Bonfire Night 2025
Lights, explosions and long exposures in Meersbrook Park
Text by Brendan Ellis, Photo credits in filenames.
Remember, remember, the fifth of November. This year bonfire night coincided with our regular meet up evening so we decided to have a special session. We all met at Bishop’s House in Meersbrook Park to take photos of the fireworks from the top of a hill with the city of Sheffield in the background.
It’s a popular spot with a good view to watch the all the unofficial displays. We got there fairly early and there was already a lot of people but we managed to find a good spot to set up.
Things started off slowly, but many people played with sparklers in the meantime.
This created an interesting atmosphere of light and smoke.
The fireworks started out quite sporadic and spread all across the horizon. That made it difficult to have the camera pointed in the right direction at the right time. Personally I took over 140 shots that night and only half of those made it through the first cull. Eventually a bigger show started very nearby giving us chance to aim and be ready. I got some of the best shots I’ve ever taken of fireworks. El and Leigh got some nice ones too.
Meanwhile Tony got some cool light squiggles.
I also experimented with few shots using my Kaleidoscope Prism Filter and ended up with one of my best shots of the year which would later feature in our Perspective exhibition.
