Thank you gentlemen! Hope everyone had a nice 4th of July.
Yesterday I parked at a garage few blocks from the US Marine Corps War Memorial (aka Iwo Jima Memorial), took a uber to the Navy & Marine Memorial by the river to shoot the airshow/flyover, in just to see the opening act of the flyover of the NASA jets in American paint scheme. The best $15 I have ever spent! Imagine pulling the heavy wagon with all the camera gear, tripod, cooler, chair for 2 miles in 100 degree and sun? The air was much clearer than on Friday when I went to see the practice.
I was staying under a tree when there was no action and there were breezes once in a while. It wasn't as bad as I expected. I drank 8 or 9 bottles of water and Gatorade. The flyover/demo was fantastic! They did cancel the F-22 demo, F-22 afterburner and B-1 afterburner passes due to the weather. They were scheduled around the best hour for light. I had never seen the legendary B-1 afterburner so I was so looking forward to that. I left the river bank around 8:00 and walked to the Netherlands for the fireworks. My friend saved me a spot. It was packed and people were singing patriotic songs while waiting for the firework to start (at 12:00!!). One doesn't have to like the President to celebrate this big day for the country.
The firework display was amazing. it covered a much wide area than the normal 4th of July fireworks and broker the world record in terms of number, I think it was 875,000. I just bought a new blue tooth camera remote control, just set it up in the morning, it worked when I tried it after I paired it with the camera, but when I tried to shoot fireworks, I couldn't make it work. Also some people stood up when the fireworks started and blocked the lower part of the frame. I had shot fireworks from the Netherlands Carillon several times before, never saw people standing up. So no firework pix from me this time. I felt it was more important to witness it with my own eyes. Plenty of professionally created pictures and videos can always be found on the net anyway.
I will post the airhshow/flyover pictures once I get around to work on the files.
You all have a blessed day!
Jul 05, 2026 at 08:14 AM
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