Busan Fireworks Festival – Day 9 in South Korea

Welcoming the New Year with a new post. Hoping you had a very nice NY celebration yourself, and with or without any new year resolution, I hope this year, we exert more “-ER”s in what we do and aim to achieve, hardER, bettER, fastER and strongER!

This post is a continuation from our Busan tour with our Couchsurfing host and is also bit connected with New Year’s celebration as I will be featuring the fireworks display at the Busan Fireworks Festival 2012.

The fireworks show was originally planned to be held last October 27 but due to the heavy rain that day, it was postponed and re-scheduled the next day. The entire festival lasted for two days, the first day, Oct 26, featured a free concert with famous K-Pop artists - TVXQ and IU to name a few. The fireworks display is held at the Gwanggali Beach and has attracted not just Koreans, but lots of foreigners as well. Just like us, there were some tourists who visited Busan on the 26-28th to experience this festival and it also has been a tradition to the people of Busan ever since it started last 2005. The event is free for all – meaning no admission fee ;) More reasons to experience this famous festival.

Gwangan Bridge at dusk

As soon as we arrived at a good spot near the fishing market near the Gwanggali beach, our host has bought some good sashimi that we can enjoy while waiting for the fireworks to start by 8PM. There were certainly lots of people that went to see the display that day – it was crowded but fun to see lots of drunken ahjummas and ahjussis having a fun picnic with their friends. This sashimi you can also buy FRESH in the market.

While waiting for the fireworks to start, I took the opportunity to take pictures of the Gwangan Bridge, which is also widely known as the “Diamond Bridge.” I could have taken a better picture as I was sitting at an off angle but I got lazy as there were lots of people looking for any viewing spot – and hey, I didn’t want to lose mine so I didn’t move one inch off my seat.

“Fall in Love With Busan” was the theme of this year’s fireworks display, and the organizers are also pitching this as the ideal place to propose to your girlfriend. Not bad.

It was definitely my first time to take pictures of fireworks, but I was armed with a tripod, that should do it. Of course, I’m no pro, but for beginners on firework photography – a tripod is a must, especially for those people who have a hard time taking a steady picture (yes, I am included in this club)!

Some more newbie tips on taking pictures of fireworks that I learned during the process:
•    make sure you have a good focus on the subject
•    set a long exposure – but make sure not to overexpose
•    check if you on the correct lens to bring (depending on how and where you shoot but either telephoto or wide angle – both with zoom please, prime would be a bit tricky to use)
•    a shutter remote would be nice though the one that I brought did not work
•    and lastly, just shoot and shoot. You can crop your shot afterwards anyway so if there are some distractions inside the picture, you can remove it later.

this could have been a good shot, IF that guy just removed his head out of my picture!

There only a few good shots that I was able to take from my set, maybe only half of my shots were good or okay, but it was absolutely good learning experience and I am excited to take more pictures of fireworks here in Manila!

Directions to Gwangalli Beach: From Busan Station, take city bus Nos. 41, 42, 140, 239, 240, 139 and get off at Gwanganlli Beach.

The festival will certainly make you sing Katy Perry’s ‘Fireworks’... or not. (Coz baby, you’re a firework!) Excuse the lame pun, but kidding aside, I was really satisfied with how this day turned out. I can picture myself smiling the whole time, thanks to our host, I can say I was able to experience the life in Busan. :)

Follow my footsteps in South Korea!

Day 1: Gangwon-do Chuncheon and Nami Island	Day 2: Gangwon-do Mt.Seorak (Seoraksan)	Day 3: Gyeonggi-do Yongin and Food Tour	Day 4: Gyeonggi-do Suwon: Hwaseong Fortress, Korean Folk Village	Day 5: Gyeonggi-do Everland	Day 6: Gyeongju Food Tour	Day 7: Gyeongju Seokguram Grotto Bulguksa Temple Cheomseongdae and Anapji Pond
Day 8: Busan Railway Train in Korea	Day 9: Busan Igidae Coast Busan Fireworks Festival	Day 10: Busan Haedong Yonggungsa Temple Flying with Jeju Air	Day 11: Jeju (E) Food Tour- Altang Dragon Rock Jusangjeolli Cliff Teddy Bear Museum The Seaes Resort	Day 12: Jeju (W) Sunrise Peak Seopjikoji Trick Art Folk Village Sangamburi Crater, Mt.Halla Manjanggul Cave, Maze Park Jjimjilbang	Day 13: Seoul Flying with T'way Airlines Couchsurfing in Korea	Day 14: Seoul Palaces and Bukchon Village
Day 15&16: Seoul Myeongdong and Ewha University N Seoul Tower	Booking Flights via T'way Airlines	Travel Report for South Korea 16 days travel itinerary and tips