Pyro

Some of my stuff:

WPA - Western Pyrotechnics Association - is made up of a collection of people who's sole interest is in pyrotechnics. Some of these people shoot display fireworks, some do not. Since I was a little kid, I have always been interested in rockets. Here, I can construct a rocket with a pyrotechnic device, launch it skyward, and do it legally!!! They have two events - Winter Blast in Lake Havasu Arizona, and Do It By The River south of Laughlin, Nevada. If you're into pyro, and are in the western U.S., check it out.

	WinterBlast 21 - The Sky's The Limit! (Hey - I came up with the theme this year!!!)
	WinterBlast 20 - 20 Years of Pyrotechnic Excellence!!! (Had an extra day....)
	Do It By The River - 2008
	WinterBlast 19 - Light Up The Night
	Do It In The Desert - 2007
	WinterBlast 18 - Fire In The Sky
	WinterBlast 17 - Thunder on the River
	Do It By The River - 2005
	WWB XVI was wet and wild. Check out some of my shots HERE.
	This is the Do It 2004 page - including the fire dancers.
	These are shots I took at WWB-15, Feb 12-15, 2004. I went ahead and put all of the thumbnails together in one page.
	Here is a collection of some of the pictures I took at WWB-14, Feb 13-16, 2003. It's my first big attempt at pyro-photography, and if I must say, some if the images turned out VERY well. They include Friday night on the firing line and Saturday's public display. I also have some snap-shot s from the manufacturing area.

Don Oesterle's 3rd of July show at the Santa Monica Beach Club. This time there was another fireworks show about a mile up the beach. It helped to add a bit of 'salsa' into the mix.

Jeff Pardee alerted me to a show being shot off of the Balboa Beach Pier in Newport Beach, CA. It's the first time a fireworks show was shot from the pier signifying the last night of the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade.

Frances "Raven" Marquez and the Flying Monkeys Pyro Crew are in charge of the Manhattan Beach, CA, Pier fireworks show. It's an incredible show in the middle of December, right off of the pier! (I put this over on my Zenfolio pages.)

When the Santa Monica Pier turned 100, they had fireworks shot off of a barge, just off shore. I'm a sucker for reflections, and this night didn't disappoint. Although - in L.A., "black" skies is a relative term.... (I put this over on my Zenfolio pages.)

So, I went out on a limb and attended the PGI Convention in Mason City, Iowa. This is the first PGI convention that I went to, and it didn't disappoint. Combine GREAT pyro with BLACK skies, and the pictures are fantastic. (I put this over on my Zenfolio pages.)

Don Oesterle was the lead for a 3rd of July show at the Santa Monica Beach Club. I was able to get situated for some stunning evening-type pictures.

Greg Pita was an instructor for a shoot that took place for the City of Cerritos during a fair. I shot the images from across a lake - wish I had a bigger lens!

Raven Marquez and the Flying Monkeys Pyro Crew put on a wonderful fireworks exhibition off of the Manhattan Beach Pier in California every year a couple of weeks before Christmas. This year, low tide happened right at firing time. I was able to get *very* close to the surf line to capture the reflection off of the sand. I only got a little wet in the sneakers. ;-) See the pyro on the beach right here.

Sheesh - I need to make a Disney page just for this stuff. This time, we went during the day, then it got wet at night. The fireworks were taken from the Big Thunder Mountain area.

Yet *another* Disneyland picture set. This time, taking the fireworks pictures from the Small World area. Taken the evening of December 17th, 2007.

And yet another Disneyland set like below. This time, looking from a very unique position to capture more reflections on the water. Taken the evening of December 16th, 2007.

Like the Disneyland set below, I went to take a picture of the Mickey in the Fireworks show - - but this time, from a unique location. Look for #12. (Also got some of their Christmas 'overlay')

I've been after one particular event at Disneyland that only happens once every weekend night (at this time of year). It's only 3 seconds long, but I've never seen anybody else capture this. Look for the Mickey in the sky. (#12) This night was overcast, which made for some other GREAT shots.

This is an experiment I did for shooting the Angels Baseball "Big Bang Friday" fireworks show. Also caught some of the Disneyland show.

On a trip to Hawaii, I was put up in the Hilton Hawaiian Village. On Friday night, they do a big presentation complete with fireworks. Here are some of the images I shot of the hotel and the fireworks that evening.

Shooting Fireworks with a Digital Camera - a work in progress.

This is pretty cool. I did a live interview with NPR's "Talk Of The Nation" on July 4th, 2006, about the best way to photograph fireworks. The corresponding web page is here.

Blast Shield Experiment - or So. How will Lexan hold up as a blast shield?

Other Pyro sites to visit:

I am on the board of directors for the WPA - Western Pyrotechnics Association. This is a group of amateur and professional pyrotechnicians who love to build and shoot fireworks. My part of the job with the group is the newsletter.

PGI - Pyrotechnics Guild International - the grand-daddy of them all. Truly an international group, these folks have a week-long bash during the summer in the U.S. If you're a pyro, you need to belong to this group.

Paul Tierney (on the other side of the pond) has posted quite a collection of pyro pictures, and also a tutorial on shooting fireworks.

Tom Dimock has the most COMPLETE pyro link page I have found. Incredible amount of information here.

Dan Williams has lots of good information geared for the pyro hobbyist.

AM Pyrotechincs, LLC has some of the most incredible product I have *ever* seen. Italian and Japanese shells that put all the others to shame. You can see some of their stuff on my WinterBlast 17 page.