31 with a bang

With a summer birthday in Tokyo, I decided to invite a bunch of friends for a fireworks picnic party last night. Although there were a few tense raindrop moments, it turned out to be a very nice evening! (Thanks to all of you who attended!)

Of course, with the new camera, I HAD to take some photos. Looking over the photos this morning, I've discovered a few cardinal rules about fireworks. What follows is the result of a careful analysis.

Why You Shouldn't Photograph Fireworks

1. Fireworks happen at night. You didn't buy that $5000 reconnaissance camera, so you can't take photos at night. Remember that flash that always comes on? Well you can't use that for fireworks.
2. Photos don't move. No expansion, no fast-then-slow, no glittery falling things, no wandering after-effect spinny bits (which are my favorites)
3. They're far away. You're a sane person, and you elected not to sit directly underneath kilogram upon kilogram of speeding, fiery, gunpowder boom-ness for a reason. Sure, you can try the zoom, but I refer you to item #1.
   

4. Your hand shakes. For fuzzy bits, (above) it might look OK, but in general it looks weird (below). On the plus side, you're still alive, 'cause the leading cause for camera jitter is your heart beating.
   

5. You don't want to be one of those geeks who carries a huge tripod around. You're quite satisfied to be an entirely different kind of geek. (Namely, a type of geek who isn't strong enough to carry around said tripod.)
   

6. The tripod you ARE geeky enough to carry is too small. Still, the above was the best photo I got of the fireworks. After a while I kinda like the look of the people in silhouette at the bottom. If only I knew who those people where...
   

7. Everyone else is enjoying a pleasant outdoor experience, and you're staring at a small TV screen in front of your face.

...But, I wasn't the only one staring at a screen: a shot I didn't have time to grab was at 30 degrees to the right or left. You could see a sea of dim lights, as people tried to capture the moment on their cell phones or digital cameras. In Japan it's become second nature to grab the camera any time there's a touching moment. But in hind sight, I wonder if some things are better enjoyed with the electronic equipment turned off. Especially for something as difficult to capture as fireworks..