A dawning occcurs when shooting an event like the Fireworks Festival an oh no. “I’m going to have to look through all the photos I am taking” and a slight sense of dread sets in. Quickly it disburses with the next awesome fireworks when your finger hits the trigger button and doesn’t let up, and the thought changes to “why isn’t my camera shooting faster”. A Korean might describe it as a yin and yang of shooting the Busan Fireworks Festival.
The festival started after Busan hosted the 2005 APEC (Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation) leaders meeting. (The math doesn’t exactly work as this was the 15th year, I couldn’t sort this.)
Amazingly we were in Busan for the Fireworks Festival, Tim planned it that way. We arrived in Busan around 3 on the afternoon of the festival to a nervous guide, Grace, wondering how she was going to find a spot for us to photograph from, as the roads around the harbor were already being closed off to traffic. I didn’t think much about it. We dropped our suitcases at the hotel while I driver went to save a space for us.
As we walked towards the area, I started to sense the size of the crowds and understood our guides concern.
The fireworks were split into two sections, the first 15 minutes or so was done by the Italians from ships in the harbor area. Then there was a long pause, and I debated about going back to the hotel as I to get some much needed rest. While I was shifting from one foot to the other, as that was the only room available to me in the crowd, the Koreans started. Oh my God…… I have never seen fireworks like that. We couldn’t see the entire venue, it was so large. There must have been at least three places that the fireworks were being launched from…one of which was the bridge over the harbor area. It was like the three positions were competing to see who could put on the best display. My tiredness left and changed to complete joy and excitement!
Hugh took a 30 minute video which he intends to play in Anthem every year… Tim needs to never see fireworks again… as nothing could compare. I’ll spare you the 30 minute video, but here are a few photos that I took.
<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/t_r4YQfcKj4?si=DGJhYrU25M2KMn4a” title=”YouTube video player” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” allowfullscreen></iframe>