Saturday, September 17, 2011

Balloon Glow

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Balloon Glow 4

The first part of The Great Forest Park Balloon Race, the balloon glow, took place last night. All the airships set up on a large athletic field and inflate while tethered to the ground. When an official sounds an air horn, they are all supposed to blast their burners, lighting up the night sky.

Photography conditions weren't so great. It was very crowded. When the horn sounded the balloons only lit up for 5 to 10 seconds, much more briefly than last year.. There was hardly time to compose, meter and focus shots. A few came out okay. Personally, I prefer the black and white one.

Sorry no comments yesterday. I was out late shooting. When I got home I downloaded, edited, wrote this and went to bed. Gotta get to work this morning.

Balloon Glow 2 BW

Balloon Glow 5

14 comments:

Birdman said...

Neat night image and you certainly put it 'aglow'.

PerthDailyPhoto said...

I definitely like the coloured top one best Bob and also the last one because it shows that there were so many people there all looking up, very cool!

Virginia said...

I'm still gaga over the bottom one. FABOO framing B.
You get some great gigs, you know that?
V

T. Becque said...

Really beautiful Bob. Looks like fun too.

Regina K said...

Great image Bob, I use to crew for several balloons at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta coming up here the first weekend of October. Have you ever been?

Jilly said...

My favourite is the first shot. It positively zings out at you. Is 'zings' a word. I hope it is....cos it's what your photo does. Oh those colours against that sky. Fabulous.

Sharon Creech said...

Quite an event - thanks for taking us there.

Choppography said...

I like the 3rd best. The "framing" is great. Couldn't get there myself. We would have gotten a late start...and history tells me we never would have made it out of the car.

Bianca said...

It's a shame that they didn't hold the flames for more than 5-10 secs. The black and white photos has a surreal quality to it, really nice.

Jack said...

No apologies, Bob. These came out well.

U "R" Us AKA Captain Crowe said...

Wowee these are gorgeous, especially the last one.

Julie said...

Yikes! You like the B&W best ... why? I guess it emphasises the shape of the HABs ... but ... it is the warmth of the fire and the colour and design that they rest their reputation upon.

Pat said...

Agree with you about the bw drama, but the color says it all....and how.

Sharon said...

Great shots! One of these days I'm going to get to one of these events and get some photos. I'd love to catch the one they do in Monument Valley! Love the Energizer Bunny balloon. I remember seeing that bunny on a building in St. Louis.