Smoke Flowers: Fourth of July at Gas Works
by Andy on Jul.05, 2008, under Night Photography, Seattle, Vistas, Wallingford
Gas Works Park. Seattle, WA. July 4th, 2008.Nikon D300. Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens @ 11mm.
Manual. 6.9 sec @ f/7.1. ISO 200.
Like everywhere else in the world, yesterday was the 4th of July in Seattle, Washington. To celebrate the birthday of the greatest nation known to God; Jon, The Intern and I staged a party. Friends and coworkers descended on 4411 Bagley for one last gathering before we move out of the legendary pad in August (turns out a lease is only a lease, just ask the British about Hong Kong). The party also served as a sendoff for Jon as he prepares to move to Chicago next week. Forever new frontiers, right Jonny?
We tapped a barrel of delicious Pabst Blue Ribbon and served up several dishes courtesy of the Aupperlee Family Recipe Archive. Everything from fish to turkey burgers to steak were thrown on the grill while we dutifully worked on emptying keg. A carefully selected 8 hour iPod playlist provided tunes as afternoon turned to evening.
Nikon D300. Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens @ 11mm.Manual. 9.7 sec @ f/6.3. ISO 200.
My friend and sometimes Andy Aupperlee Explosion 5000 band member, Steve Cotner, has an interesting article up on his website, The Foreign Expert. In the article, “Smoke & powder, mists & clouds,” Steve writes about the meaning of the Chinese word for fireworks, yanhua or smoke flowers. Check out Steve’s article to read about the linguistic relationship between fireworks and opium sex dens. Ahh, China…
Nikon D300. Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens @ 11mm.Manual. 5.5 sec @ f/7.1. ISO 200.
Around 9 o’clock we began the procession down to Gas Work Park. Eventually we stumbled upon WaMu Family 4th at Lake Union. After convincingly making it past the security check, we made our way through the park. I setup a tripod, mounted the D300, plugged in the remote shutter release and fired away. I threw the camera in manual and set the shutter to “bulb.” To shoot the fireworks I used a technique described by Ken Rockwell. The great thing about using a tripod and remote shutter release is that I did not have to watch the fireworks through a tiny camera viewfinder. I just stood next to my rig and clicked off around 40 different frames usingshutter speeds ranging from 2 to 15 seconds. I occasiaonly dialed in different apertures on the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8, but after checking the playback on the LCD I found that f/6 to f/7′ish worked best. I literally had the remote release in one hand and a beer in the other. God bless America.
Nikon D300. Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens @ 11mm.Manual. 6 sec @ f/6.3. ISO 200.
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[...] The fireworks are launched from a barge just off the shore of Gas Works Park. Last year I shot the spectacle from the park. You can view photos are here. [...]