Fourth

Published in the Reedsburg Independent, July 8, 2010. Taken at Pineview Elementary School,

Fireworks are notoriously difficult to photograph. The challenge is in the timing. Fire too soon and it's just the tail. Fire too late and it's just smoke. You've got to get the camera settings right too, otherwise the lighting is all screwy.

Jeff's instructions for taking Fourth of July photos always include the phrase, "If you mess it up, we can always use a photo from last year," which is mildly comforting.

This year's fireworks  seemed good to go, despite the sky having been overcast most of the day. Then, right before dusk, a downpour started. Apparently the organizers decided that because they'd already spent the entire day setting up, they were just going to shoot em off anyway and all at once, so that's what they did in probably the shortest fireworks show in recent memory. I ran down to the park to get this shot of the few brave souls who were left. We put it on the front page.