It was a true Chicago 4th of July.  It was 95 degrees out with somewhere near 130% humidity.  It wasn’t so much hot as it was enveloping.  It was like you were wearing a coat of very warm, very humid air.  I was up in Rogers Park celebrating the holiday with friends.  We had gone to the beach to watch some of the fireworks displays (both city approved and non-city approved).  I naturally brought my camera with me.

There were thousands of people around and seemingly half of them were lighting sparklers, bottle rockets, snakes and other small incendiary devices.  Some of the fireworks landed in a patch of dried grass and it started on fire.  Fortunately, being at the beach, there was plenty of sand nearby to extinguish the blaze.  All of this created a near Mexico City level of haze in the air.  Lights didn’t just appear light, they started glowing.  It was at that point that I turned my camera onto the group of Larry Clark-like kids nearby and shot this photo.

I can’t express how much I like this picture.  I’d probably rank it as my second favorite photo that I’ve ever taken (this is my absolute favorite).  The energy in it crackles, the movement of the kids is beautiful and it looks like all hell is blowing up around them.