Happy New Year 2019
Every photographer has a list of must-get images. Images they just have to get, no matter what it takes, and no matter how long it takes to get it. On the 1st of January 2000, I saw an image of the London fireworks display not unlike this one, on the front page of one of the newspapers, and it has stuck in my head ever since. 19 years later I was able to get my own version. I’ve shot the London fireworks display from a few good locations now and it has always been spectacular. But nothing compares to being front and centre and being engulfed in the light from the most awesome visual spectacle I have ever witnessed. For me, this is a bucket list shot well and truly ticked.
I even made National Geographic.
Front and centre at midnight
On the barges with Titanium Fireworks
I was granted very kind permission by Titanium Fireworks who put on the fireworks display every year. It was a real privilege to see the team in action, rigging up the London Eye with the fireworks for the show. It is a well-oiled procedure pulled off with military-style precision. They were kind enough to permit me onto the barges to see all the mortars and to place a couple of cameras to capture the action up close and personal.
Thank you
There are so many people I need to thank for helping me do this, without whom none of it would have been possible. Hasselblad again loaned me their incredible flagship camera, the H6D-100c. Thanks to Vanguard UK for the tripods, as well as the cases and bags needed to get all the kit into London; Panasonic Lumix for the loan of the GH5S and FZ2000 to record footage with; GoPro for agreeing to let me place cameras on the barges and another on the riverside for a crow’s nest view of the action. PolarPro for their Cinema Series filters, without which the footage would have blown out completely. RØDE for loaning me audio recording equipment. The team at my local camera store SRS Microsystems for the hook-ups and letting me use the shop as a meeting ground. And above all Titanium Fireworks for giving me the best seat in the house for the greatest show on earth.
