July 4 Fireworks

I've wanted to photograph fireworks for a while but never got around to it. Well this year I did it. I hauled my DSLR and tripod to the Potomac River bank in Virginia and set up opposite the capitol mall. As usual, there were enough boats to almost walk across the river. This year, the event is in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. The crowds on shore were sparse, but the river was packed. Last time, we had a nice spot, settled in, and just as the show was about to start, a dinner cruise boat (Odyssey I'm still mad at you) sailed up and partially blocked the view while spewing stinky exhaust. At least this year the pandemic kept the big boats away.

Boats on the Potomac

I've actually seen this show twice before: once from the south lawn of the White House (very cool), and once from the Virginia shore. This was a return to the same general area on the Virginia shore. Previous experience lulled me into a sense that I knew what would happen. The show was different this time. Previously, the fireworks launched from alongside the Reflecting Pool. This year, the launch was from two distinct spots, one around the base of the Washington Monument and I think the other spot was on the Georgetown Waterfront Park. Well, I set up to shoot the area that was visually between the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial and figured out pretty fast that was a bad choice when fireworks started launching from the extreme left and right of my composition. I tried that for a while but switched to concentrating on the Washington Monument, which turned out to be a good choice.

Two Shows at Once

So I recomposed, which then undid my careful horizon leveling job that I did in the daylight. After the fact, I had to straighten almost all of my photos. Now and then good reflections on the water showed the silhouettes of the many boats, including the one boat with the American flag lights.

Fireworks Around the Washington Monument

The variety of fireworks made for a lot of unique shots.

Fireworks

I had my camera on a tripod, in bulb mode, focused on infinity, ISO 100 (yes 100, the lights are bright) and f11 (for depth of field, and again the lights are bright). I had a wired remote trigger that tripped the shutter and held it open for as long as I held the button. I experimented with short exposures and longer ones and watched the results on the rear screen. I quickly learned that the bright white fireworks will blow the highlights out, so when I saw those I went for shorter exposures. Otherwise, I just sat and waited for rising fireworks, triggered, held it open for the burst, then closed the shutter and waited for the next sequence.

Fireworks

I liked the sequences with colors and reflections, although I wish there were fewer boats in the foreground.

Colors and Reflections

After a while, the altitude of the bursts got higher and I had to recompose and zoom out. This meant some of the shots have a tree in the foreground: I wasn't expecting to be shooting in that direction. I was able to crop the tree out of most of the shots that I cared about.

Higher Bursts

Eventually we got to the big finish.

Big Finish

OK, lessons learned:

• That was waaay more fun than I expected.
• The launch site at Georgetown stopped launching about a third of the way into the other show; I made the right choice to concentrate on the Washington Monument. Actually I hope they keep launching from that site in the future because I think it looks better than when they launch from the Reflecting Pool area.
• Every now and then an airplane would pass in the background, or a helicopter would pass closer in the background. Their light trails appear in some of the photos. Annoying, but easy to remove if they're not among the fireworks bursts.
• Next time, choose a spot that will have less chance of obstructions in case I have to recompose in the dark. Also, bring and use a spirit level.

Edit:

I wrote the text above on July 5, 2020. Rereading this on July 3, 2021, I realize that I left some details out. I’m planning to go again to the fireworks show tomorrow. So I also reviewed my photos from last year. This leads me to the following plan for tomorrow:

• F11, ISO 100, 24mm, 1-3 second exposures on bulb mode, autofocus OFF, focus at infinity.
• Use a wired remote trigger.
• The launch site is either side of the reflecting pool, unlike last year. While there’s still daylight, get the tripod set up with the camera viewing a LEVEL horizon.
• Bring a flashlight so it’s possible to see what I’m doing if I have to fiddle with the tripod or camera in the dark.

Salute to America Flyover

I'm a pilot. I'm a plane watcher. I'm a photographer. When I have a chance to photograph airplanes, I shoot. When I have a chance to photograph rare airplanes, I really shoot.

On July 4, 2020, in the middle of the worsening COVID-19 pandemic, the president wanted a military flyover of the White House prior to the fireworks show. Lots of rare airplanes were scheduled to make an appearance. I won't get a chance like this again (I don't think he'll be reelected). My family assessed the risks, and we decided to go to our preferred spot on the Virginia side of the Potomac River directly across from the capitol mall. We got our masks, hand sanitizer, and cold drinks. I lugged my camera with lenses: 300mm for the aircraft, 24-70mm for the fireworks, 70-200mm because I wasn't sure whether the 24-70 was the right focal length range. We parked at the Pentagon north lot, crossed Boundary Channel, and picked a spot on the river bank with gaps in the trees and a nice view of the opposite shore. Our plan was to turn around and go home if it was too crowded for social distancing. It turned out that the crowd was pretty sparse. But there were more boats than I remember from our trip to this spot 2 years ago.

Boats on the Potomac on July 4, 2020

Thankfully the weather was only hot and humid, not brutally hot and humid. We got there early to be sure we could get a decent spot, then waited for the flyover to begin. The VC-25, tail number SAM-28000, which has the call sign Air Force One when the president is aboard, flew over about 15 minutes early.

VC-25A

I've wanted to see this airplane ever since I moved to Virginia 25+ years ago but I was never in the right place at the right time. This airplane was surprisingly quiet. As the light faded and the hazy twilight started, more aircraft came over. It was tough to get good shots. Here's a B-17 Flying Fortress accompanied by 4 P-51 Mustangs.

B-17 and P-51s

Several C-47 Skytrains also flew over.

C-47

Several other WWII bombers flew over, but my photos of them are unremarkable. Then the BUFF came over. I remember seeing them when I went to an air show at Barksdale AFB in the 80s. This one was nowhere near as loud but just as smoky.

B-52 Stratofortress

There was a series of helicopters representing the Vietnam war. Then more cold war aircraft, and finally the BONE flew by.

B-1 Lancer

I've never seen a B-1 in flight until this event. I saw several in storage at Davis-Monthan (boneyard) and one at the Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton. But this was the first flyer for me. Another first (for me) was the KC-46.

KC-46 Pegasus

This tanker has an incredible history of production problems. I saw one on the ramp at the Boeing factory in Everett years ago, but this was a first time in flight sighting for me. Yet another lifer for me was the B-2. Its shape is odd, making for a very strange look in my photos. In this shot, the wingtip at the top of the photo is closer to me than the wingtip at the bottom of the photo, but this perspective makes that seem unclear.

B-2 Spirit

Then came the F-22s and then yet another lifer for me, F-35s, but (sadly) again the photos are bad. Finally, the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels came over together, passing over Arlington Cemetery, then over the White House, then they turned around, flew back over the White House again, and the Thunderbirds did their famous break maneuver while the Blue Angels stayed on a straight course. I almost missed this shot because I wasn't expecting them to come back and had changed lenses (for the fireworks show) in the meantime.

Blue Angels and Thunderbirds

This was a very cool set of aircraft, some of them incredibly rare, and I'm glad I took the time to go sweat in the heat and wait for them to go by. Then we stayed for the fireworks show, which I'll describe in a different post.