Happy New Year!
I can’t believe how long I’ve been away. I’ve had the busiest travel schedule since about September last year, with only 3 weeks where I stayed home in Melbourne for the entire week during those 4 months. Quite a struggle but it’s over now.
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday break and a lovely New Years Eve. I arrived back in Melbourne on the 30th December, and my best friend from Brisbane came down to spend NYE with me and a few days afterwards as well. We caught up with two other friends for dinner at a fab Greek restaurant nearby and then relaxed on my balcony afterwards with a cup of tea and some mint slice (so old, I know) while waiting for the fireworks.
I’ve never photographed fireworks before so this was quite the learning experience for me. My balcony doesn’t face the city, and the walls of the balcony are very high (above my head) but you can see the city if you get up on a ladder and lean out a little.
Sounds a lot more dangerous than it is.
So, the walls are high, which means I can’t use a tripod, so me and my trusty Olympus are going handheld again. You need a pretty slow shutter for fireworks, so handheld is a fools game here, but I gave it a go anyway.
I’m also about 4km from the city, so it’s quite a distance away. These shots are all at ISO1000 and cropped in quite a bit. The first ones are a display over to the east of Melbourne. The last one in this group in over the city.
Someone said “Don’t Use Macro” when someone asked for tips for shooting fireworks. Now, if you know me, you know my macro lens is my favourite lens. It’s also 120mm equivalent. So I gave it a go. And I’m glad I did. While the shots aren’t sharp and there is some camera shake (I’m not surprised since it was handheld for 4 – 10 seconds per shot), I’m still happy with the results overall. And I can’t wait to get much closer and with a tripod next time.
Here’s to the new year! And here’s to reconnecting.
x desleyjane
Musings of a Frequent Flying Scientist 
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