It was another rememberable 4th of July weekend in Oklahoma. Since the 4th is my birthday, my wife and I always travel home to be with family. I was able to get out of school for Friday and Monday which made this an awesome 4-day weekend. On Saturday morning I photographed the Fleet Feet Tulsa Firecracker 5K run which my wife and dad participated in. On Saturday night I photographed my first wedding of the season. The wedding was for the son of my chiropractor; Nathan Peterson and his new bride Meredith. On Sunday morning (my birthday) my wife and I got up early and shot an engagement session with an old friend from Union and his lovely fiance. We spent the afternoon with my parents and Ali’s parents. Both our brothers were also there which made things even more sweet! Dad fired up the Hasty Bake grill and made some incredible burgers and brats. To top all of this off I somehow fortunate enough through a breakdown in communication to receive two birthday cakes! My wife made an angel food cake and my mother ordered me a chocolate/vanilla American flag cake. They were both amazing and I ate way more than I should have. To work off some of this amazing cake goodness my dad and I had an epic ping pong battle in the garage! The weather stations predicted storms throughout the evening which threatened to put a damper on my quest for shooting the Tulsa skyline with fireworks. I scouting out possible areas to photograph downtown fireworks the last several times I’ve visited Tulsa. I found a really nice spot along the Arkansas River that was “accessible” for my family. We brought folding chairs, bug spray, and the typical 20lb tripod you need for a long range fireworks photo. I must have looked pretty ridiculous shooting on a professional Manfrotto video tripod dug in the sand with a Canon 200mm f2.0 IS and a 5D Mark II mounted atop. The rain came, but my family was able to sit under a tree and I stayed out in the rain in an attempt to nab the perfect fireworks photo. Because of various factors I was unable to nab the “perfect” photo but I did have some good ones turn out even with the rain, wind, and smoke blowing across downtown. I think I’ll blow up a nice 12×24 for my office since I may not have another chance to shoot this setting anytime soon. On Monday morning, my wife and I shot a few more equine photos at KJM Stables and then we prepared for the long hike back to Kansas City. We fueled up at the greatest Quick Trip in the world (it’s right across the street from the corporate headquarters in Tulsa). Because highway 169 has a 30 mile detour, we opted for highway 69. I never mind this route because I get to drive through Miami, OK where I played two years of Junior College football. If you’re unfamiliar with this part of the state there is also a little abandoned town named Picher. The town is famous for several reasons including the massive “chat” piles that can be seen from space. I’ve always wanted to climb one so I took the initiative and ran to the top of one of the piles and took a few photos. What a great weekend!!! I’m currently busy processing images from all of these events so I’ll post them later this week or next. I hope you all had a safe and fun weekend! -Barnezy-
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