Lighting Up The Sky

L'International des Feux Loto-Québec continued last night with a display from Italy.  I hadn't really intended on using this location for the show, but it was rather windy and I didn't want to go to far from home and end up making the trek back with nothing but zig-zagged photographs because the wind was so strong that it was blowing my tripod around.  So, I went to a large parking lot that's a few short minutes away from where I live.  Better a short disappointing walk home than a long one.  Ofcourse, I was once again overreacting.  I had a little ace up my sleeve.  Back in the month of May, I took some photographs of the Biosphere on a windy night.  I managed to take those photographs by using an umbrella to block the wind so that my tripod wouldn't be sent swinging, thus ruining my shots.  So, on a clear July evening, if you happened to be close to the Jacques Cartier Bridge and noticed a guy with a camera holding an umbrella, he wasn't crazy.  There was a method to my madness. I placed myself  in a spot where I knew the fireworks would be going off in the sky, while leaving part of the bridge in the foreground.  I also managed to include some of the highway in the shot so I could get some light trails from the passing cars.  I still really like the shots when the police cars pass by.  Adds some nice colours to the bottom of the screen.  The final thing I tried to get into my shot was the road sign pointing out the Jacques Cartier Bridge.  I thought it was kind of fun to have the sign there, pointing at the actual bridge.  The first shot was taken at f/10, 11sec, ISO 100 at 24mm and the second was taken at f/10, 13sec, ISO 100 at 24mm.  Here are a couple more shots from the show.

f/10, 11sec, ISO 100 at 24mm

f/10, 16sec, ISO 100 at 24mm

f/10, 9sec, ISO 100 at 24mm

f/10, 17sec, ISO 100 at 24mm

I didn't notice this while I was taking the photos, but if  you check near the bottom of some of my shots, you can see someone standing near the highway, watching the show.  Fun little surprise.  I hope you enjoyed these photographs.