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 :)

One Night in Zürich

I've had about ten layovers in Zürich over the last 15 years. I never had the opportunity or time to stay. Finally, I got a chance to visit the city. By train, Zürich is just under 3 hours away from Geneva, Switzerland. My girlfriend, Fabiola and I arrived fairly early, so we had plenty of time to check into our hotel and relax for a little while. After catching the tram back to the Bahnhofstrasse, we had lunch @ Cafe Sprüngli. Tasty :) Then, Fabi decided to get her hair done while I went off to go shooting. The light was very harsh, so I didn't take many photos except for inside the train station. Afterwards, we met up with our friend, Franka for drinks and dinner. City Beach, anyone? Franka, was kind enough to show us around the city and a few of the local sites. I took a few night shots that were to my liking.

Before we left, we had the pleasure of eating at a great restaurant called Bianchi's! YUM! I highly recommend it.

Zürich was such a magnificent place! I will definitely return. Though there is so much more to discover, I am happy that I was able to leave Zürich with a few images that pleased me.

Night on the Embarcadero

Earlier this week, my friend Minh & I set out to get some photographs of San Francisco by night. We shot near the Golden Gate bridge, and on Embarcadero. Though I had a few issues with one of my lenses earlier in the evening near Fort Point, my shots along the Embarcadero near the Bay Bridge and Pier 14 came out quite nice! We shot until 2am, and enjoyed the shoot so much that we went back out in time to catch the sunrise. We only managed to get 3 hours sleep, but its a small price to pay for a good time.