Guy Fawkes Night is huge here in the UK and this year I thought it would be nice to go out and watch the fireworks and bonfires. The backround to the bonfire night on the 5th of november is like this:

In 1605, thirteen young men planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Among them was Guy Fawkes, Britain’s most notorious traitor.

After Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603, English Catholics who had been persecuted under her rule had hoped that her successor, James I, would be more tolerant of their religion. James I had, after all, had a Catholic mother. Unfortunately, James did not turn out to be more tolerant than Elizabeth and a number of young men, 13 to be exact, decided that violent action was the answer.

A small group took shape, under the leadership of Robert Catesby. Catesby felt that violent action was warranted. Indeed, the thing to do was to blow up the Houses of Parliament. In doing so, they would kill the King, maybe even the Prince of Wales, and the Members of Parliament who were making life difficult for the Catholics.

To carry out their plan, the conspirators got hold of 36 barrels of gunpowder – and stored them in a cellar, just under the House of Lords.

Guy Fawkes, who was in the cellar of the parliament with the 36 barrels of gunpowder when the authorities stormed it in the early hours of November 5th, was caught, tortured and executed.

On the very night that the Gunpowder Plot was foiled, on November 5th, 1605, bonfires were set alight to celebrate the safety of the King. Since then, November 5th has become known as Bonfire Night. The event is commemorated every year with fireworks and burning effigies of Guy Fawkes on a bonfire.

Haverfordwest holds annual bonfires and fireworkdisplays also and this year we thought it would be fun to go out and watch the fireworks in the crowds. The fireworks were hold at the local Rugby Club this year and I managed to capture a few colurfull shots. Since this was the first time I tried to photograph fireworks I was surprised that the photos turned out so nice. I had a new tripod the other day and this was the first time I took it out – I am still impressed of how much better this one is compared to my old one.

Some technical information for those who like to know:

5D with Tamron 28-75mm mounted on a tripod | ISO 100 | f14 – f22 | bulb setting and triggered with a remote release cable with various shutterspeeds from 1 – 5 seconds.