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Happy New Year 2026
I wish everyone a happy new year. Hopefully everyone had a great time transitioning into the new year. If I recall correctly, this was the first new year I have been out with my cameras taking pictures. All the other firework pictures I took so far are from the 4th of July or other celebrations.
I visited my childhood home and was scouting a good location for firework photos. My plan was to go to the next bigger town and take photos with the castle in the background. I knew a good location with an amazing view and had it all planned out in my head. I thought it would be great also because the castle is illuminated. More about that thought later.
Unfortunately, the city didn’t set up an official firework at the Donaukai, the location from where I wanted to shoot. They do fireworks here in the summer during “Schlossfest” but not for new years. But I know people love to buy firework and set it off.
Besides knowing my location already, I didn’t do much pre-planning. I drove to the location and parking spots were nearby and plenty of them available. I showed up about 45 minutes before midnight and set up my camera along the riverbank. Nobody else was in sight yet. Some people were at the nearby bar and celebrating. There is also a webcam at this location. There is no live-feed of the webcam, just pictures taken at an interval.
Remember my thought from earlier about the castle being illuminated. Well, I forgot I am in Germany. They lights for the illumination get turned off at night to conserver energy. It is what it is, I was hoping some of the firework would at least illuminate it enough to get good pictures.
Luckily, some people already started to set off fireworks 30 minutes before midnight. These gave me an extra option to check my composition and settings. I was pretty spot on with the composition and to get the firework in frame. I knew, I wouldn’t be able to get everything in frame as people would set it off along the whole riverbank from close to far. However, I should be set for the majority of it.
About ten minutes before midnight most of the people streamed to the railing along the riverbank to watch the firework or set off their own. As it struck midnight, the sky pretty much exploded with fireworks all around me.
The majority of the firework lasted about 15 minutes but even 30-mintues later, some people where still setting off fireworks. It was a pretty good show for fireworks you can just buy at the store.
Even without the illumination of the castle, it was still well visible in the photos as the firework helped to put some light on it. It might be even better without the artificial illumination of the building.
Of course, people did do stupid things. Some of the people set of rockets aimed horizontally across the river rather than shooting them up in the sky. Others shot firework rockets straight into the river. It was great for pictures but this can be dangerous. Well of course, some people did something really stupid. A few police cars and ambulances showed up at the nearby bar. I don’t know what happened exactly but it looked like a few people got injured. I wasn’t able to tell if it was from firework or crackers set off in the crowd.
I was just happy that nothing happened to me, even though one of the rockets aimed towards the river, exploded close to me. Not dangerous but could have been, if aimed closer towards me.
I didn’t get to edit the pictures until the next morning as I wanted to celebrate with some people and family the new year before I went to bed. After editing, I uploaded the pictures to Flickr to share them. I sent a link to two newspapers in the area and one got back to me, that they would have printed some of my photos in the actual paper if they would have received it earlier. I already figured when sending the Email that it is probably past the deadline for print, but wasn’t sure if they might also need some for online.
Well, lesson learned. Power through the night and edit right away to send it out so news agencies can use them.
How was your new year? Did you go out and photographed it?
Peter is an award-winning photographer who travels all over the world to capture the beauty of our planet as well as the achievements of humanity. Follow Peter on his travel blog Gate to Adventures for more amazing places to go and explore.
