Entering the New Year with a Bang

johannvdwalt (62)in #photomag • 6 years ago

Two years ago I went to the Hong Kong New Year's Eve Celebrations and fireworks and this was an amazing experience.

Last year we were in Bangkok over the New Year and I went to Wat Arun to see if there will be a repeat of the beautiful fireworks display of 2016, but alas, there were no fireworks. At midnight we did hear a wonderful chant from the monks at Wat Arun, but after about 10 minutes all went to silence.

This year, Xiaoyi suggested that we visit her sister over the holiday period and that immediately triggered the fireworks bulb in my head as Singapore is known for putting on a great show for New Year's Eve. We arranged our plans to arrive on the 29th and on the 30th we went scouting (First via the internet and then on foot - according to my phone's exercise meter it was a full 18 kilometres of scouting!).

Oh I can't keep it in, I can't keep it in
I've gotta let it out
I've got to show the world, world's got to see
See all the love, love that's in me, I said
(Lyrics - credit to Cat Stevens)

I found on the internet that this year's entertainment will be the international debut of the Star Island production by Japan's top entertainment group Avex. The on-foot scouting revealed that about 90% of the Marina Bay area will be closed down and only be available to ticket holders or restaurant goers. Tickets were all sold out and if you did not make a restaurant booking at least 2 months ago, you had no chance of getting in - or so I was told by several restaurants I tried.

After talking to some local photographers the consensus was that we will need to claim our stand early with our tripods to get any a good spot.

And as you know, I am not scared off by challenges!

The evening I checked the weather report and they Yr.no were predicting about 10mm precipitation between midday and 18:00 - BAD NEWS_

I was looking so determined (and desperate?) in my planning that I had Xioayi and the whole family behind my planning!

Xiaoyi, Brother-in-law and I left for the subway with a picnic basket, cameras, camera batteries (important) and tripods in time to arrive at midday, while sister-in-law and the two daughters followed later. At noon, 12 hours ahead of the fireworks, we claimed our spot! About 30 minutes later the next spot was claimed.

The weather report was not wrong - shortly after we arrived, the storm clouds started building up, and by 2 pm, the rain came down in buckets. We had to find shelter on the veranda of the theatre close by. This happened 3 times, with the last session going on until about 6 pm. By then we had to reclaim our spots amongst other overenthusiastic photographers.

At exactly 9 pm, a burst of fireworks surprised us all; our camera settings were not yet set, tripods not correctly setup, wrong focal length lenses, and the list go on...

I suspected this is part of a countdown, so by 9:30 I was fully prepared - nothing happened.

At 9:51 pm, one single huge ball of fire exploded above our heads. Unprepared again...

At 11 pm the next burst of fireworks exploded, but then it did not stop! It went on until a few minutes before midnight, just long enough for everybody to join in on the last minute countdown. For the next 4 minutes, the sky was lit up as if it was midday!