Have A Great 3rd Of July
On this date 230 years ago, John Adams wrote his wife, Abigail,
Oops
So, did you all have a grand and glorious Second of July celebration?
Adams assumed the Independence Day festivities would take place on July 2, the date when Congress passed the Lee Resolution, declaring independence from England. I bet he feels silly now. The inestimable Wikipedia Independence Day entry includes a succinct discussion of several dates, in addition to July 2 and July 4 that could have legitimately won the Independence Day holiday lottery.
It may not surprise the faithful readers of the Heck Of A Guy Blog to discover that this profusion and confusion of dates holds sufficient appeal for us to confer official HeckOfAGuy holiday status on the Third of July, honoring not only Adams’ faux pas-documenting correspondence to Abigail but also Chicago’s tradition of holding the municipal celebration of Independence Day on July 3.1
Whiz Bang Stuff
To enhance your Independence Day celebration, on whatever date prefer, DrHGuy is offering a tad of his own advice and a batch of links to useful info about fireworks, BBQ grills, beer, and singing.
It should be noted that DrHGuy is pyrotechnically inhibited, almost never uses his outdoor grill (although he enjoys eating chunks of meat hotted up over chunks of charcoal), rarely sings anything other than the Camp CYOKAMO song, and, despite repeated efforts made throughout his collegiate and med school days, still dislikes beer. That DrHGuy’s best advice has to do with activities in which he doesn’t participate explains why this compendium of wisdom will not include tips for, say, the Sky rockets in flight; Afternoon delight holiday option.
On the other hand, I can suggest an excellent source of information on snapping photos of fireworks. The other recommendations will follow (just as soon as I write them).
Photographing Fireworks
The New York Institute of Photography offers an extensive collection of online How To presentations. Three of these deal with taking photos of fireworks:
- How to Photograph Fireworks: Or Have Fun on the Fourth of July: Taking photographs of large, public fireworks displays.
- Shooting Fireworks with a Digital Camera: Photographing fireworks with a digital camera.
-
Photographing Fireworks in Your Backyard: Making photos of backyard fireworks displays
Footnotes
- Chicago has chosen to devote July 4 to ridiculing the hundreds and thousands of folks who show up in the city parks and along the lakeshore every year to watch the fireworks on the fourth. ~back~
Enjoyed the link on taking pictures of fireworks - will have to take camera and tripod out to the golf course to watch the fireworks and give this a go.
Comment by MindSpin — July 3, 2006 @ 5:18 pm