This year, working from the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada Day on July 1 gets all the attention. But with July 4 quickly approaching, I find myself looking back through fireworks photos from years past across various American towns.
I have always been a fan of long exposure light photography. Cars’ headlight trails… glow sticks waving in the air… you name it! But it is all too easy (for me, as opposed to a light master like Barry Underwood) to veer into a predictable flashiness with this kind of imagery. Then one year, I thought, well July 4th is intentionally predictably flashy! What a fantastic pairing.
So every July 4th, I head out with my DSLR and wave it around in the air with a long exposure over the course of a fireworks performance (not stopping to review images because who has time in the deluge of fireworks!). And then, at the end of the night, flipping through photos, I always find images captured something my camera saw that I did not. It is the closest I still get to the special joy from developing a roll of film where the results are a delightful surprise (or disappointment), but regardless, the delayed gratification tremendously increases my pleasure from the entire process. Whizz crackle pop bang whoosh!
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: CORWIN LEVI
Corwin is a visual artist working in design, illustration, bookmaking, curating, and writing. As an artist, he has attended over twenty artist residencies. He has also have lived in eighteen cities across twelve states. Along with Michelle Aldredge, he co-created Mirror Mirrored: An Artists’ Edition of 25 Grimms’ Tales. He is currently remixing vintage game boards and making a book from illustrations of Alice in Wonderland.
