Fireworks - David Mathre Photography

29-June-2023 (Thursday) — New Jersey

Independence Day Fireworks

Montgomery Township typically celebrates Independence Day with fireworks several days before the 4th of July. Last year was the first fireworks display for a couple of years due to Covid-19. I live near a great location that overlooks the high school where the township holds the fireworks celebration. Actually, I have been using this spot for over 30 years to watch the fireworks. I got there just before sunset. The sky was hazy with smoke from the Canadian forest fires. A couple of cars arrived before me, but there was still plenty of space to park and to set up three cameras on tripods. The moon was visible but dimmed somewhat due to the haze. As it got dark a few fireflies were visible, but nowhere near as many as last year. I set the cameras up as follows: Base ISO (50 or 64), f/11, 8 second exposure. The fireworks started just before 21:30. I was a bit slow getting all of the cameras focused and starting the cameras interval timer to automatically take images until the show was over. Unfortunately, with one camera the focus wasn’t quite right. The other two were in focus. Images below.

Images taken with a Leica SL2 camera and 90-280 mm f/2.8-4 lens (ISO 50, 280 mm, f/11, 8 sec). Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Images taken with a Nikon Z9 camera and 105 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 64, 105 mm, f/11, 8 sec). Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Has anyone other than the folks trying to log onto my WordPress account noticed that I haven’t posted anything since February? It seems there have been hundreds of daily brute force attempts to guess my username and password.

Thursday (30-June-2022) — New Jersey

Independence Day Fireworks

Montgomery Township typically celebrates Independence Day with fireworks several days before the 4th of July. The fireworks have been canceled the last couple of years due to Covid-19. The current infection rate is listed as moderate, so the township decided to go forward with the fireworks this year. Not far from where I live is a great location that overlooks the high school. I got there at about sunset. Several cars had already arrived, but I still found a good spot to set up two cameras on tripods. The settings I used were ISO 100, f/11, and an exposure of 4 or 8 seconds. I then used the images to produce the following time-lapse videos. I may go back later and add music.

Did anyone notice that I haven’t posted any bird, flower, or garden images during June? Is anyone out there… Other than the thousands of attempts to login and hack the site?

Daily Electric Energy Used (75.9 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (78.5 kWh) from Sense. Sunny. Surplus of 2.6 kWh.

Monthly Electric Energy Used (1987 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (1931 kWh) from Sense. Deficit of 56 kWh.

Tuesday (31-December-2019) — Florida

Gone to See Florida — 2019 Road Trip.

First Night Fireworks in St. Petersburg. My brother and I went down to Vinoy park to view the early fireworks display. I set up two cameras [Fuji X-T3 camera with a 8-16 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 8 mm, f/8, 8 sec) and Leica CL camera with a 18 mm lens (ISO 100, 18 mm, f/8, 8 sec)] and a Garmin VIRB-360 time-lapse camera to record the show. The early fireworks display was only 5 minutes long. I think the show just before midnight is longer, but I needed to get up early to start on my way back to New Jersey.

Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter gallery with the individual images in the following slideshow.

Daily Electric Energy Used (36.4 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (13.4 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. A deficit of 22.9 kWh. Most of the hydroponic gardens were off or only on for fewer hours. Also, the thermostat for the Geothermal heater and hybrid heat pump hot water heater were set for vacation mode.

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Tuesday (01-January-2019) — Florida

Happy New Years from St. Petersburg.

Fireworks from downtown St. Petersburg. I think the fireworks are shot off from a barge in Vinoy basin. We had to back off to a park near the pool along Tampa bay. Even then I was hit by the paper residue from one of the firework mortars. I set up two cameras to get pictures during the show. First a Nikon D850 camera with a 20 mm f/1.8 lens (ISO 64, 20 mm, f/11, 8 sec). The second a Fuji X-T3 camera and 8-16 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 10 mm, f/8, 8 sec).

Individual images from the slide shows can be viewed here.

Seven-Years Ago (30-June-2011) — New Jersey

Summer in New Jersey. Independence Day Fireworks Video.

DSLR video of the 30-June-2011 Montgomery Township Fireworks display. The Nikon D3s camera is limited to 5 minute HD (720P) video segments. I ended up with three 5 minute segments. I left the in-camera sound recording on to get the sound effects of the fireworks. I also got commentary about the fireworks from a family sitting in front of my tripod. At one point you can hear a train whistle. The other clicking sound is the shutter of my other cameras. I used Adobe Premiere Pro to combine the first and third segments, zoomed in a bit so the firework display takes up more of the image, and increased the volume. I also used Premiere Pro to add a title page to the video.