My 2023 Empire State Plaza 4th of July fireworks (in 3-D) (Second Try)

Let’s see. It was 90 degrees in the shade on Tuesday night. The Empire State Plaza was packed with thousands of celebratory Capital District residents, all of whom were enjoying food and drink, and getting ready for Sheila E. and the fireworks show. Or the fireworks show with Sheila E., depending on your perspective.

Mother Nature, on the other hand … didn’t care.

The fireworks show was called off, and rescheduled for Wednesday night.

Okay. I’m ready. Both my Nikon Df stereo cameras are fully charged and set to go. All I need to do is get to the Plaza, find a suitable shooting spot (maybe a better one than before), get me some food and drinks, and I’m set.

All right. Car parked in the Empire State Plaza visitors’ parking facility. I get up to the concourse. Go outside. Walk up the museum steps.

And I discover there’s maybe six people on the steps. Six. And I’m being generous.

No matter. I’ll go get some food and a drink. Maybe one of the food trucks will have a chopped cheese sandwich …

Hey, wait … where are all the food trucks?

And for that matter, where are all the beverage trucks?

I found an OGS worker, who explained to me that the food trucks – and the beverage trucks – and Sheila E. – had long gone. All we were getting tonight were the fireworks, and that’s it.

Okay … I guess … kinda wish I knew that before I got here, I could have picked up a couple of cold Red Bulls to get through the night.

Oh well. Let’s get things set up.

Now I had a bit of a quandry. Because the focusing rod only allows me to aim the cameras in “landscape” orientation, there’s no way I can get the big booming fireworks blooms without tilting the camera upwards. And if I tilt the camera upwards, then the buildings will all look tilted in the photo. So the only shots I’ll get that I want are ones that are low to the ground. I’ve gotten the big high booms before. This is a more esoteric shot session.

Also … if I aim the camera upward, I’ll get that PRICE CHOPPER MARKET 32 advertisement in the Corning Tower. You know the one … where the building’s internal lights spell out the fireworks show’s sponsor in story-high lettering. This time I just want the Capitol building (that’s centered) and the Egg and a few agency buildings. I can work with that.

It’s getting darker. And people are showing up. One woman is walking up and down the museum steps, looking intently at the ground. She later approaches one of the guards, and tells him that she lost an earring at yesterday’s aborted show. The guard actually had the earring and returned it to her. Nice. Good deed.

She then walked over to me, and noticed that I was wearing my Hamilton College polo shirt. “I like Hamilton,” she cooed. “He’s the best President we ever had.”

Not sure where this is going, but … okay … if you say so …

“It was wrong for Albany to tear down his father-in-law’s statue. What did he ever do that was so wrong?”

And now, folks, we get to where this is going. This woman wanted to pick a fight over the removal of a statue. I mumbled something about sometimes the people who were worthy of honor years ago are no longer worthy of honor today. That their time has ended. And I left it at that.

“Well, everybody owned slaves back then. What was so wrong about it?”

I could tell this question was the kind that deserving of an answer … and not deserving of one from me. Because at this point I realized that Lady Earring was just looking for an argument, and it was too hot for me to put her in her racist, bigoted, narrow-minded place. I muttered something about checking my camera gear and ignored her for as long as I possibly could.

Eventually, she got the hint and walked away.

Jeez. All kinds.

I should also say that there might have been more than a few people enjoying the benefits of cannabis that night. There was definitely the thick aroma of weed emanating from various locations on the museum steps. Hey look, I’m no prude – if it makes you relax, then roll one up and torch it, bro. At least it’s the smell of weed and not the smell of nicotine. Blech.

Anyway … I shot over 700 images last night. Lotsa images.

Here’s an example of my stereo attempt. I’ll probably take more time over the weekend to find better ones, but at least I’ve got proof of concept here.

Again … I gotta do some adjustments, and I think my older Nikon Df is showing its senility. I just need it to get through another year before it’s retired to the shelf.

Oh, and if you’d like to watch something really cool …

These are fireworks in slow motion.

Anyway … the show lasted until 9:45 p.m. Then came the second part of our show.

Getting OUT of the Empire State Plaza.

And apparently on the way out … there was some drama.

As I headed toward the concourse, I heard sirens and saw people running and crying.

Someone said to me, “I heard someone shout ‘Shooter! Shooter!!’ and the cops came running. I’m so scared.”

Shit. Shit shit shit. Was there an active shooter at the event? Or was someone trying to be a clown and shouting “Shooter!” in a crowd?

Either way … if there really WAS a shooter, I hope the cops found you and beat you into a pulp.

And if it’s someone just playing with our already frayed nerves … I hope someone sticks an umbrella up your ass and OPENS that umbrella up. Shithead.

Got down to the parking garage, and then watched as the owner of a Dodge RAM truck tried loading all the things he brought – wagons, chairs, two kids – while at the same time giving the finger to someone in a Dodge Caravan who was trying to get out and couldn’t because Mr. Dodge Ram had the back door of his truck down and was taking his sweet time, while Mr. Dodge Caravan laid on his horn like it was some magical button that could instantaneously clear out a traffic jam.

Yep. Dodge-on-Dodge road rage.

Again … I finally got home, maybe around 11:00 p.m. Just in time to download the photos to my computer, and as I said before, I’ll work on them over the weekend. But I did get some swank photos, for sure.

But I have to say this.

I’m seriously thinking about skipping next year’s fireworks show. I mean, two days of heat, dodging a rainstorm, then dealing with road rage in the Empire State Plaza parking garage, as well as a shooter or not shooter …

Yeah. I think I’m good on this front.

I might change my mind next year …

But I’ll wait until next year to make that determination.