Leaving Before the Fireworks End

Fireworks displays in metro areas always mean serious traffic, but the line of stopped cars along Bushnell Park has clearly formed before the fireworks display even ended. From this vantage point, there’s luckily more to see than traffic; the magenta luminescence of excited lithium ions paints its colors across the buildings and treetops of downtown Hartford.

Leaving Before the Fireworks End

Bushnell Tower Watching Fireworks

Flying a drone in downtown Hartford requires some extra permissions, but they’re worth chasing for the opportunity to capture shots like this one: Bushnell Tower, the State Capitol, and a rain-checked fireworks display arrayed above Bushnell Park.

Bushnell Tower Watching Fireworks in the Park

Bicentennial Fireworks

This weekend, my wife and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary alongside Trinity College‘s bicentennial. Given that we met at college, the symmetry felt impactful. Though the fireworks might not have been intended to be exclusively for us, they felt just a little extra special.

Bicentennial Fireworks

July Fourth on the Water

We were in Traverse City, Michigan, during last year’s Fourth of July celebrations. Fireworks over the Grand Traverse Bay have some added drama, but the area is so far north (and west in its time zone) that the sky still hadn’t fully darkened.

Bicycles, Boats, and Explosions

After the main show has finished, private citizens produce their own displays up and down the beach.

Stochastic Trajectories

Dorm View of Fireworks

A full-scale fireworks display is usually “far away”—over a park or a body of water, perhaps. When St. Lawrence University puts on a fireworks show for graduation, however, the fireworks are right on campus. Imagine watching that show from your dorm-room window!

Dorm View of Fireworks

Commencement 2022 Fireworks

Congratulations to St. Lawrence University’s Class of 2022, who graduated yesterday. Celebrations on campus included this fireworks display. Huge arcs of chemical light across the sky look particularly appropriate over Johnson Hall—the chemistry (and biology) building.

Commencement 2022 Fireworks

Beach Fireworks

After the big Traverse City fireworks show over Lake Michigan, Americans on the shores continue to set off their own fireworks. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: this is pretty much the equivalent of kids in the movie theater parking lot hitting each other with plastic lightsabers after a Star Wars movie lets out.

Beach Fireworks

Tug Boat & Fireworks

Part of me wants to imagine that watching fireworks from the stern of a WWII-era tug would be a perfect summer experience… But another part wonders about the chipping paint and rust, hard corners and suspects that there might be some subtleties to perfecting the viewing location.
Tug Boat & Fireworks