diff --git a/python/visualization.py b/python/visualization.py
index 58d13e350..60d586f47 100644
--- a/python/visualization.py
+++ b/python/visualization.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from collections import namedtuple
 import warnings
+import copy
 
 from time import sleep
 
@@ -472,7 +473,7 @@ def _add_colorbar(
     from mpl_toolkits.axes_grid1 import make_axes_locatable
 
     if colorbar_parameters is None:
-        colorbar_parameters = default_colorbar_parameters
+        colorbar_parameters = copy.deepcopy(default_colorbar_parameters)
     else:
         colorbar_parameters = dict(default_colorbar_parameters, **colorbar_parameters)
 
@@ -486,13 +487,17 @@ def _add_colorbar(
         norm=mpl.colors.Normalize(vmin, vmax),
         cmap=mpl.cm.get_cmap(cmap),
     )
+
     # Pop specific values out of colorbar params so user can add any kwargs to plt.colorbar
-    cax = make_axes_locatable(ax).append_axes(
+    # ref: https://matplotlib.org/stable/gallery/axes_grid1/demo_colorbar_with_axes_divider.html#colorbar-with-axesdivider
+    ax_divider = make_axes_locatable(ax)
+    cax = ax_divider.append_axes(
         pad=colorbar_parameters.pop("pad"),
         size=colorbar_parameters.pop("size"),
         position=colorbar_parameters.pop("position"),
     )
-    plt.colorbar(mappable=sm, cax=cax, **colorbar_parameters)
+    fig = ax.get_figure()
+    fig.colorbar(mappable=sm, cax=cax, **colorbar_parameters)
 
 
 def plot_eps(
@@ -881,7 +886,6 @@ def plot_fields(
         ax.imshow(field_data, extent=extent, **filter_dict(field_parameters, ax.imshow))
 
         if field_parameters["colorbar"]:
-
             _add_colorbar(
                 ax=ax,
                 cmap=field_parameters["cmap"],