Happy Independence Day, 'Murica!!

Putting aside my concerns about the average American's minimal knowledge and apathy of American history and politics (and some of the recent events that have transpired) seems ironic and a little wrong on this day of all days, but the mood of this holiday isn't one that's particularly reverent or reflective. It is a little disheartening since remembering and properly understanding the past is a necessary first step in guiding where we want to go, but the fact of the matter is that Independence Day is a day to celebrate the American way of excess and the summer with friends and family - it's a day in which we are all united by beer, barbecue, and loud booms.

To be fair, those are all much more exciting than remembering technical details like the fact that the 2nd Continental Congress actually unanimously voted to declare independence on July 2nd and John Adams actually wanted July 2nd to be the celebratory day. The decision was already made, it was just that several revisions were made to the text (including chopping out about 1/4th of the text, including one piece that was critical of the practice of slave trade) and ratified the Declaration of Independence on July 4th.

In any case, the holiday was a great opportunity me for to photograph fireworks, which I haven't come across just yet in my adventures on this project. However, the itinerary for the day was to head to a BBQ and then wander Huntington Beach largely by foot all afternoon and evening, and of course, all guidance around taking great photos of fireworks pointed to the importance of a tripod and long exposure times to getting great shots of light in the dark.

That fact really highlighted the main challenge with this project - while it is a journey to becoming a better photographer, the main point of my 10,000 hour project is striking a balance in order to have a more fulfilling personal life, not finding a new time-suck obsession. Yesterday, since the primary objective was celebrating the 4th with friends, not taking pictures, I decided to only bring the camera with one lens that easily fit into my bag and not worry about being weighed down with a tripod or other lenses. Less is sometimes more - less worry about perfect pictures and more time to enjoy the day.

I went with the 35mm for its compactness, speed, and ability to open up to a wide aperture to best get fireworks. The downside was the lack of zoom ability and since I wasn't able to get closer to a lot of subjects, the composition suffered a bit. Still, I managed to celebrate copiously with friends and random strangers, document the day, and get some decent photos - fantastic day all around.

Impromptu water balloon attack from a neighboring party. They really needed to revisit physics class because their aim was atrocious. Eventually, they made contact with our rooftop party, but there was more than enough hang time for us to sidestep getting wet.

Sunset and firecrackers on PCH, which was closed to car traffic yesterday near downtown Huntington.

July 4th is the one day a year when a random stranger shouts at your group from a balcony with a megaphone and then invites all of you up to come up and hang out.. and you do.