2022 – The BIG (and close) July 4 Fireworks
…………………………………………….(ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on July 8, 2022)
Gotta lead off with a cool shot, right?
But I have to first back up to some pre-show shots I took while I was waiting for the event to start. Small bunches of civilian fireworks were going off here and there and it was fun trying to capture them:
Enough with the pre-game warmups.
I take back everything I said in the previous post about this now being a crappy shoot because of a new building in the way. It may now be a better shoot because of that building (and it would be even better if they turned off those intrusive roof lights).
Many of the fireworks now look like they’ve been launched from the building’s roof.
However, my joy may be short-lived. In that first shot, see the partially-visible building to its immediate right with the white columns in front of it? That’s the now-sold former Hackensack YMCA building. Replacing it will be a 14-story monstrosity (picture that YMCA with about 10 more floors on top of it).
But I’ll withhold judgment until it happens.
I was shooting with my little Canon on a tripod from my living room and supplementing that with my iPhone, which I didn’t think I’d be using much. Wrong again!
The above image was taken with the Canon and so were these 5 images:
The iPhone dominated with these 12 (just like the evening’s pyro offerings dominated in red…………a little more color variety next time, please?):
There’s not much to write about the images – you either like them or you don’t. I just don’t like posting pictures with no input in between them.
Anyway, the show’s now over. They’re usually 20 minutes long, but this one was 15 (9:20 – 9:35pm), but considering they haven’t occurred here since 2019, I ain’t complaining.
I know who IS complaining – the people who drove to Foschini Park for the show and are now stuck in traffic on every street within a half-mile of the park, as I saw from my window (haven’t seen THAT in 3 years either):
As you may have noticed in the pictures, these fireworks produced a LOT of smoke. This park is on the Hackensack River and the smoke seems to be clinging to the river’s path.
That doesn’t bother me…………..except that the just-starting Macy’s NYC fireworks on the East River (far side of Manhattan and in the vicinity of the oblong yellow shape) are hard to see, let alone shoot, until the smoke clears:
So I did what I could and – with a bit of help from PhotoShop – got some passable shots of silhouetted Manhattan buildings with fireworks behind them:
Favorite Macy’s shot:
I thought I was done shooting fireworks that evening, but………….as usual, some guy(s) showed up in the parking lot an hour or two later and began their own show, so I shot this 17-second iPhone video:
I shot that in the normal horizontal manner, but because the subject matter was primarily vertical, I shot a bunch of little vertical iPhone clips that I stitched together to make this two-and-a-half-minute video (since it’s small, you may want to watch this on YouTube):
Note the white car pulling into the right side of the lot at 0:25 (the actual time is now 12:05am on July 5). It’s hard to see, but at the same time, a woman close to the street is walking her dog(s) in the middle section of the lot, toward me and parallel to the car.
The car swings around and is heading toward the woman, who has to move over to avoid it. All along, fireworks guy is shooting away in the general direction of the car and woman. As the car passes the woman, 2 more shots are fired (you might want to watch this part full-screen on YouTube to make this scene more visible).
Watch the second one carefully. It appears to hit the car and ricochet right back VERY close to the woman!
Fireworks Guy just keeps on firing.
I took that section of the video and slowed it down to half-speed (no sound for some reason). I posted it on YouTube, but they automatically put it in Shorts, which I have zero interest in, so I deleted it. I’ll save it for that woman if I ever run into her. If anyone wants to see it, lemme know and I’ll email it to you.
About 15 minutes later, a Hackensack police car pulls in and – in the below 4-image sequence – starts talking to Fireworks Guy. Then a second HPD vehicle pulls in and talks to HPD1. Two minutes later, Fireworks Guy leaves. Three minutes after that – after a third HPD vehicle arrived – they all take off:
I’m wondering if that woman called the cops after nearly getting hit by fireworks. I see her fairly often walking her dogs, so I’ll have to introduce myself sometime.
“Hi – guess what I have a video of……………..”
On second thought, that might not be the best thing to say to a woman I don’t know.
I did another fireworks shoot on July 3 (Paramus) and I have two postponed ones to shoot tomorrow night. If you’re unlucky, I may combine all of them for yet another (groan!) fireworks post.
What can I tell you…………I like fireworks.
Thanks Bob.
Agreed that your favorite Macy’s shot was best. Also liked the color and composition of the 5 taken with the Canon.
Best fireworks photos I’ve ever seen!
Aloha Cuz.