Friday, September 3, 2010

Portland Symphony Waterfront Concert Fireworks 2010

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The Oregon Symphony has an annual event wrapping up the summer down at the waterfront.  Last year, I got some great pictures of ballerinas and a decent shot of a cannon blast, but had to skip the fireworks.  This year, I decided to go with the light show. 


Oregon Symphony Waterfront Concert Fireworks



I've never seen the east bank of the Willamette so empty for fireworks.  A few of the Flickr Nightowl group were there, as I had expected.  Other than that, nobody else seemed to care.  I arrived more than an hour early to get my spot, but could have shown up at the start and still had the same space.


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I haven't had much luck with the fireworks this year.  I wasn't so thrilled with my 4th of July shots, and the Rose Festival show was rained out.  I've also made a few attempts at taking pictures of the fireworks at nearby PGE Park with no success... so I was pretty excited to have a good opportunity for a winning shoot to wrap up the summer.  Although I didn't have as many shots to choose from as I might have liked, I was still really happy with the shots that came out. 



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Getting the timing down is the hardest part, as you have to guess when the shells will explode, adjust the shutter opening based on brightness (I'm on BULB setting using my remote) and try to close the shutter before the next barrage explodes.  I'm still trying to get the correct brightness level of the city, I'm not sure if that's possible considering the brightness of the fireworks.

All together it was a good night.  It was warmer than on Independence Day, it was not crowded at all, and the technical challenge of firework shooting provided some rewarding results.  Hope you've enjoyed!


Oregon Symphony Waterfront Concert Fireworks




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