Happy Fourth of July

There is generally a really big fireworks display on San Diego Bay every year on the Fourth of July. This year was to be no exception. They call it the Big Bay Boom, but as I type this the local news outlets are all calling it the Big Bay Bust. The website for the event predicted 500,000 people watching from various parts of the Bay, as they set off fireworks in sync to music from 4 large barges. I'm sure parking and traffic were pretty bad. My original plan was to stay home, but at the last minute I decided to grab my camera and tripod and head for someplace in or near Balboa Park, with the idea of getting some shots of the fireworks exploding over the downtown buildings. I found what looked to be a great spot, no traffic, lots of parking. 

I had the camera set up well in advance of the scheduled 9:00PM start time, pointed more or less where I expected to see the fireworks. A few minutes before 9:00 I was on the phone with Heather when I saw a flash and tripped the shutter. I had a 2-second delay set, and this is what I got.

That was also all that I got. Downtown San Diego was blanketed in thick smoke. The explosions were down low, much lower than I would have expected them to be, and lasted much longer and with more intensity than what seemed normal. After that, nothing, except for the Coronado and Imperial Beach fireworks off in the distance. As I was driving home I heard the news report - a "technical malfunction" caused the cancellation of the show. It looks like everything blew at once, just a few minutes before the scheduled start time.

Happy Fourth of July.