Thousands of vehicles and people crowded Millennium Park and dozens of other parking lots in the area Thursday night to celebrate Independence Day with fireworks. Many private fireworks stashes went up before and after the big show, which got started around 10 p.m. To capture up-close images of the moments the fireworks exploded, Advocate-Messenger editor Ben Kleppinger used a 300mm lens on a tripod from the edge of a Millennium Park parking lot.