A Thursday Evening Wrap Up at 12:30 in the A.M. on Friday...

Is it Thursday evening?
The Holiday has me as confused as all daylights...
***
I've been working this week on the last phase of a project that began in January.

BEFORE

Immediately After

After Mounting TV on Wall, removing superfluous furniture and
Adding a Second Column of Shelving

*** 

I've also been working more shooting time into my daily routine and I've been putting more focus on Flawn Ocho...  As far as the KCoJax Local Flavor branch goes - I had planned to find a very lofty location from which to capture last night's Independence Day fireworks.

In fact, on Tuesday afternoon as I crossed the I-24 bridge while driving home after a quick trip to Paducah I pondered whether or not there are still any friends of the family working at E.E.I..  My dad's been retired from there for many years, but I've heard many times from him about the phenomenal Fourth of July view from the tops of the decks at the plant and I was wishing then that I would've thought of that location early enough to try and worm my way in somehow.

Tuesday night I crept around town to spy a couple of shots of the moon and continued to wish with all of my might that friends would call with a spot for me on a boat... that would be my ideal location - 

I captured the images below on Tuesday Evening... 

*** 

I returned home in a flurry on Wednesday afternoon from hanging shelves .. still not quite sure where I would perch myself to view the Metropolis Fireworks.  I got cleaned up and readied myself for wherever I might wind up and stepped out onto the back patio to ponder my next move.

I lit a ciggy and scanned the sky as I evaluated the pros and cons of locations.  I'd had invitations to join friends at two different places, one of which I think would've been an incredible view - but I was feeling hermitish and didn't really feel like meeting up with people.

After I found I couldn't get onto the roof of the Ocho without causing a scene, I decided to just hop in my car and see where I wound up - but I went in the direction of Dorothy Miller Park.  I arrived by the 3rd shot of fireworks or so and using my phone to light my path scurried among the people all sprawled out on their blankets in an attempt to get as close to the river as I could.  

My goal for shooting the fireworks was to experiment with shutter speed and aperture settings.  I've been doing that a bit with some night shooting, but as a real test I wanted to try something as vivid and delightfully active as fireworks.  Per usual, my decision to run late was not a good one - causing me to sit by a gaggle of folks who'd brought their cocktails along with them - thus they were extraordinarily and abruptly noisy...  causing me to be a bit jittery... and making me wish I'd brought a tripod along... 

Nervous Firworks

This one reminds me of "Sideshow Bob"...

Getting out of the mess of traffic wasn't "too" terribly bad, although I am really hoping that teleportation becomes a mainstream form of transportation in my lifetime - because obviously that would've made it quicker still...

Until Next Time...

Have A Grand and Groovy Day

and
Don't Text and Drive!

For More Info on my projects
Google KCoJax,  Flawn Ocho,  Ocho-rific