Victoria Day

Tweety Bird, our marker on the beach.

This weekend I took it upon myself to organize a group to head down to the beach to photograph the fireworks. Originally I was going to go down to the beach by myself with a tripod but I figured I'd be more social and invite friends to join me. I would like to point out that part of the friend prodding was to get some of my shut-in friends to get out to meet some new people as some of them have been complaining that they never get invited to anything or know anyone.

I posted a general invite on facebook and because it was the long weekend and the saturday (the fireworks were on monday) I figured the group would be small or even non-existent consisting mainly of just the shut-ins. Surprisingly we had a pretty good turn out.

In order to meet up in a large crowded area I got an idea to place a Tweety bird on a light stand. I had won the stuffed animal at the CNE at one of those guess your age/weight booths and it's been sitting in a ziplock bag ever since. It seemed like a good idea. The light stand is ten feet tall and the Tweety Bird is a bright yellow.

When faced with reality I should have gotten a 10 foot blimp. From the boardwalk, looking at the designated spot on the beach just south of the change room hut I couldn't see the Tweety Bird marker at all. It was completely blended in. A "Where's Waldo" picture would have been easier. The sun going down coating the beach in darkness just made things more difficult.

Luckily I had also posted my cell phone number. Simon Lau, another photographer friend, managed to come out and couldn't find us. Calling me on my cell phone I managed to describe where we were on the beach relative to fireworks going off around us. Eventually we could see him on the horizon walking toward us on the phone. He looked like a guy walking through a field being bombed by enemy fire just like in those war films... only with more color. I swear he just missed a firecracker going off by centimeters.

The fireworks lasted for about 15 minutes and were over with a dud firework going off right at the end that seemed 1/10 the size of the fireworks before it. Below are some of the fireworks I managed to shoot. For more images you can see them on Facebook.


This firework was cool in that is left behind long strings of pixie dust... cool that is until we almost got hit with some debris.




The sky was actually this red.




Personal fireworks collections going off on the beach.




Sparklers and a long open shutter.