Independence Day!

Coming just one day after, we the photo staff of the Herald-Leader, told everyone how to photograph fireworks I was given that very assignment. Talk about feeling a little pressure. How could I list some exposures for you to use when I was not even sure I would use them anymore. The main reason being when I listed those exposures it was based on shooting film. Remember film? It is a different ballgame with digital and I am not sure I had shot fireworks yet with digital. OK maybe one time, but it was with a Nikon D-1 so I might as well have used crayons to draw it. My assignment was to shoot the fireworks that were to be shot at the Idle Hour Country Club. We were trying to do some things different and shooting a different set of fireworks was my task for the evening. I arrived at the Shriners Hospital across from Idle Hour around 8:30 expecting on a few people that early since heavy rains had just stopped a little earlier. I did say a few didn’t I? I found no one. Not one person was there staking out a perfect seat. I decided to head over to Idle Hour and it was the same. One car, a hundred or so empty and wet tables with a random peppershaker here and there and lots of inflatables that I am sure were used during the nice part of the day for kids to play in. Approximately one hour until fireworks and no one setting up or getting ready. I walked across the pool area and into the golf course where I thought the trailer with fireworks would be but there was nothing. As I began to leave I was told there was a sign at the Shriners Hospital that said the fireworks were cancelled.

I guess no one at Idle Hour had more than this small piece of paper so people were beginning to gather unaware of the cancellation. At this point I had to scramble downtown to find a decent vantage point to try to get the A1 photo that was expected of me. Fellow H-L photographer David Stephenson was Downtown to gather some audio for his multimedia show of the days events and shoot a few photos but the fireworks themselves were up to me and I was feeling the pressure as I drove around through all the people and traffic. I randomly pulled into the Calvary Cemetery and asked a gentleman at the main house if I could shoot from there. He told me of a good place to shoot from so I checked it out. Just as I got set up for the “perfect” skyline/fireworks shot the fireworks began. Did I mention they began WAYYY to my left. I quickly had to move out and recompose. The fireworks were too high to include the skyline so I franticly looked for a good way to compose my shot. I spotted a man who I would later find out was Lt. Mark Hutchkiss, 34, who returned from Iraq in January, watching the Lexington fireworks display from atop his SUV. I repositioned the tripod and began to shoot,once I figured out my exposure. What did I do with that newspaper article anyway? Turns out my old formula for film did not translate exactly to digital but it was close.

ASA 50
5 seconds at F10
Canon 5D.

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