Tag Archives: fireworks

This is What Fireworks Look Like in Reverse

This is What Fireworks Look Like in Reverse Melbourne fireworks Australia

Filmmaker Julian Tay shot some footage of the 2012 New Years fireworks at Docklands in Melbourne, Australia and then decided to see what happened if he digitally reversed it. The result is strangely beautiful as all the little rockets move in reverse creating pretty counter-intuitive visuals, imploding into nothingness. An appropriate addendum, Reddit user ksli832 was reminded of this passage by Kurt Vonnegut from Slaughterhouse-Five:

The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel containers, and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks… When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground, to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody again.

Happy new years folks, 2013 is going to be amazing. (via laughing squid)

Update: The music is Moon Behind the Tree by Serphonic.

Unusual Long Exposure Firework Photographs by David Johnson

Unusual Long Exposure Firework Photographs by David Johnson long exposure light fireworks color

While attending the International Fireworks Show in Ottawa, Canada earlier this month photographer David Johnson had his camera in hand to document the night. When Spain’s entry into the competition begin he decided to try something a little different resulting in the photos you see here which are unlike any long exposure firework shots I’ve ever seen. Via email David tells me how he accomplished the effect:

The technique I used was a simple refocus during the long exposure. Each shot was about a second long, sometimes two. I’d start out of focus, and when I heard the explosion I would quickly refocus, so the little stems on these deep sea creature lookalikes would grow into a fine point. The shapes are quite bizarre, some of them I was pleasantly surprised with.

What’s interesting is that unlike usual firework photos that seem to make long trails across the sky, Johnson’s photos look like flowers with little triangular plumes coming to a point. Pretty amazing. You can see several more photos here.

By Christopher on August 27, 2012 • color fireworks light long exposure

How Chicago Cancels Fireworks

This year due to budgetary restraints Chicago cancelled it’s annual 4th of July fireworks show. This 2-minute timelapse, shot on Western avenue facing the Lake Michigan shoreline, shows how many of us feel about that. Fireworks are of course banned within city limits. (via gaper’s)