Better Late Than Never - Swiss National Day Fireworks

Finally, I got around to posting a few images from the Swiss National Day celebrations. Although the Swiss National Day is technically a "new holiday" (August 1st), the source of this holiday dates back to over 700 years ago, when three independent republics signed an agreement to protect one another. That first agreement cleared the way for additional cantons (member states) which were eventually added to form the Swiss Confederation. Currently, there are 26 cantons.

Today, the holiday is in many ways, very similar to American Fourth of July celebrations. Fireworks, barbeques, bonfires, speeches by politicians, parades, singing, dancing, carnival rides, and lots of drinking.

Although I've been in Geneva on multiple occasions for this event, I had an opportunity to shoot from the docks this year. A friend of mine keeps a boat on the right bank of Lac Léman in the canton and city of Geneva. The docks are closed to the pubic for this holiday, and a few of us were invited to have a little party on the boat. The harbor was still very crowded and my options for composition were rather limited on the narrow docks. So I decided to stay put, rather than take a chance of falling in the water while trying to navigate around a drunken crowd with all of my gear. I've always enjoyed Geneva's fireworks display! This year's was among the best I've ever seen. I hope to shoot it again from another interesting vantage point :)

Lac Léman at Dusk

Since my arrival back in Geneva, Switzerland, the weather has been great! At least by my standards (the locals have not been too pleased). True, it has been very hot. But not unbearable considering that I am from California. The humidity was so high around Lac Léman (or Lake Geneva), that the haze covered the surrounding mountains. Not very nice conditions for the shots that I had in mind.

This was a great opportunity for me to just enjoy this magnificent weather and play the role of participant instead of being the constant observer. Lol. Its a balance that is hard to achieve at times. In this alpine region, consistent heat is always sure to bring rain. Once I started noticing some interesting cloud formations, a slight drop in temperature, I took this opportunity to go out and try to capture a little magic along the left bank of Geneva.