4th of July at Kentucky Lake

Water skiing, a pig roast, and various other slices of Americana made up my 4th of July this year at Kentucky Lake in - you guessed it - Kentucky. I spent a few days in Kentucky with my lovely girlfriend and her equally enjoyable family, giving a summer lake house one last hurrah before her grandparents sell it. 

Most days were marked by light rainfall, but we had a cloudless 4th where I managed to make the most of the sunshine turn a fine shade of lobster red. There was a lot of laughter and storytelling and trying to surmise the experience in a short blog post wouldn't do it justice. 

The moment I found myself most lost in was the pig roast, where the white noise of countless simultaneous conversations allowed me the space to tune in with my camera and study a curiosity I'd never been a part of before. It was interesting to watch how everyone interacted with the pig in various ways, each of the children having their own curiosities and feelings about the pig - poking and prodding and looking it over. I found myself caught up in their explorations of it, thinking about the gears at work in a young kids minds as they explore the ideas of death and life and food. 

I had planned to post these photos much earlier but a whirlwind of a month followed the 4th and they fell to the wayside in the hustle of life. But, I'll save that for my July recap post.

Thanks for reading and looking.

4th of July, 2014

I've been buried trying to finish editing wedding photos but emerged victorious from that the other day, so here are some overdue photos I took on the 4th, and a little on the 5th, of July. Myself, a roommate, a couple future roommates, and other friends went out towards Three Creeks to light off fireworks they had purchased. We set up some barbeques and enjoyed some burgers and hot dogs (not pictured). It was a solid celebration of the nation's independence.

I enjoyed a shot or two I got on the fourth last year when I took my Pentax 6x7 downtown for the firework show, so I thought it'd be fun to shoot more this fourth as well. I also have a D800, which handles low lighting so much better than the D300s I had at this time last year, so I thought it'd be fun to see what I could do with it out in the woods. I feel happy with what I came out with.

Murahd's first fireworks.

Long exposure: Beginning to end of a large rocket firework

Luke making photographs.

Murahd runs away after lighting a large rocket.

Murahd and his girlfriend, Abby, light up sparklers together.

Robert does a dance with a fistful of lit sparklers.