On the Fourth of July, 2003, I returned to Slacker Ridge to photograph the Independence Day fireworks over the San Francisco Bay. The top of the hill was very windy and foggy, so I walked down the ridge a bit to find a warmer and clearer spot. To this native midwesterner, it seemed a bit unnatural to be shivering cold on the Fourth of July while wearing a heavy shirt, a hooded sweatshirt, a hooded windbreaker, and a down vest, but the view was worth it.
The Marin Headlands were popular this evening. There were heavy crowds and traffic on Conzelman road below me, and on Hawk Hill to my right. From my lonely high vantage point, I could watch the bumper-to-bumper stuck traffic at a standstill, and some of those poor souls couldn't see any fireworks because of they were stuck in their cars in traffic behind the hills. But I had this entire ridge to myself, because I was the only one who got out of my car and walked the couple hundred yards it took to get here.
They had two launch sites for the fireworks, and the two sites were coordinated by remote control, so they were launching the same displays simultaneously, sort of "in stereo".
I experimented with different focal length lenses, compositions, and exposure times. Some of the photos have bright streaks caused by airplanes or boats moving across the frame.
Date: July 4, 2003.
Camera: Mamiya C330
Lenses: 55mm f4.5, 80mm f2.8, and 180mm f4.5
Film: Kodak Portra 160NC, and Fuji Provia 100F
Exposure: f8, various timings, around one minute apiece
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