Life as a photographer can be challanging at times – to say the least. Not only regarding subject matter, composition, timing, etc.

Also, sometimes we have to deal with rather grumpy and unfriendly citizens who feel annoyed by our presence.
Being a seascape and landscape photographer, I ususally do not have to deal with this much, as I am mostly on my own or with fellow photographers.

However once other people are involved it can become tricky and it is good to know how to deal with situations like that.

Shooting a public event with hundreds of thousands of specators can be challenging enough – finding a vantage point that offers uninterrupted views is almost impossible.
However I got lucky and found a small hill overlooking the crowds. This is where I put my tripod down and not long after, I was being shouted at, splashed with water and I slightly feared, that my camera would not survive the evening.
I prayed that once the fireworks would start, people’s attention would focus on something else, but for over an hour I had to fight for my right to take photos, push back people that became too pushy, trying to calm heated moods. Usually playing the apologetic one pays off. Trying to work with people instead of insisting on your right to be there. In a heated situation with slightly boozed up people, there is no right way to deal with things, but I certainly would not move off the field without any shots on my card.

Once the fireworks at the Eiffel tower started, I knew I was safe.

So with a little bit of  pride for not backing away from the little hill I conquered, I present you some of the shots I took last night.
The fireworks were – of course – absolutely amazing and it was well worth fighting for my spot in the crowd.

Before the Fireworks

Warming up for the finale

The grande bouquet

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 at 10:45 pm and is filed under Locations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.