It was a pleasure to play a small part in the Alnwick Round Table’s annual fireworks display at Alnwick’s Rugby Football Club (RFC) this year.

Back at home before I left I was going through equipment and gear to make sure I had everything. But, not as you would think - I was fairly confident I had the correct photographic equipment - what I needed to focus on were the other essentials; coats, hat, gloves, seat, hand warmers and an umbrella. I class these items as essentials for photographing a fireworks display during November in the UK - cold!

I arrived around 12:30pm to assist with erecting safety fences, get my bearings and to meet the team and in typical Northumbrian fashion, the wind howled and rain fell during the hours leading up towards the display - not so good! Around 5:30pm the rain let off and the wind died down - phew!

6pm arrived and after the important safety briefing, I set off up the rugby pitch to the spot I’d picked out earlier, set up my tripod, sat down on the fishing stool and as if it were planned - the rain and wind made a comeback. Packing the golfing umbrella and hand warmers was definitely a good call at this point! With the umbrella over my shoulder shielding me from the wind and rain I was praying it would die down, all of my equipment is weather sealed but I still don’t like getting it soaked! And, to my relief at 7pm, it stopped.

As the display started, I started taking exposures, timing the shutter to the rockets. Due to the wind the light trails were drifting over to the right, not perfect but I was happy with the photos appearing on the back of the camera.

An explosive 15-minute display seemed to go over in 2 minutes but as the finale went into the sky, the rain started again! Luckily, I managed to get everything packed away again just in time.

Another successful year of fireworks, roll on 2019!