The only thing that breaks my heart during a fire work display is the imminent feeling that it’s all going to end soon. My progeny has picked up this side of me and it comes into a full, loud, and often open display whenever we watch a fire works show together. That is when she feels the need to nudge me or pull my arm just about when the third or fourth cracker is about to begin its spectacular descent with the comment; “Oh dad, I hope this doesn’t end soon. Or, daddy how many more minutes”…all the while afraid to take her eyes from the sky lest she miss that special one – the one that she will speak about all the way on the ride back home. When she was smaller, she would inevitably break into tears, afraid the moment was going to be over. As she got older, her apprehensions remained, but they were not so publicly displayed and she stopped the nudging and the pulling of my arms  but would slowly move towards me as the show culminated in a blaze of pyrotechnic glory and I would hazard a glance towards her, you know,  when those series of fireworks one after the other,  leaves the barges with a continuous whizzing sound, shooting them to the skies in glorious wonder and i would catch my girl wipe away secret tears.

So this year, I decided to capture this pyrotechnic marvel in all its resplendent glory. I mean really capture it. Not my usual attempts at photographing it like the hundreds of other Independence day revelers, pointing their lens to the skies hopeful of capturing the feel and the glory before the short-lived spectacle of a burst died down, but capturing the essence of human emotions, encapsulating that high  when one looks into the open spaces of the endless skies exploding with every magical colorful story that the firework tells. I wanted to capture the emotion and the drama not only in the skies but also that human feeling of elation and suspense. But I have to be honest. I did it more for me than for her. With high school looming ahead in a few months and her insistence that she “ain’t no little no more”, I wanted to keep something of her with me that would always remain child-like and little.

Feel free to enjoy the display and if you have had difficulty capturing the full effect of fireworks then do reach out to me. May be I will have a tip to share that could enhance your capture. Happy 4th to you all!