New York City July 4th Fireworks from Gantry Plaza State Park in Long Island City

This year, the Macy's Fireworks were located only on the East River along Mid-town instead of in both Mid-town and Downtown.

Most of the area between Vernon Blvd and Center Blvd was roped off. The only way to access Gantry Plaza State Park was through Vernon Blvd & 48th Ave. There was a bag check entering, but no other security checks.

At Gantry Plaza State Park at 4pm. By then it was already pretty full, so if you want a good spot, definitely arrive before 4pm.

crowd at the end of the pier at Gantry Plaza State Park

It was a long, boring wait on a hot day, but at least clouds provided cover from the summer sun.

fireworks barge moving in place

NYPD boat

NYPD helicopters on a fly-by

sunset

NYFD boat

After 5.5 hours the fireworks finally started.

fireworks reflecting off an apartment buildilng

skyline after the fireworks

large crowd moving towards the subway

After the fireworks, lines to enter the subway at Vernon Blvd Station were over 45 minutes long. In the end, it was easier to walk 15 minutes to Court Sq Station.

Cherry Blossom Festival - Washington, D.C. (part 1)

Southwest Waterfront Fireworks Festival
The Southwest Waterfront Fireworks Festival is a an outdoor festival featuring music, food and various merchandise vendors around the Waterfront area in Southwest DC, concluding with fireworks at night.

sunset at the Waterfront

Tips for Photographing Fireworks

This post is a little late for this year's July 4th fireworks, but in case you want to be prepared for next year, here are some tips for photographing fireworks.

1. Set your camera on a tripod.
2. Focus on a distant object (or focus on the first few fireworks) and then turn-off auto-focus.
3. Set your aperture to f/10-16 (varies depending on brightness and distance of the fireworks).
4. Set the shutter for 2 or 3 seconds.
5. Alternatively, I set my camera to bulb and use a remote. With the remote, I manually hold the shutter for 2 or 3 seconds depending on how many fireworks are going off.
6. Optimally, you should be perpendicular to the wind so the smoke moves out of the way. Unfortunately, winds may be hard to predict or may shift during the fireworks show.

When photographing fireworks in a large city such as New York City or Washington, D.C. there may be many fireworks going off at once. Sometimes, the next fireworks are going off before the previous ones have even cleared. Anyway, the biggest part is practice! Take these tips and try photographing fireworks a few times and you will get the hang of it!

Independence Day

Creating a blog for the first time in many, many years. Even though I labeled this as a food and travel blog, it'll probably be a variety of things including photography. Anyway, let's start this off with a bang since it's (or was) Independence Day here.

I went into sweltering Washington, DC for the fireworks. After the first metro train I was on broke down in a shower of sparks and the smell of battery acid everywhere, I finally made it in at 8:45, 25 mins before the start. Unfortunately, this year's fireworks were not as impressive as previous years.  There was less variety in the fireworks, and they didn't seem to fly as high up as before.

Not to mention, a number of fireworks exploded while still on the ground (as shown in the photo). Looks like there was a batch of defective rockets.