Although I've been down to shoot the fireworks at Disneyland on a number of occasions, I've never shot them on the Fourth of July as our passes were usually blocked out or I had other family commitments for the night. This was the first year that all of my kids were off at camp, and I had the whole afternoon and evening to shoot with my friends Mike and Diane Greening.
I was expecting epic crowds and was shocked when I encountered no lines from the parking structure all the way into the park at just past 2pm. Mike and I staked out some prime real estate down on the end of Main Street and shot the parade from both directions before setting up our tripods for the fireworks. Roughly an hour before the fireworks began, everyone and their mother came pouring into the park, and Main Street was literally standing room only for about an hour. Mike and I bravely held onto our positions, and actually ventured into the crowd to ask people to pull down their balloons which kept bouncing up into our shots.
When the show actually began, we were both relieved that we had wait had paid off. No kids on shoulders or balloons were in our shot, and we weren't kicked out by security for using our completely legal tripods. (See Gregg Cooper, Ryan Pastorino, or Don Sullivan for more sordid details.) As the first shells went up, we shot like men possessed. Just when we were thinking that nothing could go wrong....a giant smoke cloud appeared in the sky and sat RIGHT in front of all of the new shells that were exploding. And it sat....and sat....and sat and never left for the rest of the show. Mike, who was planning on a composite and couldn't re-focus his shot, was done for the night. Two and a half hours of holding that spot for nothing. :(
As I wasn't holding out for a composite, I zoomed in and hoped for the best. I've got a few more from the evening that I'll be posting later. All in all, it was a wonderful day, and I couldn't think of anywhere else that would have rather been on the Fourth of July than on Main Street with good friends to watch the fireworks.
Happy Fireworks Friday everyone!
Tags: Dinseyland Fourth Of July Fireworks Main Street Nikon D7000 Nikkor 18-200 VR
© All Rights Reserved
After spending two weeks traveling across Europe which included Solstice at Stonehenge, sunsets in Edinburgh, the tallest alps in Austria, and the Louvre, Eiffel Tower and a cruise on the Seine River in Paris, my kids and I agreed that there is no place like home. We met some amazing people while we were traveling, and we saw some of the most breathtaking scenes we have ever encountered, but after stepping off Virgin Atlantic VS007 last Saturday, we knew we could never be truly happy living anywhere else on this planet. We are so privileged to live in this country, and we're glad to be back in time to celebrate it's birthday today.
Happy Fourth Of July Everyone!
(Explored at #18 on 7/4/11. Thanks for the views and comments.)
Tags: Fourth Of July Disneyland Fireworks Patriotic Castle Main Street Nikon D90 Sigma 10-20
© All Rights Reserved
(PLEASE view large on black if you have a moment by hitting the "L" key. :) )
I was going to go back last night for one more Mark Twain fireworks attempt as the park was closing early due to grad night, but eventually gave up on the idea as June Gloom has now arrived and I had far too much work to do. Instead, I looked back over my shots from last year and found a couple that I had completely passed over. This was taken during my first attempt at the fireworks over the Mark Twain which was a great learning experience for me. I think it was right after this incident that I sent a flickr mail to Matt Pasant asking him how on earth he ended up with his incredible fireworks shots. Most of the frames that I shot after this one were either very soft or completely blown out. My complaint to Matt was that I had no idea what to focus on. I had assumed I should be focusing on the shells each time, and Matt very kindly pointed out that I might have better results if I boosted my ISO to around f11-13 and find a fixed point to focus on, i.e. the castle, Mark Twain, or Big Thunder Mountain. On my next trip I followed his advice and was much more satisfied with my results. This was one of only about 5 frames that was decent from my first attempt as I kept trying to re-focus after each shot and my camera was having none of that.
I was also disappointed that the fireworks were a bit too far to the left as I was trying to get them directly behind the Mark Twain, and they had turned the lights off on the boat as they purportedly interfered with the view of guests on board. It was then I learned that if you want Fireworks shots over the Mark Twain with its lights ON, you had to find a night when the park was closing early as the boat would be making no more trips after the fireworks, i.e. grad nights. In spite of this, I rather like how this came out as I caught a bit of Tom Sawyer's Island, Big Thunder, the Mark Twain and the reflection of Frontierland. Sadly, after this shot, it was all down hill from there. : /
Happy Fireworks Friday!
(Looks best when Viewed Large On Black )
Tags: Disneyland Fireworks Frontierland Tom Sawyer's Island Mark Twain Nikon D7000 Nikkor 18-200 VR
© All Rights Reserved
Yet another Fireworks Friday shot from almost a year ago on a grad night. The bit of blue still remaining in the sky is due to the fact that they started the show at 8:45 PM. I think Grad Nights in June have the lightest skies of the year as the shows are so near to the Summer Solstice and they can't go later than 8:45. A word of advice if you hang around for the fireworks on one of these shorter evenings: You haven't SEEN gridlock until you get a good sized crowd in Disneyland all trying to leave at the same time with all of the shops CLOSED. Usually the crowd departure is staggered as guests leave over a four hour time period, but on Grad Nights, EVERYONE leaves at exactly the same time as the entire park shuts down promptly at 9 PM. It took me roughly about an hour to get out of the park and back up through Downtown Disney. Forget about the tram lines. So....If you are headed to the park on a Grad Night this year and you want to wait for the fireworks, expect one of the longest waits of the year getting out of the park.
If you get a chance, please View Large On Black
Happy Fireworks Friday!
(Explored at #438 on 5/14/11)
Tags: Disneyland Mark Twain Fireworks Frontierland Big Thunder Mountain Rivers Of America Nikon D90 Nikkor 18-200 VR
© All Rights Reserved
Of all of the shells that are set off during the recent fireworks shows at Disneyland, the Holy Grail of bursts seems to be the three shells that comprise Mickey Mouse. Finding the right spot to shoot this from can be a bit of a challenge. If you are lucky enough to score a spot right in front of the castle, half of Mickey is behind the left side and looks a bit small. Further down Main Street you have trees to deal with depending on where you set up, and Mickey isn't visible at all if you try to get a shot from in front of Frontierland. After trying this shot from Innoventions, It's A Small World, Big Thunder and from in front of POTC, I think it's most effective behind the castle. The trade off from this angle, which is just south of the Tomorrowland entrance in the hub, is you have a big fat tree to contend with in front of the castle. But the shells, to me anyway, look about twice as big if you crop in a bit, and nothing says "Disneyland" like the castle.
Happy Fireworks Friday!
Shot with the Nikkor 18-20.
© All Rights Reserved