Project 365 d-184

     The night before the forth of July and my home was full of family and friends in a pre-celebration of our Nations Independence. It was a time of great food and great fellowship. The weather was good and I was looking forward to some firework antics when it got dark. Tucked away in my basement were a big stash of fire crackers from years past. Living in the city made it a little hard to use them, but this year I live in the country. After grabbing a large bag; I stuffed it full and headed back upstairs to get busy with my plans.

     My nephew was sitting at the table when I came outside. He is at the perfect mischievous age for fire crackers, and I planned to let him share in the fun as well. First, I casually walked over to the blazing fire pretending to inspect it. As I stood there gazing into the flames; I slyly slid my hand into my pocket and pulled a big pack of boomers. After taking a quick look around to make sure nobody was watching; I tossed the pack into the fire and quickly stepped away. Smirking as I went back toward the tables, it sounded like somebody was opening up with a machine gun, and all the ladies shrieked at the sound. I couldn't help but chuckle at them for their reaction. What a child I am sometimes. My Nephew's eyes were as big as semi tires and the look on his faced probably mirrored mine. He was trying to ask me about the fire crackers as I sat down next to him. I didn't answer him, but instead reached in my pocket for a handful of booming goodies, and secretly handed them to him under the table. Whispering to him I said, "Don't use them all at once and be careful"! He nodded with excitement and snuck off toward the glowing fire. It wasn't more than a minute before a series off  loud popping sounds caused most to raise slightly out of their seats as their faces contorted slightly at being startled. All I could do was smile and act surprised as I worked on making another Deviled egg disappear.

     Surprisingly, nobody said anything to either one of us, and seemed to take it all in stride. After all, it was only one day away from the explosion holiday and this kind of thing was to be expected. With this in mind; I asked my nephew to be my photo assistant and he gladly agreed. Getting my tripod and setting  it close to the fire; I entrusted him with the remaining fire crackers. "Throw one at a time into the fire when I tell you", I instructed him. He just nodded and stood ready for my command. My camera was set to a long exposure as I told him to toss the first one. More popping and banging, but this time I was documenting the violence among the hot coals. My experimentation included panning, zooming, panning while zooming and just tilting the camera. Each time my expert assistant either faithfully tossed the package right where they needed to go, or poked at them with a stick to get them into the flames. He especially seemed to enjoy the ladder rather than the former.  It took many more packages to get the right look for the photo I wanted, but it was a fun photo shoot. After perusing the many images; I chose this one for the  implied movement, and deep black surrounding the glowing lines. Yet again I believe the personality of the flames has come out, and I imagine I will continue to re-visit fire in the days ahead to continue my exploration. For now, it is time to put my camera away and get back to making those Deviled eggs disappear. I fear that by tomorrow it may well be my stomach that is exploding as well as the fireworks.

Happy Shooting.