strength – Leonardo Da Vinci
St. Louis hosts one of the grandest Jul 4th celebrations. With the fair, food carts, live band, fireworks all under the majestic arch – it cannot get any better. To top it off, the show continues for 3 days around Jul 4th.
Shooting fireworks is fun. But including a sense of surrounding and the mood really makes it even more interesting. This shot of the Seattle space needle with fireworks is one of my favorites. So when I learnt about the Arch and fireworks, started digging around with Google earth and TPE for potential spots. After some planning decided on the location – some accessible spot from the other side of the the river, across the railway tracks and as close to the water as possible.
Later learnt that due to the security it would be impossible to get to this location during the Jul 4th weekend. Oh well, may be some other time. As a plan B decided to check out the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial and the view of the Arch from the observation platform. The views were good, except for the power line. Hopefully it does not become synonymous with the city skyline ! As the show progressed , the direction of the wind was not in favor and the smoke started hindering. Was not very satisfied with the shots from this spot. There was not enough lighting on the Arch itself. May be I was still stuck up on the river side spot. My friend did get a lovely shot from here, so may be, it was just me ;-)
The next day we decided to head right under the arch. Built at 630 feet and with 900 tons of stainless steel – Gateway Arch – is the tallest national monument within the United States. Standing beneath it gives a sense of awe and humility. None of the pictures does justice to its grandeur. One really need to be there to experience its size.
About the shot – The original plan was to check out the reflecting pools and see if the fireworks would compliment the composition. Unfortunately both the pools were filled with algae, not ideal for reflections. After scouting the location settled for this view. Being much closer to the arch, the surrounding lights beautifully reflected on the metallic surface. The colors of blue & red along with symbolic stripes makes this shot iconic for me, especially being shot on ID4 celebrations ! It was cool to get the burst of the heart too. I love it when a plan comes together, even if it was not a primary plan :)
P.S: Check this out for more cool information and history of the Gateway Arch.
Canon 7D : Canon 10-22 mm : ISO 100 : 10 mm : f5.6 : 2 sec [fireworks] / f9.5 : 30 sec
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Gateway Arch St Louis, Missouri, USA |
A bit of fireworks, some snow, a trip to the rainforest, throw in some waterfalls on the way and a drive thru amazing 101 pacific coast highway. What a way to start a new year. Not all happened as planned, due to mother nature deciding to join us, in the last minute, in form of lashing rain. Nevertheless it was an awesome trip encircling the Olympic national park, Washington.
This shot is the first one I had taken for this year 2012 & am very pleased with results. It is a high dynamic range shot with multiple exposure to capture the reflections, highlights and fireworks. I really love to watch fireworks up and close at space needle-Seattle, but did not want to be spending 2-3 hours getting out of the downtown traffic once the show was over. Hence after a bit of help from Google Earth, settled for a spot from Hamilton View point park, West Seattle. But as we were driving to the park, the view from harbor avenue was so breath taking, that we decided to settle there for the fireworks show. Arriving at the spot early always has an advantage. As we strolled down the harbor lane, was able to locate a secret sweet spot just behind the parking lot of Salty’s seafood grill. The view was probably better than the deck at Salty’s. Of course we were not served beer ! To make it easier for you, here is the actual spot (47.586095,-122.375566). Just be careful of loose rocks. I had always wanted to shoot the Seattle skyline and this is probably the best view of the Seattle skyline that I had come across. Though an urban setting, it indeed was serene, with the cool breeze, reflections and background effects from sea lions.
If you are still reading … Sorry I had been away for almost a month with unplanned hiatus over here at the blog. I really did not want to start the year’s post with an apology hence pushed this to the later part of the post. It always makes me wonder how something that happens in one part of your life has so much of impacts on your actions, thoughts and eventually how it reflects on almost all other phases. Anyway life just goes on … For the last couple of weeks, I had not been very active here, but had been making changes slowly. You can now see that LikeTheOcean.com points to this very blog and photo.LikeTheOcean.com points to my smugmug portfolio site. Much easier to remember, right :). Hopefully, the new-non intrusive theme allows, to enjoy the photos directly form the blog. As before am definitely planning to share atleast one amazing travel photo, if not more, every week of 2012 too.
Thanks for sticking around and travelling with me ! Happy New Year to all.
P.S: Definitely best viewed at large. Seattle Skyline is available in Print as such or with customization. This would make a great wall frame as such or with a inspiration quote on the the bottom. Just drop me a note with the request if u want any customization.
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Fireworks @ Space Needle, Seattle Skyline |
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