Happy new year from Houston, TX!
How many blogs sputter out after one post? I don’t know, but I’m sure they exist out there, beyond the horizons of our search history. In a world filled with tales like Montréal–Mirabel International Airport, I’m sure a handful of to-be blogs have succumbed to similar bouts of ambition-execution mismatch. When I wrote “till the next one” in my last post, I hoped that future Daniel would not let his fledgling site be the latest one to join that bunch.
Well, the second deposition of my signature mélange de photographies et de mots vomi has arrived. Behold, it only took waiting for the next leap year.
My planning for photographing the New Year’s Eve fireworks in Houston revealed both discerning and gullible sides to my location scouting. Misfortune has it that a hurried google image search lead me to think that fireworks shot from all the rooftops in downtown as if each building were a vase of radiant fan palms. Based on that misconception, I selected the Nau Family Pavilion in Eleanor Tinsley Park as a vantage point with an unobstructed view of downtown Houston thanks to the eastward course of Buffalo Bayou. When the clock struck midnight, the ensuing show did not resemble my imagination – the Houston skyline did not turn into a bundle of sparklers.
Conversely, the crowd watched as two small figures could be seen across the lawn frantically lighting fireworks manually. In the fifteen minutes that followed, the crowd’s disappointment visualized itself in the waves of exodus. It’s like when you go to a buffet but it’s not as delightful as the google reviews, except here it’s a mosquito buffet. Nonetheless, I don’t often watch fireworks live, let alone photograph them. So I did what any buffet-goer does – get the most out of the buffet! Even if the main courses of black powder subverted expectations, the skyline backdrop was as good of a fruit bar as I could wish for.
Till next time.