The Light Fantastic

https://play.3speak.tv/embed?v=litguru/cho8nqbn

I'm a mostly peaceful guy, but I do like loud bright explosions. Every year the international fireworks festival delights us with a show involving several countries competing against each other over the span of a week. It brings out the crowds downtown, and everything involved with the gathering of a mass of people. The joys, the oohs, the aahs, the smells, the sights, the near-riot conditions, and the odd pushing-and-shoving matches. Unfortunately, the festival was cancelled this year, and many were disappointed. Yours truly definitely included. Thankfully, later it was decided that citizens could indeed still have a single night of fireworks, or else who knows what our pent up emotions might do.

I was looking forward to the affair, and that's when a wicked thought occurred to me. Fireworks are all about colour, but what if I photographed the fireworks extravaganza in black and white? I would likely miss the colourlful pageantry while staring at the screen, but I would get to experiment with the camera and perhaps photograph a few interesting patterns.

I set my camera to monochrome and went out soon after 9 PM. The explosive results of my endeavor are my entry to the #monomad challenge.

I immediately knew that it was going to be more challenging than anticipated. I actually deleted more than half the photographs that I took that night because they were a blurry mess. A tripod would've been ideal, but given that I didn't have one with me, then I had to do it guerrilla style.

I took five different shots of this particular art installation, and this is the only one that turned out alright.

People gathered around the bay prior to the show, watching small planes flying overhead and boats floating on the ocean around the barge from where the fireworks would launch. An excited murmur rippled through the attendees.

The deeper I walked into the crowd, the more I remembered why I had watched them from the bridge last time around. It was pandemonium as I walked closer to the action, where the crowds were denser, jostling to get a better view of the event and a few snacks from the many food trucks lining the road.

I tried to enter deep into the heart of the maelstrom, but it was hopeless. I made my way down an avenue, and at one point, I heard people coughing and covering their mouths and noses. That's when I felt a sharp scratchy feeling in my throat, and I too began to cough uncontrollably. The crowd dispersed away from the area. Police officers rushed in. I didn't stick around to find out what happened. I was a man with a camera, and I was on a mission.

So hoping for the best, I maneuvered through the crowds and made my way across the park, when suddenly I heard loud booms.

The crowd cheered, and we all broke into a run across the park as the explosions lit the sky above the beach.

The mob moved like a tide that ebbed and flowed around the barricades. All rapturous faces turned to the lights that rose from the barge floating on the ocean and exploded in a spectacle of light.

People hollered
People hooted
Shouted
Cried out
Whistled
Yeehaw!

Behind the camera, I could see the amazing colour bursting in the air. I remained disciplined, however, focused on the black and white image on my camera's preview screen.

Boom!
Boom!
Boom!

The explosions reached a crescendo, and the crowd cried out in pyrotechnic ecstasy. Boom boom

there was a pause

Then one last BOOM! to light the night in a shower of fire as the crowd went wild.

What a night. As I mentioned, most of these B&W photographs did not turn out well. Fireworks are notoriously difficult to photograph and require the right set up. I think a few of the photos came out interesting with unique light patterns, which perhaps wouldn't have been so evident if colour was involved. Thank you for checking them out.

Images by @litguru, video and audio created with MS ClipChamp

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