New Years Eve

The year has ended, long live the year - or words to that effect. When the televisions chanels give a potted view of the happenings of 2009 it brings home all the amazing, wonderful, frightening and magnificent things that have happened in one short year. It is so sad that yet another Australian town should be destroyed by bush fire right at the end of the year. Will the population rally to help this community of WA like they did for the people of Victoria? I don't think so. The millions raised for Victoria has not been shared equally among the people who lost homes in Victoria - people with home insurance got nothing but the no-hopers who lost caravans and shacks got $200,000 and now drive around in flash cars - but still do not have a house. This knowledge tends to make those of us who donate money less willing to do so next time - and there will always be a next time.

Last night I took my camera and tripod to our local shopping centre at Robina where once again they were to hold a firework display. For the past two years it has not been held because of the building of new extensions to the centre. Colin and I chose a place not far from the car park next to a stout pillar and just under shelter - because it was raining when we arrived. The pillar meant that the tripod would not be a problem for anyone walking past. Colin stood beside the one leg of the tripod that extended to my right so every leg was protected.

A security guy came over and gave me a few ground rules about not shooting buildings. He was very good, not aggressive or rude at all and was merely passing on information from his "boss" who, from his lookout, obviously had noticed the tripod and large camera and assumed I was a professional photographer. (Fame at last!) The security guard had a receiver plugged in his ear and was receiving instructions on what to say as he stood in front of me. Anyway, after receiving assurances from me that I was just setting my focus by using the lights of the building in readiness for the fireworks I was left alone and treated to a grin or a wave each time he walked past through the evening.

As the first firework was fired the rain stopped and everyone was able to move out from under shelter and lean against the fence on the opposite side of the road - which meant that I had no one in front of me and very few people behind me and a clear view of the fireworks as they exploded. Not long after the security guard had left me another fellow approached me and he was the trigger man for the fireworks and he was able to tell me where the explosions would happen. Because the area was not large he explained that the fireworks would not be large either. So thanks to him I knew that I was in the right place for the action.

The fireworks were fun - but as warned, nothing spectacular. There were only the standard exploding rockets and a short burst of other rockets that spray out with golden lights. Its a bit difficult to explain so here is a picture of one of the sprays.

I basically used the settings on the camera that I had experimented with earlier in the day, using the sparkler. I tried slower speeds but ended up with too much white blur in the nucleus of the explosions so dialed the speed back to 1/20 sec.

The firework display lasted only ten minutes and I managed to take 35 pictures during that time. Not all of them are impressive and in another blog I will explain how to put two or more images together to make a more impressive display. The camera may not lie but the "Photoshopper" certainly can!

AJ