Fireworks on the Beach

I’ve photographed fireworks nearly everywhere. While based in Moscow in the early 90’s for Reuters, I lived across from Gorky Park where there were fireworks nearly weekly during the summer months. In Beijing in the 80’s fireworks were about the only form of entertainment during the crackdown following the Tiananmen Square massacre. In Washington, DC where I spent ten years has great fireworks with one of the most dramatic settings when view from Arlington Cemetery across the river stacking up all the monuments in a beautiful line of history. Fireworks make beautiful pictures. Usually great firework pictures need a great foreground. You need to have something of interest in the foreground to match the drama of the fireworks and put them in perspective.  This is my first time shooting fireworks over the beach where the reflections on the ocean were specular and the colors wonderful.  While there is little foreground, the sillouhetted beachgowers give a small amount of perspective.  If you have a chance to see fireworks at the beach I recommend it.

These shots were taken at Front Beach on Isle of Palms, SC near my home. Shot with a Canon 5d Mark II with a 10-second exposure at f/20 at 400 ISO.