Fireworks pic

On Saturday I drove around for an hour scoping out a site to photograph the show. Spent all that time and ended up walking to the end of the dirt road here. The newspaper guy took photos from the hill, but I went checked it out and if I wanted to include foreground there would be telephone poles in the frame. That's no good. I'm not in favor of telephone wires in photos.

I've been feeling good and bad. I ate one piece of pizza and one brownie last night. Also went on a trash pick-up walk and got hot in the afternoon. Today I had a bad morning. It must be either the pizza, brownie, or walk that my colon didn't like. Am I an Einstein or what. I want another brownie really bad. I made 'em more cakey instead of chewy by using three eggs instead of two, but I like chewy ones better. Maybe it wasn't the brownie that made me feel bad. Maybe it was the pizza? Or the walk? How can I say when I did all three in one day. I've added oatmeal to my diet hoping it'll help. Man, this is pathetic. I'm blogging oatmeal now. Maybe I'll write a book, Me And My Colon. Has it been written already?

The trash left behind by the campers is unbelievable. We even saw a group of about 30 people who were so filthy they camped amidst their own trash. How can anybody do that? They left so much garbage behind that my husband had to rake it. It was too much to pick up piece by piece! Cigarette butts, bottle tops, beer cans, paper towels, toilet paper, plates, fruit rinds, candy wrappers, dog pooh. What I hate most is glass bottles because they break and the babies (or anyone) can cut themselves walking in the sand. I could smell pee in one area which means somebody didn't even bother to walk to the restroom. It's pretty disgusting. Trash pick-up alone will keep all the volunteers busy for a couple weeks. What ever happened to that song, "Please, please, don't be a litterbug!"

I used a new technique to get my fireworks pictures. I got a paper plate and stapled black felt to one side and cut it into a circle. In order to catch more than one burst in a frame you need to leave the shutter open a long time. Problem is, you can easily over expose the photo. When I heard the fireworks being released I opened the shutter and kept it open, then when the sky went dark I covered it and when another firework exploded I moved the plate away to catch the light. I did it on manual setting! That means I told my camera what to do, it didn't tell me what to do. I was on manual setting for exposure, f/11 aperture, 29 second shutter speed, ISO 100, 22mm focal length, Bulb mode which allows longer exposures, and my ultra wide 10-22 mm lens. I had a lot of fun. Too bad 4th of July fireworks happen only once a year. I'm having trouble deciding which of the two above I like best. I think the campers and lake shore are neat to see, but the darker photo makes the fireworks look better. Also, including the foreground makes the fireworks themselves smaller because they're a little farther away.

My oldest aunt has to have surgery. My dad phoned me and told me. I hope they find what's wrong. She's in her mid-80s and she a super neat lady. She's a redhead, or, used to be a redhead and she has the best sense of humor. Her kids, my cousins, they're neat people too.