Fireworks

We went to a wedding last weekend in Cypress Falls, near Wimberley TX. 

During the reception the sun was almost down so I went to our motel room for the camera/tripod. 

Down by the river there wasn't enough artificial light spillage to get anything worth using, but while there I was approached by a man in the dark. 

He told me I was lucky that he'd spotted me, otherwise I could have gotten "blowed up". 

Hmmm...a gay come-on done badly? 

No, it was just that I had walked right into the middle of a fireworks launch zone. 

He was nice enough to let me stay and shoot pics from closer than I've ever been before. and it was pretty intense. Every launch felt like a punch to the gut, and they were bursting right overhead. I had a lot of debris on me afterwards. 

He gave me his business card so I could send him my results, but it wasn't from his fireworks business (don't need an architect right now) and there was no website or email address. Googling and checking Facebook for the name he told me turned up nothing, either. 

When I have the time I'll track him down.

Happy Day, Mothers.

Independence Day 2010

Flags waving, patriotic music, burgers and dogs on the grill, and FINALLY there weren't any fireworks bans due to dry conditions.

HUGE grasshopper sat on Holly's deck for hours.
Didn't even move when I stuck a sparkler in her face.
(Yes, I can tell the gender of bugs sometimes).

Barbed Wire Sunset

Kat posing nice for me.
She won't eat unless you watch her, so in exchange for her modeling I took that duty.

Bottle rocket.

Missile Barrage™ is a favorite.

The big mortar with a dozen pro-type shells was a hit.

It's The 4th Of July--America Celebrates

Burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, yum!
Family, fireworks, beer, yum again!

We decided to try "ghetto fireworks" by parking on the side of the road near a public display--it was less than a mile away.
I'm sure Dave knows exactly where we were.

It was hot, dusty, and fire ants or something were biting our feet.
Power lines, streetlights, a fence, and a lack of interesting subject matter on the ground limited my camera work to what you see here.
Check my archives for better stuff in 2006-7?

You need a tripod and manual camera control.
I found that a shutter speed of 1 second at f7.1 and iso100 worked for me.
Tungsten white balance gives the most accurate colors, in my opinion.

Happy Birthday USA!
Our founding fathers were some seriously smart guys.
We would do well to read what they wrote and try to get back to their original ideas of how this country should be.