Moomba Festival 2010 was held for 3 days - Saturday, Sunday and 2 days ago. And my buddy and I went for the one on the last day. It was truly wild - we went on a slingshot ride (similar to the reverse bungee in Singapore) and screamed our lungs out big time, a vertical drop ride (we sang silly songs 12 storeys above ground and yelled as the thingy brought us all the way down - really fast of course), and a ferris wheel to end the madness. And of course...Helios the dSLR went along!

The main bulk of my pictures didn't come from the carnival itself - most of the pictures are actually of fireworks. Honestly speaking, I've never seen a firework up close before, and of course, I've never taken a picture of a firework (or a burst of fireworks) before. The pictures I took 2 days ago are my very first attempt at fireworks. Hmmm let's just say it was pretty challenging - coz I had a lack of equipment (of all things, a tripod!!!!), and shooting fireworks handheld is not recommended. I broke the rule though...but somehow the pictures turn out ok! They're not of a professional standard (I'm far from professional), but at least I tried...!! The next time I get to shoot fireworks - I'll definitely try my very best to make 'em as professional as possible, and BRING A TRIPOD.

Anyways, here goes:

The Yarra River with barges fully loaded with fireworks. This is about 30 minutes before the fireworks are set off. All's calm, people setting up their cameras and finding places to sit..........



And BOOM!!! Off go the fireworks!!! Anyways this picture isn't the first burst of fireworks...it's probably the 3rd of 4th? I think this was held (in bulb mode) for about 3 seconds or so? I don't really remember, coz I was experimenting the bulb mode on the dSLR - apparently about 2 or 3 seconds of shutter speed creates pretty decent shots...This is one the better shots of course.



More fireworks of a different type. They actually threw sparkly bits into the sky along with the fireworks...



A curtain of fireworks shooting into the sky. This seems as if there's a pinkish flame on the river or something...



The curtain dies down and fresh fireworks are released. Some shimmering stuff are released alongside the fireworks as well, but not as high, creating the sparkly bits somewhat in the middle.



The next 2 pictures show the last few bursts of fireworks before the show actually ended, and people started packing up and going home. I noticed (just yesterday) that the foreground of my fireworks pictures are pretty blur, while the fireworks themselves are actually really clear. Hmmm, wonder what's going on? I'm glad though, that the fireworks weren't as bad as I thought they would be...




And that concludes Moomba Festival 2010! From crazy, wild rides to fireworks...it sure was fun! Though it was rainy at first, we still enjoyed it...!!!

Stay tuned for the next post!! :) Which would be coming up in the not-too-distant future!