Yesterday was the Fourth of July, in case you forgot. This usually indicates a few things. Beer and cooked meat are plentiful, people will wave flags (usually American) and there will be fireworks.
Last year I was in Anniston for the 4th and shot a few things for the paper (see here). This year, since I was not tied directly to any newspaper I was able to hang out with friends and enjoy the spectacles for myself.
Tyler had informed me last week that he and some people were going to Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta to see a free concert and fireworks. This sounded alright to me so I traveled down with him, his roommates, and my friend Sam. MARTA was easy, the park was crowded, and the fireworks were abundant.
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| Whats the Fourth of July without fireworks? |
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| Tyler Goforth shows off his awesome sunburn. |
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| We took MARTA to avoid traffic. It was the smarta thing to do. |
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| We took the train to the Peachtree Center station since it was only 3 blocks from the park. We also figured it would be less crowded than the Georgia Dome/CNN Center station that’d we would have to inevitably transfer at 5 Points for. |
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| They need to replace the ceiling at Peachtree Center. |
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| Some of the others in the group stopped for Dairy Queen while we waited for the final person to arrive. |
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| Al enjoys his blizzard. |
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| The Westin Peachtree Plaza was hit by a tornado over a year ago and they haven’t been able to replace the glass since the glass used in the building hasn’t been produced in years. I heard the current plan is to replace all of the glass so that it will match when complete. |
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| We finally arrived at the park. |
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| The light was very directional at this point in the afternoon so I used it to get a nice highlight only shot. |
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| A little closer but same idea. |
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| Always find people making interesting faces in the fountain. |
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| This little girl appeared to be sucking on her leg. |
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| WXIA, NBC 11, was broadcasting live from the park. |
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| Some kidsi raced with American flags… |
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| Some people put them behind their ears… |
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| Some wore them… |
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| Some flags were hung on buildings… |
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| And some even wore them in their 1990′s era style hair. |
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| Following signage was optional apparently. |
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| Brett was couped up here. |
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| He missed the birdie. Harder said than done in badminton |
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| More bubbles. |
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| Waiting for the Vertical Horizon concert to start. |
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| Tyler really likes them. |
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| I really don’t. |
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| Eventually the fireworks started. I don’t have a tripod, nor did I want to carry one around all day and my plans to borrow a superclamp and ball head never panned out so I had to improvise. |
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| I had to find a somewhat clear spot, put my camera on the ground and put things under the lens to elevate it and hope it didn’t shake. Or attempt to hand hold like in this one. Not easy for 2.5 to 3 second exposures. |
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| Other times they did some surprising effect so I scrambled to change lenses. |
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| After the show finished we went back to MARTA, if there was a crowd, we definitely beat it. |
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| And then came the late night pizza. |
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i LOVE these. especially the fountain scenes and the close up of the girl with that amazing expression her face.
Awesome photography, the silhouette at the fountain, the candids and the fireworks are amazing. Thanks for sharing your work. I would like to know what lens you were using, thanks.
I usually shoot with three lenses, a wide, a medium and a telephoto so I can get a variety of shots.
Really dig the fourth from the bottom.