Hey folks, I spent my 4th of July this year in Seattle. During the afternoon I visited the Seattle waterfront, which is currently cluttered with construction sites all over the place. Most of the construction is part of the tunnel boring project, to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a tunnel. Unfortunately, the tunnel boring machine is broke down at the moment and that for over a year now with no end in sight. By the way, if you are interested in the construction of the tunnel, the Seattle Tunnel Partners have a little visitor center, Milepost Thirty-One, where you can get more information about the construction of the tunnel as well as a tour of the site.
I spent some time walking along the north side of the waterfront and taking pictures. It was pretty quiet for such a beautiful day. Seems all the people left Seattle to celebrate this day outside.
Late afternoon I headed towards Gas Works Park. Here was the main event for the fireworks show. The park got turned in to a festival area, with music, kids play area, beer garden, food stands and lots of green to lay down and watch the firework. When I got close to the Gas Works Park, streets were already closed and detours were in place. I had to look for parking quiet far away and decided to walk first to the park and see whats going on. This was my first time to be in Seattle during the 4th of July. The park was crowded with people and got pretty full. Of course, all the good spots to watch the fireworks were taken and I don’t want to be rude and position myself right in front of everybody with my camera, especially how long the people are already sitting here.
My camera and gear was still in my car and had to go back anyway to grab it. It was too heavy and too hot outside to carry it around all day. As I started heading back to my car, the line at the security checkpoint at the entrance of the park was very long.
I decided to look for an alternate spot to watch the fireworks and take pictures of it. There is a small park called North Passage Point Park and from there I had a great view of the barge with the fireworks. After grabbing my camera out of my car, which was just a short walk away, I set up at an empty spot. From here you could watch all the people going out on Lake Union with their boats to be closer to the fireworks.
Before the firework started, there was an Army helicopter flying over the lake with a big US-flag hanging of it. The idea is nice, but the helicopter should have flown over earlier when it was still bright outside. Now it was hard to see the flag or even the helicopter.
Around 10:20 pm the firework started and lasted about 20 minutes. I took a lot of pictures and also filmed at the same time with my smartphone. The camera was on a tripod but I held the phone in my hand. Sorry for the shaking, but I had to double-check the camera from time to time and see if I had to readjust the settings. The photos turned out pretty good and here are a couple of examples. More photos are in my Flickr-album.
The little park underneath the I-5 overpass turned out to be a great decision. After the firework, I packed up quickly and headed to the car to avoid the traffic jam of all the people leaving the event.
But it was not time to go home yet. I headed back to the waterfront to take some pictures from the rooftop of the cruise terminal. This place up here is great. Gives you great views of the city and waterfront. I met two fellow photographers which were visiting from Dallas, TX.
How did you spent your 4th of July weekend?
Peter has a passion for Traveling, Photography, and Geocaching. These are the best ingredients for amazing adventures all over the globe. “Traveling is fun, no matter if you stay in a luxury hotel or travel like a backpacker.” Peter shares his experiences on his Blog www.gatetoadventures.com
Some of Peter’s photos are published on corporate websites, in-flight magazines, travel guides, and much more.
