Tokyo and Yokohama Fireworks Festivals, Summer 2014

[daggah]

Fireworks festivals in Tokyo are EXTREMELY popular, and as a result, it can be tough to get a good vantage point! I photographed two festivals. The first one was the Sumida River fireworks festival near Asakusa, which was more crowded than just about anything I've ever seen before. I went there wanting a shot of the Sumida River, with the Tokyo Skytree off to the side as fireworks went off over the river, but Tokyo had the whole area on lockdown. Nearly every spot along the actual waterfront was blocked off, and the bridges all had security guards on them to keep the people moving.

I managed to nab a single fireworks shot with a tripod on a nearby bridge by playing the "dumb gaijin" card and just doing it anyway. The security guards immediately moved in on me but I begged them to let me get off one shot.


Fireworks over the Sumida River by davidgevert, on Flickr

I then decided to shift my focus to capturing the feeling of the massive crowd of Tokyo-ites enjoying the art of hanabi (Japanese fireworks), and got this shot, which I'm pretty happy with overall:


Sumida River Fireworks Festival Hanabi by davidgevert, on Flickr

I took leave a few weeks later to go to the fireworks festival in Yokohama, armed with my new understanding of just how early the crowds would form and how big they'd be for a fireworks festival. I got there hours before, waiting indoors at the Osanbashi Pier for an hour and then another three hours outside on the pier to get a good vantage point.

I took this as the sun went down and I waited for the fireworks to start. You can see the massive crowd of people waiting for the start of the fireworks around the Red Brick Warehouse area. I like this shot because I captured the sun going down between the two buildings.


Yokohama at Sunset, before the fireworks festival by davidgevert, on Flickr

I slightly misjudged where the fireworks would be, so I didn't have as good of a vantage point as I wanted, but here's one of my favorites.


Yokohama Fireworks by davidgevert, on Flickr

I also did my first ever panorama, which was complicated by the fireworks...for the most part the panorama was done left to right, but I captured several fireworks shots first and then went to the left to start my panning. I know it's not perfect, with some perspective distortion, as I don't have any kind of panorama nodal rail setup. But I like it! The original combined image is 96 megapixels.


Panorama: Yokohama Fireworks and Minato Mirai by davidgevert, on Flickr

 

[Tinderbox (UK)]

All very nice, well done

John.

 

[Reiep]

Great shots, specially the last 2! Congrats!

 

[Civchic]

I am a HUGE fan of your crowded street. What a fantastic perspective. The others are beautiful, of course, but they are just fireworks. I love fireworks, and shooting them, but there are millions of fireworks shots. The crowded street with the "common folk" feeling, and the fireworks between the buildings and wires...LOVE IT. Also, you really nailed focus on that one.

In fact, I just went and nominated it for POTM.