July 5, 2004: Fireworks
I'm a south Brooklyn kid at heart, so the only place I'd watch July 4th fireworks is Brooklyn Heights. My friend Ez has an apartment in this monstrously tall building on Montague Street, so we went up to the roof last night. I had to throw a few elbows to get a good position at the rail, but I think the pictures came out pretty well. Of course, pictures like these are documentary, not art: there is a banality about fireworks pictures that I seem unable to escape. Bah.
Comments
Wow.
Amazing shots!
Great job Jake! Fantastic! I know what you mean about the banality of them though. But you did a terrific job!
Hey, Brooklyn Man! I think that's my building in the foreground. Fantanstic pictures, JD. We've been watching the fireworks from our roof on Columbia Heights for several years now, and this year was honestly the best one in a while. Nice job.
Seems like Brooklyn Heights would be the perfect place to watch 'em. I bet the promenade was jam-packed.
Nice shots!
the question is what makes a good fireworks photo. based on this collection from yahoo, i think it has something to do with having a compelling subject in the foreground, with the fireworks sort of behind- like you can have a crowd in the foreground, or a building, or frame the fireworks in a window, or with a flag, etc. i think the reason that these photos look weak to me is that there isn't much else in the frame.
Love the last shot. I think your shots are more spectacular than the yahoo collection and less commonplace than you think.
Oh, those are amazing. I took shots myself, but I was on a boat (well, watertaxi) out in the harbor -- the *only* thing that's focused in any of my pictures are the fireworks. :) Even if I'd had a tripod, the boat was rocking too much to focus. :P
Here are some more from the other end of Brooklyn... click
It's awesome !
some sweet shots from alphabet city
The real problem with photographing both the New York and Boston displays is that they start so late at night that there's no residual ambient light like during the post-sunset period... so even with a long exposure, the surroundings end up black and every photo looks the same.
Sometimes reflected/surrounding scenes are better, like the crowd lit by the fireworks. I saw a photo once where they caught the reflection in someone's glasses, which was amazing... not sure if it was posed or candid.
what kind of camera did you use and what settings? I took some of the fireworks in philly and none came as clear as yours - even with long exposure.
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