Fireworks

New Bedford 4th of July Fireworks 2011
2011 display was fired from a barge in New Bedford harbor. Fireworks supplied by Atlas PyroVision.
Click on any picture to enlarge.

I was part of the larger crew that set up the display, but much to my wife's delight, I was not on the barge when the display was fired.
This gave me the opportunity to shoot these pictures.

These pictures were taken from the Fairhaven side of the harbor with the New Bedford skyline in the background. A Canon XS DSLR camera on a tripod was set to 30 second exposure, F32, ISO 100. The long exposures captured the complete firing of multiple shells in each image.

The largest bursts are the 8 inch shells, smaller bursts are 6, 5 and 4 inch shells.

Last two images show the finale. The many 3 inch shells fired so rapidly as to create a large white area in the picture and clearly visible fire and smoke trail coming from the display barge!

Setup for the New Bedford 2011 display

                       tugboat positioning our barge                 building/attaching the frames that hold firing tubes in position

                   loading and wiring 6 inch shells         and the 8 inch shells which are fired from metal tubes buried in sand

3 inch shells strung together with quichmatch for the finale                  wiring the larger shells to the firing boxes

after setup the tubes were covered in plastic to protect against the chance of rain

this Pyromate box is used to fire the show and is connected through               watch out for this guy - looks like trouble
the grey wires to each firing box

New Bedford 4th of July Fireworks 2010
2010 display was fired from the New Bedford hurricane dike.
Click on any picture to enlarge.

3000 shells fired in the 40 minute show with almost 1000 shells fired in the 6 minute Finale
25 boxes of fireworks: "Cakes" plus 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 inch "shells"

Fireworks display was set up on about 1000 feet of the access road on the New Bedford hurricane dike

       Wearing a fireman's coat.                         3000 shells in 25 boxes                      flares and shooter wire
Safety glasses, ear plugs, helmet             (makes my rocketry supplies look                 used to light shells
and gloves added later.                      very modest by comparison)

over 900 three inch tubes plus some 4 and 6 inch tubes for the finale controller used for the 8 inch shells and cakes

the big 8 inch tubes packed in sand, two in each barrel laying out the 6 inch shells

6 inch shells in tubes each with a covered quickmatch fuse the finale with almost 1000 shells on one fuse

now that is what I call a cluster! the crew in protective gear lighting BIG fireworks with flares
very exciting and lots of fun
gotta love the smell of BP

3000 fireworks thundered and flashed for 40 minutes with almost 1000 shells fired in the 6 minute Finale