Firework Festival - First Night Mascleta In Northern Europe - Zena Trophy 2018
The first time I'd heard about the Zena Trophy was last year, when I came across an impressive daylight firework video on Youtube. Immediately curious, I did some research. This is an annual festival held by a Dutch pyrotechnic manufacturer named Zena. After reading that the 2018 edition would include a night mascletà, which would also be the loudest fireworks ever seen in Germany, I started plotting. Am I really so crazy for mascletàs that I would travel to Germany to see one? The answer, of course, is "yes".
On the border between Germany and the Netherlands is an amusement park called Wunderland, run by a Dutch businessman. It's one of the strangest parks you'll ever visit, but more on this later. With a hotel and tons of green space in the middle of an otherwise empty area, Wunderland is the perfect location for a crazy fireworks festival.
I arrived in Kalkar on a gray, rainy day, and checked into my hotel with enough time to prepare my camera and my mind for over five hours of fireworks. The weather unfortunately wouldn't improve throughout the evening, but amazingly none of the fireworks had to be suspended.
At 6:30pm, a daylight firework opened the festival. This was a beautiful display, beginning with a sea of sparkling stars and ending with colorful smoke bombs, and it set the bar high for the rest of the night. After this, I relaxed, confident in the quality of this festival which I'd traveled so far to see.
Looking at the setup for the night mascletà, a huge field densely packed with fireworks, I could tell it was going to be intense. And I wasn't disappointed. It's with a mixture of pride and shame that I admit to having seen well over a hundred mascletàs in my life, and this one left me extremely impressed. It started out with an synchronized, choreographed show of flare lights and ended with a huge cloud of smoke. And it really was tremendously loud. Valencians would have been wild with enthusiasm, but the Germans in the crowd -- who had literally never seen such a loud fireworks display -- were shocked.
Now the true competition started, featuring fireworks in category II. These are fireworks which can be purchased over the counter, without any special license. And the amazing displays at the Zena Trophy proved that with enough money and skill, anyone can create an incredible show.
Another highlight was the Show-Off firework from Zena, which was designed to demonstrate the abilities of the company. And yes, it was actually called the "Show-Off" firework; a bit on-the-nose, but you have to appreciate the honesty. This was a massive display with many surprise elements, and held my attention despite the late hour.
I was freezing cold, wet and exhausted, but fell into my bed at the hotel happy. I smelled of smoke and saw exploding fireworks as soon as I closed my eyes. As I fell asleep, I was already thinking about attending next year's event.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://for91days.com/blog/2018/10/01/zena-trophy-2018/
I also enjoyed fireworks but only watching them! I would never do it myself as with my luck I would end up with no fingers (Best case scenario though).
It looks like a great event and I'm glad to hear that you were not disappointed.
Thank you for sharing your impression with us!
Thank you for stopping by and yeah - it's like playing with fire! But so much fun! Can't keep all my 10 fingers away from it though.
Very cool! My brother in law used to work for a fireworks distributor in the state where I live. They are actually one of the largest ones in the region. They do a demo show near where I live every year and you can see the fireworks above the trees. My brother in law got to go to the big festival in the southwest and was supposed to go to Dubai for a show, but didn't. Very cool stuff.
Oh ... say hello to your brother and if there is a unique show, I might consider the trip. Thank you for stopping by!
No problem, my brother in law changed jobs though. He had a firework explode in his hands while moving it and although he recovered okay he decided on a career change shortly after that. I don't blame him :)
OMG .. me neither!!! Woah!
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amazing shots! I can never seem to photograph fireworks!
Thank you. These were actually shot handheld on a pretty high ISO. If you're ever in Valencia for Fallas happy to show you how it do it :)
just one word, I think you can guess it:
Wow!
Happy you liked it!!!
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Amazing display and so much money going up in smoke :P But when it can produce such a spectacular display, it's worth it. Great videos full of "wow" :)
Also there were many industry leaders there - looking at new products. It's basically a live advertisement billboard. Thank you for taking the time to check out the videos too. I had some issues, due to the rain. But at the end it worked out.
Not a bad place to make the most of a spectacular show with all that showing off to do! Hope the rain didn't dampen your spirits too much (no pun intended)...
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