TAD HETU’s Inspiration Point: 

Liberty Blossoms
There are few things as inspirational as a good fireworks show on a warm July 4th evening. Not only is it fun to watch, but the warm July nights along with the parades, picnics and other activities during the day seem to symbolize summer in a uniquely American fashion on the day of our nation's independence. 

It's been that way for a long time. John Adams, before the Declaration of Independence was even signed, envisioned fireworks as a part of the festivities. In a letter to Abigail Adams on July 3, 1776, he wrote that the occasion should be commemorated 'With Pomp and Parade, with Shows, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more." A year later the tradition was born with the first commemorative Independence Day fireworks set off on July 4, 1777. 

To photographers, the brilliant colors and lights set against a black sky are irresistible and consequently there are millions of firework photographs around. The challenge is to photograph them in a way that still captures the excitement and beauty, but offers the viewer something unique. I had previously heard from another photographer colleague about how he had played around with the focus during exposures to achieve unique images so I thought I would try this out. I set up in the middle of a harvested wheat field near where my small town fireworks celebration was scheduled for that night. I set the camera to take relatively long exposures at around 2 seconds. As I tripped the shutter, I simultaneously spun the focus ring on the lens from slightly out-of-focus to in-focus. The result is the firework arms begin as out of focus broad soft petals and finish as sharp points of light. The resulting images reminded me of flower blossoms. Given they are intended to celebrate our country's independence, I called them Liberty Blossoms.