This year’s Ohorikoen Fireworks took place on the 1st of August, but since I had exams and went on a trip to Kagoshima (which I’ll blog about next), I haven’t had time to post about it. Plus, it took me quite some time to get the photos ready – I took a lot, but only a few of them turned out nicely.

Unlike last year, I was went to see the fireworks with friends. And yes, we were in Yukata. I can’t say that it turned out perfectly, but at least the obi held until I reached home.

Oh yeah, hi Celine! Ben was one of the friends here with me 😀 HI BEN (I haven’t asked the other two if they mind being on the blog, so there won’t be any photos of them here)

But let’s start from the beginning. I was the first one of us to reach the park, but it was already so crowded. The only spot I could find was behind the trees, but hey, better than nothing, right? And besides, I figured we could just walk around when the fireworks actually start. So I laid down the mat I got from the 100 yen shop and started reading a manga.

Trees blocking the view. On the bright side, shade!

It was a good thing I brought two manga comics when I went to get the mat. Ben got totally lost (sorry, Ben!) and my other two friends came much, much later. So my ‘bright’ idea wasn’t that good after all. It’s hard to find someone when they’re sitting behind trees.

Found Hetalia and Sansukumi!

But eventually, we all managed to somehow meet, and the fireworks started! So we had to leave the mat. Luckily, just next to us was a road, and that was actually a pretty good post to take some photos.

And in between, we sort of went back to rest for a while.

That’s when I noticed that the fireworks peaking through the leaves are pretty as well.

Although you can’t really see the fireworks in this one

 It kind of reminds me of Christmas lights.

Anyway, since I had company, I decided I wanted to try taking portraits with fireworks as a backdrop. We took like so many, but it turns out that I’m not good at taking portraits if there are fireworks or it’s night. Most of them turned out blurry, like mine. Only one was pretty good, although my expression is rather… strange, I think. It might be because we took like 20 photos at one shot.

Photo credit: Ben

Next year, I’ve got to do my homework first and figure out what settings to use, instead of fumbling with the camera while the fireworks are going on. And like, maybe I’ll be able to take more nice photos.

If you remember last year, I went home like, halfway through. This year, since I had friends, we basically spent the time talking, and I actually stayed till the end of the fireworks. Plus, we were walking around, so I got some shots that I quite like.

Looking at this, if I can get friends to come with me next year, I should totally try getting a spot on the playset. Or go earlier. I think going earlier would be easier.

And, I need to learn how to put on a Yukata well.

Hope everyone is having a good summer holiday so far!

OH YEAH! I totally forgot, I have GIFs this year too! The Google Photos app backs up my phone photos so not only do I have the DSLR photos, I have GIFs too!

Apple’s burst mode is very handy for times like this, especially since Google agreed to let people choose their photos to make gifs (unless like me, you choose wrongly, then it looks a bit strange).

But sometimes, the auto-awesome stuff turns out really well!