4th of July Fireworks

I haven't posted in a while. I've been pretty busy with projects and life in general. I'd like to find time to post more and get out and shoot more as well. I have some professional projects lined up as well as a couple of personal trips that should give me some opportunities for nice photos to share. For now, I did take some pictures of the fireworks display in Albany, Oregon on the 4th. I found a nice place on the bridge where I could setup my tripod and capture the fireworks as well as the reflection in the river and one of the platforms that extends out over the river where people like to view the show from. Here is one of my favorite shots. It was taken with a very long exposure to capture several different individual volleys. I took several shots with pretty much the same composition but I really like the way the various fireworks came out in this shot without crowding each other too much, which happened on some of my attempts. I like the way the platform came out too with the light from the street lamp and people remained still enough that it's not too blurry.

Star Teepee

My wife and I just returned from a camping trip in Eastern Oregon. We stayed for one night near John Day and the rest of the trip on Lake Owyhee which is near Ontario, Oregon on the Idaho border. We went there to explore the area and look for agates, thunder eggs and picture jasper. With our trusty Jeep, we climbed all over the hills and visited several sites known to rock hounds. A 5 gallon bucket full of rocks now sits in our garage awaiting polishing and/or cutting, which is my wife's department. They are mostly white agates. They were by far the most abundant. In some locations, you almost couldn't take a step without finding one. 

At both campgrounds, we stayed in teepees (or tipis depending on how you spell it) which were very nice. On our second night at Lake Owyhee, we had some inclement weather though. High winds up to 60 MPH sustained came through the canyon and threatened to tear the teepees apart. They held up though with a few repairs and adjustments made as needed. That night was quite an adventure though.

The rest of the trip, the weather was on and off again, but pretty mild. On the last night, the clouds cleared just in time for me to take a long exposure shot of the stars above the teepee. If you leave the shutter open for long enough, you can see trails from the stars as they appear to rotate around the Earth. I setup the tripod and positioned the camera. When it got dark enough, I clicked the shutter open and sat by the campfire. I meant to leave it for one hour, but I fell asleep and woke up a little later. So, this was a 1 hour and 10 minute exposure. The teepee is lit by ambient light from the campground and the fire which also probably contributed to the sky not being black. But, those where elements that were out of my control and I think it still turned out nicely.

Here is the finished shot. I will post more pictures from the trip later in the next week or two.