This is what happens when..

On Friday, my parents and I drove to a little old mining town called Columbia. Its near Sonora and it was cute and quaint and all those feelings you feel when you walk around a small town. It was hot beyond hot and we ducked into the stores as much as we could to escape it.

After walking around, watching people sift for gold, listening to the wonderful band, and watch little kids climb up greased poles for money, we headed back home to wait out the firework show later that night.


My sister was having a little gathering on their church lawn since it was a good view of the city’s fireworks, so we arrived and I set up my camera. We all chatted and hung out as we waited for the show to begin, and I was able to somehow convince my sister to make me a s’more as I sat there doing nothing. She’s a good sister, she is. I on the other hand…

As the show began, I took photos and couldn’t help but think how paltry the fireworks were. Nothing like what I’ve seen other cities do, and nothing like what a “County’s fireworks” display should be. This was the first time I had my camera set on a tripod with a remote, following online tutorials, so I was excited to see how they’d turn out, even if the show wasn’t spectacular. Turns out I left my shutter open for far too long, and it left many (all) of my shots streaky. And when the finale hit, well, you’ll see.

The finale: Here is a great example of what happens when the city shoots all of the fireworks off in the exact same spot, and you leave your shutter open for 6 seconds too long. A big bright white mess.

And this is how the majority of them turned out…

I’m pretty sure this is when my niece walked into my tripod.

So unless you want this look, I advise you follow the professionals who say to keep your shutter open from 2-6 seconds. Not the 8-13 seconds that I did.



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