Happy new year! (Only a few months late)

New Year's Eve has always been my favorite time of the year. Call me a sucker, but there's something about being able to start fresh with new beginnings and new goals to achieve. Sure, you could start anew whenever you wanted to if you really tried, but what better time to start over, than when the calendar year starts over?

First Night Hartford is a large New Year's Eve celebration in downtown Hartford, Connecticut. I was home on break from college and I was asked to take photographs for the event, so I braved the snowstorm and negative degree wind chills, and spent about 12 hours outside on New Year's Eve day until after midnight. I photographed at various events, including magic shows, dances, and music performances, but I feel that the best images came when I was photographing large scenes during the fireworks displays. Each year the city puts on a great display, and I was fortunate enough to photograph at both the 6PM show for the kids, and again at the midnight celebration. It sure was cold, and I don't know if I'll be brave enough to do it again, but it was a great learning experience which put a little bit of spending money in my pocket.

Parade to the fireworks viewing area in Bushnell Park.


Throughout the day, there were free rides offered on the carousel in Bushnell Park.


The next three images are from the six PM fireworks display. I wasn't sure where I wanted to be in order to get the best shots, so I found an open area in Bushnell Park so I could get a view of the Hartford Arch as well.





For the midnight fireworks, it had become so cold outside that I didn't want to risk standing out in the open park for very long. I ended up parking at the Capitol building, and seeking refuge from the bitterly cold wind under the overhang of the Capitol. I found that this also offered me a slightly elevated view to see the fireworks from, and gave me a broader view of the Hartford skyline as well. Unfortunately, by this time I was well beyond exhausted from the many hours of work that I had put in throughout the day, and by then the temperature was well beyond negative eight with the wind chill. Trust me, it was very cold and very challenging to photograph, but overall I had a blast and learned so much from the experience.