Spacecraft of the future? Nope, just a bomb bursting in airCopyright 2009 Lydia Hinshaw
ORMOND BEACH, FL -- One thing I've missed while working out-of-state the past four summers is my hometown's Fourth-of-July fireworks.
Prince Charming and I planned our recent three-week junket to New England and Nova Scotia so that we would be back for the Fourth.
We taxpayers spend a bundle on our fireworks show, and we get plenty of bang for our buck. Only very rarely does someone complain that the money could be better spent on something more useful.
The fireworks, which are professionally done, originate from a barge anchored in the middle of the Halifax River, and are preceded by a street party with live music and food concessions in parks on both sides of the river. The high-rise bridge in between is a prime viewing spot.
We live just a block from the river, and thus can walk to the festivities, but not before putting up a string of flags across the front of our property. Our narrow street is prime parking hunting-ground, and sometimes our fellow citizens, overcome by patriotism, are tempted to drive their SUVs right over the hibiscus and into the ferns to save a longer walk.
This year, for the first time, we took our cameras and attempted to shoot the fireworks, which we don't have the technical skills to do. I took my usual 70-200 zoom, which was way too much lens. I had forgotten how our fireworks fill up the sky.
I had to back off to 70 mm and fire just as a rocket exploded, because an instant after that the display would be way too big for the frame. My best effort, above, looks almost like something from Star Wars.
A good time was had by all, and for one evening it didn't seem so boring to be spending the summer in sweltering Florida.
Prince Charming and I planned our recent three-week junket to New England and Nova Scotia so that we would be back for the Fourth.
We taxpayers spend a bundle on our fireworks show, and we get plenty of bang for our buck. Only very rarely does someone complain that the money could be better spent on something more useful.
The fireworks, which are professionally done, originate from a barge anchored in the middle of the Halifax River, and are preceded by a street party with live music and food concessions in parks on both sides of the river. The high-rise bridge in between is a prime viewing spot.
We live just a block from the river, and thus can walk to the festivities, but not before putting up a string of flags across the front of our property. Our narrow street is prime parking hunting-ground, and sometimes our fellow citizens, overcome by patriotism, are tempted to drive their SUVs right over the hibiscus and into the ferns to save a longer walk.
This year, for the first time, we took our cameras and attempted to shoot the fireworks, which we don't have the technical skills to do. I took my usual 70-200 zoom, which was way too much lens. I had forgotten how our fireworks fill up the sky.
I had to back off to 70 mm and fire just as a rocket exploded, because an instant after that the display would be way too big for the frame. My best effort, above, looks almost like something from Star Wars.
A good time was had by all, and for one evening it didn't seem so boring to be spending the summer in sweltering Florida.
No comments:
Post a Comment