A change of position
I was torn as to shooting the fireworks from Walla Walla Point Park as I did last year or from the east side of the Columbia River. I chose the river view for a couple of reasons. As I mentioned, I had done the park photographs last year, but more importantly, I didn’t want to be tied into the parking fiasco in the event of a major fire.
So my son, Aaron, and I headed to the river, specifically Porter’s Pond, where my brother, Sid, used to hang out in the summer with his buddies a long time ago.
I had set up my camera on a tripod with a friendly family we met in the foreground. I made a test image to be ready and waited for the show.
I thought it would be a nicely framed image with fireworks going off between the two trees. I also took some time and photographed Dalton Miller by the river at sunset.
But after the lights of the park turned off and the first shell went into the sky, I knew I had a huge problem. The fireworks were not blowing up where I thought they would be. Instead, they were way off the the right of my frame, about where the tree was located.
Aaron and I quickly grabbed my gear and walked closer to the water and off to the left, thankfully for a clear view.
It’s a nice image but I really miss not having people in the foreground for some perspective.