Any other professional pyros out there?
 

It's that time of year again, and I'm gearing up for shooting the 4th of July fireworks show at Shawnee Lake in Topeka. Sounds like we've got a few people who sell class C pyro around, but does anybody else out there shoot the big stuff?

If so, where will you be? What's your show like? Any cool pictures from past years?

For what it's worth, this kinda began over in Nzoner's thread here. I just didn't want to hijack his thread any further than I already had.

I'm kinda creeped out by you complementing my rack, but thanks!

That's a cool idea, and I might try it if we still had that show. Unfortunately, those pics are from 2001. After 9/11, Parks and Rec decided that we were gonna blow up the dam with our pyro somehow. Now, we're limited to pretty much only aerial shells. However, I've found that timing a barrage of 8, 2x6, 2x4, and a few salutes to burst simultaneously at countdown time "0" wakes em up just fine!

It's really a shame. We used to create some really cool effects by spreading cakes out over a 1000' spread on the dam at Lake Perry (shown below). We try to do a little of that at Shawnee, but it's just not the same.

Brocades....

Titanium Salutes

Anyone? :)

Nice wall. Cakes are handy especially for the finale. Here is the kerosene effect as seen from across the lake about 400 yards away...

That is pretty cool. I've never used a "big ball of fire" effect in a show, but it would certainly be a change from the typical "colored sparks" look.

Where was that done?

From a couple years ago..

Yep, that's it exactly: something a little different. The cremora bombs are cool too. A wall of sound and fire.

This was done at a lake in an Iowa state park. I love to set up and shoot shows but haven't been able to do so for a couple of years (they frown on that in Arizona). Have you gone to any demos? Free food and drink while the rep shoots the latest and greatest product. Good stuff.

Traditional but good...

ooohhh..

aaahhhh...

smells like...victory

sorry, I have a hard time even lighting a black cat. I'm too yeller, I suppose.

I like the layering that you've got going on in a lot of those, with cakes going strong down low, but simliar effects up higher. We've tried some of that, but it never seems to be as cohesive as I'd like. Once, we did a brocade crown cake run (like the pic above) and then lit off 2x10" brocade crown aerial shells right at the end of the show. I don't have a picture of it, but those 10's hung in the air for around 20 seconds. That's probably my favorite look we've gotten.

I've personally never gone to the demos, but I've always wanted to. I work for a company who pretty much dictates what effects we get anyway. It sucks, but they take care of a lot of the paperwork that I have no desire to deal with, so it's a trade off. This is probably my last year, as I'm moving out of the area I've always shot shows in. Otherwise, I might try and find a demo to attend. Oh well.

A couple of guns taped off and wired to the board....

Again, you got any snakes or perhaps those things you throw on the ground that pop? That's more my speed.

You have a good eye for set-up.
We didn't do the shows for pay, our buddy got licensed and we all joined in each year to do a show (he does many each year), just a group of buddies spending the 4th wiring and firing. We were lucky enough to get funding from the park and the lake residents to put on a pretty good sized show.
Sorry to hear it might be your last year; hope it's a great show.

I know a guy who once took the lift charge off of a 3" salute, taped a time-delay fuse on it, lit it, and threw it. He was an idiot, but it worked. I could hook you up with that maybe. Of course, if you screw it up you'd probably be missing a couple limbs, but other than that... :D

ROFL
My buddy has a t-shirt that reads "C-class is for Girls".

Crossed 2" roman candles...

Sweet effect.

Here are a few pics of our setup last year at Lake Shawnee:

A couple cakes and the 10's and 12's.

I wished I had a nickel for every guy this past week that has come in to our warehouse and asked,"got any mortars?"

Firing boards

Why yes. Yes it does...

http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/attac...chmentid=40037

Sorry, I couldn't resist. ROFL

The show at Shawnee is right next to a golf course. They close off the course around 6pm, but during the day golfers are going by the whole time. I can't even begin to guess how many times some guy comes by and asks "Does anybody have a match?" I suppose it was probably funny the first time, but now I just kinda want to throw something when I hear that.

I just get stuff that I can put out in the street that won't be too dangerous to the neighbors. Then we can sit on the back porch and watch the big display at the High School.

That's what golfers say to one another. Jeez. Everybody's so uptight.

ROFL Yeah, sure, you don't need a license to buy things that could kill people.

j/k about the C class stuff. I have loved fireworks since I was a kid. Out here we don't have anything, no sparklers, no snakes, NOTHING.
I'd give a lot to be able to come to your stand and fill my car with rockets and candles and crackers.
It must be cool to do that each year.

nlm ROFL At this point I'll take any football talk I can get. This has to be the worst time of the year in terms of sports. There is absolutely nothing going on right now.

Ever do any hand-lighting?

Only by accident.

I should have seen that coming.

yeah, not helping my phobia of lighting fireworks!!!

I've done it twice for REALLY small shows (budgets of around $2000 or less). It's a bigger rush, I suppose, but the pace is too slow for my taste.

I've never done it in a show. My buddy knows guys in the 8 Finger Club (guys who make/pack their own product) and we launched a bunch of their stuff one night. We taped a road flare to a broom handle and handlit them one after another. It was pretty cool.

No problem man,in fact when it comes to C class we've got some fairly decent stuff,granted it's not professional quality but for a street party some of these new multi-shots are very nice.

I know people who have done backyard (ok, more like back-field) shows using only class C stuff. If you do it right and know what stuff to buy, you can put on quite a show!

So you do the show at Shawnee Lake, eh? Cool. I might see that this year.

Good to hear! If you're willing to fight the crowds, we do some effects that are pretty low (kinda like the pics above) that you can't see from a ways back. Over on the dam is about the best place to be. However, I know how crazy the crowds are there...