annchao's blog

Bastille Day, July 14th, 2005. Fireworks from the balcony of my friend’s villa on the beach at Juan les Pins in the South of France, between Cannes and Nice.

All along the French Riviera, various towns and cities have Firework displays throughout the summer. Cannes has a pyrotechnical arts festival every year on July 14th, 21st, 29th and August 7th, 15th, and 24th. Check out more information in English here.

I made some classic mistakes when I took this photograph. I forgot a tripod and didn’t scope out the best vantage points. Here’s advice from Boston Globe Photographer, David Kamerman. With his tips, hopefully you won’t make the same mistakes that I did!

Since 4th of July is a classic American holiday, click here to see my friend, Stanley Hu’s online album of the 2004 Boston Fourth of July Celebration.

And here’s a handy guide to Firework Displays all over the World! Tell us where you've seen amazing fireworks around the world, or where you've spent your 4th of July in the comments below.

Happy Independence Day and be safe!

Zicasso is proud to announce our Quarterly Travel Photo Competition Winner! Shu-jon Mao contributed Oncoming Storm from his trip to the Caribbean.

Oncoming Storm

In Shu-jon’s own words: “Photo taken as we shuttled back to the S.V. Polynesia, a 245 foot sail boat, after a day's visit to the beaches of Anguilla and during an oncoming rainstorm. This was one of the most scenic stops during our 7 day cruise around the Caribbean islands.” Here’s the full announcement in our Travel Photo Competition section. In our Featured Photos Section, we show our 3 runners-up for this first quarter's competition: Botanical Garden near St. Louis, Swimming Pool in Bali, and Cambodia Temple. Congratulations!

I like to call myself a recovering Travel Photographer, and what I’ve always admired about the genre, is the serendipity of the experience. Shu-jon captures an unique travel moment in a beautiful composition. This is representative of why I travel and photograph. Photos like Oncoming Storm are an inspiration to travel, discover the world and share them with the community.

Thanks to all our talented participants for their photographic contributions. Don’t forget to submit your summer travel photographs for Zicasso’s next Quarterly Photo Competition by September 15th, 2008! Safe travels!