Bill Dimmit making super cool shapes with his Adams Pop A Top Balloon. Love this! Bill is awesome!
SO yes.. This weekend was the Albuquerque Aerostat Ascention Association's Valentines day Rally called Friends & Lovers. Its a two day event, taking place on Fiesta Park ( Field ) and the public are welcome to come join in the fun.
Normally there can be as many as 50 balloons. That is more than most regular rally's in the world. We have so many good people in our association that we can do this and usually do every month. It is a sight to see. Plus, for the public, just like at Fiesta.. you can walk right up to the balloons.
There are a lot of selfies being taken or balloon backdrop shots or engagements and even a wedding or two taking place... this time there were two engagements. I caught one by luck. It is below.
I edited a few shots tonight but I am running on probably two very tired brain cells so its a short set. They will post below.
Okay.. Heck with it.. Ill post them right now and talk about each shot as we go... Its my favorite thing....
Saturday was a bust for flying. It was cancelled right off. Target would be on the field and Pilots had to throw a baggie from the wall of the Sid Cutter Pav. There was also a target just for fun so you could try your hand at making the center of the X. Its pretty difficult. There was also a crew target ( A Heart ) where cheating was allowed within reason.
Sunday it was squirrely as all get out but people flew for fun. Off and heading due.. well East but then South then North.. and yeah.
Tie Dye envelope. Bold statement there Hopper.
SunDagger gets aloft for a training flight.
Mo in The Reverse Gravity Machine ( Ytivarg ) stands up next the the Civil Air Patrol balloon. he was taking two new to ballooning people up for their first right.
I believe they loved every minute of it.
The crown is pulled and no.. they were not going to take off after all.
Trying to get that picture with the balloon in the background but the balloon is moving left and right and left and right... They had to get very close but by the time they did the balloon took off....
Mo cruises beyond the Balloon Museum and off to find a nice bit of grass.
Crew target.. throw from the moving truck and hit the center of the heart...
Charity's balloon Blew's crown. Lindstrand!
Family and friends in the far distance with placards.... Got it right and he was on a knee before she saw the cards and pulled it off nicely.
And I had the camera right there and caught it... Nice to be in the right spot. ( about 20 feet behind him really ).
What the heck are they doing there crouched low like that....
Ahh.. remote controlled dump truck driven the the center of the X then baggie dumped out. They WON!
Mark Lofts his baggie at the target...
Geese!!! And one of the reasons I would rather not lay my envelope out on the field at this time of year... GOOSE POOP EVERYWHERE!!! I did kneel down on it to take pictures.. but no laying down.. ugh!
Matt got a new balloon and after taking shots of it from a lot of angles I saw this line!!! WOW!! Where can I get some of that white and soft yellow line!! It would go beautifully in Patturns In Czech.
Stacked up by Sid's place and lots of people around watching and taking pictures and video... Some tethering was going on before they took off.
A basket with a door. I love this shot for its content. Also the characters in it.
Eric shows everyone how easy it is and slips down the Western edge of the field.
Bill just has to make it interesting.. A second bounce and a lean while the envelope ( the banner envelope ) pops its top and lays down quickly.
Bill packing things up... and waiting for the chase crew to get down this end of the field.
Lots more shots out there. I will be posting more later and also to Facebook. Perhaps next week as well.
I was shooting specific things again today. I shot for crew action, balloon movement and then just shots of balloons. Since there were no clouds in the sky I didn't take many "balloon in blue sky" shots as they are boring.
This shot below I took from across the room and I just love the colors...
Lots of wine given away at the brunch on Sunday.
Well I have to post some shots to FB and get other things ready for the week.
Last thought is the Sony camera is kicking butt. I had a treatment I wanted to shoot for this weekend but the opportunity didn't show up.... I might be able to use some of the shots I took to test it but its still in the works. Ill post here when I get it sorted out.
Have a great week everyone!
