Now if I recall correctly, I think the 4th of July Fireworks Show 2023 in Sullivan, was one of the shortest shows I have photographed in some time. I went back to 2017, when I photographed the Fireworks Show in Hot Springs, Arkansas…I can`t really compare that show to the Sullivan Show because the Hot Springs Show lasts a good 30 to 45 minutes each year…they spend a lot of money on that show but it is well worth every penny in my book. They shoot them at the Powerboat Dealership on Lake Hamilton, so you get the show in the sky and the great reflections on the water, too. When I shot that show in 2017, I shot around 150 to 200 time exposure photos and several videos as well, from the balcony of a good friend`s condo that is right on Lake Hamilton a quarter mile from the Powerboat Dealer. Here are a few of those photos and one video….
Take note of the crowd, most of whom are in their boats on the lake surrounding the Powerboat Dealership and on both sides of the Hwy 7 Bridge that crosses Lake Hamilton by the dealership, and the water reflections. During the years that I was in the Hot Springs area for a week during July 4th holidays, I could easily shoot at least 3 Fireworks Shows down there over that entire weekend at different locations and I could easily shoot at least 100 photos at each one, if not more, and more importantly, I would easily be able to keep 95 of those photos in my files.
At the Sullivan Fireworks Shows in the past five years alone, I normally shoot 50 to 60 photos at a good show, and 5 to 7 videos….I did that in 2018 and 2019, but since then, I am lucky if I have shot 40 photos and a few videos. Whether you are going to have a good show, highly depends on who the City Council awards the bid to. In 2023 I kept about 20 photos total in my file, and that was it…pretty dismal show overall. I remember thinking, while watching and photographing that show, that Sullivan Firefighters put on much better shows at the Sullivan High School Football Field in the 1970`s and we shot them one at a time usually.
Here are the photos I shot and kept for the 2023 Show….the first is the huge full moon that night, started out at sunset as a Orange Harvest Moon…
AVI 191 Grand Finale Celebrate America July 2nd, 2023
I shot 3 videos and this is the 3rd one, the Grand Finale that was messed up at the start and the end.