Posted at 1:00 PM ET, 07/ 6/2010

Washington D.C. fireworks from the Potomac River

By Ian Livingston

* Heat advisory, near 100 today & tomorrow: Full Forecast | NatCast *
* Talk with CWG about the heat & forecast ahead: Live chat at 2 p.m. *

Our third heat wave of the season started strong on the 4th, just in time for the big party. Temperatures that reached the mid-90s in the city cooled back into the 80s before the show. In my first two trips to photograph the fireworks over the last several years, I found smoke quickly becomes an issue in the typically stagnant July air. Happily, relatively low humidity for this time of year and enough of a south wind at fireworks time set the stage for a beautiful show.

Keep reading for more fireworks photos from Washington, D.C.'s 2010 show.

The photos below are in the order they occurred throughout the show with one "pre game" inclusion of post-sunset pink hues in the sky. All were taken just north of Arlington Memorial Bridge. The location was great and I hope to return for more shows in the future. Next time, I'll work to convince fellow CWG photographer Kevin Ambrose that photographing the fireworks with me is more important than hanging out with his family! (Just kidding, Kevin)

In previous years I photographed the D.C. fireworks from different locations with CWG's Kevin Ambrose. See 2008 photos and 2009 photos. A gallery with some other images in larger sizes is available through my flickr photo stream.