I decided last night to see if I could get out of the house in the morning and meet up with friends for some family ballooning. It worked out fine. I was up about 2 hours before and didn't even set an alarm. I hoped that if I wanted to go I would get up on time. Really way before time which turned out to be fine since I got to lay there and listen to my brain harass me about people that have gone missing in my life and general assaults about delays, paperwork and things out of my control. Love it when it does that. I know I am not alone of people with overactive brain scrambling bugs.. Sheesh.
Normal days ballooning is getting up, getting cleaned and dressed and piling into the truck and driving out ( with side trip for coffee ( as I have cut myself off of Starbucks coffee for my own good ) I stopped for a treat... of Starbucks coffee )... and waiting for everyone to show up. Then, once everyone has arrived, waiting for sunrise while getting equipment out and set up. There is a slight delay that happens.. and I will let Eric explain this... as he said this morning when he was asked why he had not set up yet... His words... paraphrased "Its the wait till the sun comes up so you can take cover thing".. or some such. It was very calm out but even waiting we had to adjust more East as the very tiniest breeze had changed as the sun broached the Sandia crest. So always duck and cover before dawn! So Eric was right....in a way..
I decided while standing there that I would get some more intimate shots of ballooning than the normal "its a balloon in the sky" shots, its a balloon standing there" shots.... I got those too but I did get very close also. Yep, I even had a few people pose.. which was fun....
I took 504 shots. Of those 504 there were 50 that I directly edited because they were what I wanted to capture today plus a few that were just the right thing at the right time.. and a shot that was so amazing I couldn't believe I was right in that exact spot I needed to be to see it. I will only insert the few that really stood out in this blog and when I have time to go through the others I will add them to my web site.
Waiting and wondering.
Standing around waiting for the balloon to show up.
That Intimate Touch.
Show me that burn.
A posed shot with the perfect burn and envelope in the background. Excellent!
Connections in the dawns light.
Kkisses at apogee.
Release the Propane!
Toys in the sandbox.
Enveloping the vehicles.
The only time it is okay to have your envelope touch a vehicle.. be it a shadows touch, it is a touch.
( Whistling )
Morning fire in the sky.
Is there only one way?
I am going to add some of these directly to facebook for friends plus add a few not seen here which are more personal... as I would never expose some things to the whole world. ( ";o) )
Enjoy your evening, day, morning....
PS I lost my lens cap somewhere before the chase only to find it right under my foot after the chase was over. Heh!
