From the West End Overlook
I made it up to the West End Overlook to catch the fireworks, arriving early to catch a primo spot and beat the crowds. Evidently, the overlook is usually packed with hundreds of people. Not last night. The overlook was lined with photographers, a group of fool-hearted cyclists, and a handful of families. I think it must have easily been three to five degrees colder on the overlook than it was in town. In town it was about twenty-one degrees. I did meet some interesting photographers though. Everywhere I go, I find the Pittsburgh photographers very friendly and willing to share advice.
Because I have a cheap tripod, I was forced to shoot with a smaller lens (50mm). My tripod just can’t handle my 55-250mm. The shots I got were OK, but I wasn’t thrilled. It was really hard to tweak them given the temperatures. After the first couple of shots, smoke from the fireworks obscured the city, leaving me with a lot of cool shots of fireworks but not so great of the city.
I took a trip downtown and even thought it was late it appeared as though the crowds were good in town despite the low temps.
