Fourth finale

While the rest of the city (and country) is grilling and enjoying a day off, we still have to put out a paper, and this year I volunteered for the July 4th shift. Here in Cedar Rapids the fireworks are launched from Mays' Island, with great views on both sides of the river. Two years ago I photographed from the west side of the river, toward downtown, so this year I decided to try the east side, with the recently reopened Tree of Five Seasons plaza in the foreground.

I arrived at the island just after 3 to claim a close parking spot and scope out my shot before heading over to the carnival across the river. The photo above is from the spot I claimed four hours before the fireworks were to start. Thanks to free wifi downtown, I was able to quickly send the photo before the fireworks show began and update the online gallery I had been adding photos to throughout the day. Of course, stripes were a theme in my photos from earlier in the afternoon...

...and all the time I spent cooling off at the misting fans paid off when the photo gods rewarded me with some great early evening light and a summery hat.

Back to my blanket and tripod (lots of trust and honesty among Freedom Fest attendees) to file photos and wait for the show to start. Of course, once the first rocket went off I realized I was in the wrong spot; the Tree completely obscured the fireworks. Scamper to a new location and start shooting; ISO 200, f/11, 6 seconds for those curious (later increasing in 8 seconds). A vertical space was held on the front page, so I started by shooting for that shape. The fireworks didn't go as high as I'd expected, so a horizontal composition actually worked better, but otherwise I was happy. Of 73 photos taken of the show, the photo below was the eleventh frame. By the finale, the sky is so smoky that my last few frames are worthless. I edit while swatting bugs away from the screen with five minutes to deadline... then watch the FTP status bar crawl as I sit in traffic, glad I sent the best photo first.