Despite living in Sydney most my life, I’d never really seen the famed Sydney Harbour New Year’s Eve fireworks display properly. We went to a fun waterfront party in Point Piper in 2010, and I packed my tripod and camera with great anticipation, only for smoke to block all but the first couple of minutes. This year was going to be different. These photos are slightly different from your average fireworks photos. We were on a floating platform, so a long exposure was not possible, nor was using a tripod, and I had to make do with a high ISO. Because of this, these photos show a lot more detail in the smoke and explosion than you might usually see in regular fireworks photographs. We were also really close to one of the fireworks barges in the harbour which enhanced this effect.