4th of July, 2009 —
My family was invited to watch the Minneapolis fireworks from one of the balconies at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
The fireworks were shot off from the Energy Park, by St. Anthony Falls. From the Federal Reserve building we had a wonderful view of the fireworks behind the Hennepin Avenue bridge.
Past years my photos have generally consisted of bright flare trails on a black background (bright flares + no ambient light). The Hennepin Avenue bridge was lit the entire show, giving a wonderful sense of place for this years photos.
Of course, I was kicking myself over forgetting my shutter release cable — I had to handle bulb exposure, uh, “manually” (i.e. by manually holding the camera’s shutter button). Thus all my pictures have a good amount of camera shake, even though they’re mounted on a tripod. And had I known the security guards were so understanding of photography gear, I may have attempted to bring my sturdier tripod, too… Oh well. Live and learn. Perhaps I’ll remember this for the Aquatennial fireworks later this summer.