This is why I lean over the side of ferryboats and hold the shutter button down for thirty shots.

Of course then there's the part where I go though images and occassionally see something embedded somewhere within them that might come together as... something.  A landscape, an idea, an abstraction. 

Or something.

Sometimes you get it just right.

We encountered a plant called a Smoke Tree.  Seeing it from a distance, we could see how it got this name.  It looked like a tree shrouded in pink smoke. 

 

I've been thinking about why these fireworks photographs seem so different from the usual fare, and what is usually brought home in the camera from the 4th.  This is all about manual, deliberate control of the camera.  Getting the images you want, the way you want them, in these circumstances is nearly impossible without taking charge of the camera's settings.  It's a funny game to do this once a year for twenty minutes, trying to remember what worked last year.  All things considered, I'm pretty happy with the results.  A new, speedier camera might be nice.  Well, there's a year to get that. 

 

No, you can't do this with your phone.  I dare you to try.