Sunday Fireworks

On Sunday Dianne and I went downtown for the WEBN Labor Day fireworks associated with the Riverfest celebration. It is by far the largest fireworks display I've ever seen first hand. Dean and family came down from Dayton to join us.

Most of the items are launched from barges in the Ohio river between the Purple People Bridge and the Taylor-Southgate bridge near downtown Cincinnati. Literally hundreds of thousands of people flock to both sides of the river and the surrounding hills to see the display. The only reason we go is that the company Dianne works for makes an event out of it. The office is located at 1 Lytle Place which is almost perfectly centered between the two bridges. They provide passes, parking, and a semi-restricted viewing area so we don't have to battle the masses flocking to the river. It's a great viewing location. We waited in her air conditioned office until a half hour before the event. Pretty painless for such a wonderful display!

I hadn't tried taking fireworks photos before. Below are a few shots. No Photoshop composites, just long exposures. The last one was during the finale when there was a continuous rumble of hundreds of loud reports below the other charges. It was so intense the smoke didn't have a chance to clear. Click on an image to go to Flickr for a larger view or see the entire fireworks photo set on Flickr.