It’s a tradition by now: I stay at home and the evening winds up special not because my plans are, but because one year is ending while another one begins. This time, the midnight show was a good pretext to reach for the new camera. I fired away indiscriminately, hoping for a few keepers and expecting the expected. Instead, I got this: corkscrew smoke plumes and a record not of the rainbow festivity on display, but rather of the noise, dust and odor. A beautiful one, to be sure, but the uncut truth, just the same.

The remaining three hundred photos were unworthy of sharing or even keeping in my archive. Seriously, this is the one, recorded ninety-one seconds into 2018 with the Fujifilm XT-20 and the 90mm/f2.0. If it’s an omen, let’s hope it’s a good one.