Sunday, January 22, 2012

Up and Away :: Evening Version

Depending upon the weather, mass ascensions of the balloons are held in the morning and in the early evening. About five o'clock I made my way back to Rotary Park. I could see a bunch of balloons already in the sky and it was an impressive sight!


Even more impressive was seeing the balloons floating just a few feet above the surface of Lake Havasu. Wouldn't it have been fun to be a passenger in either one of the boats or one of the balloons?


There were reportedly six unusually shaped balloons at the festival. This cute little fish is the only one that came close enough so that I could get a nice shot.


Looking to the west, more balloons were ascending. I counted about 40 all in the air at the same time, though not close enough together that you could get them all in one picture.


Another pilot showing off!


For a few brief moments, the sun came out from behind the clouds and the southeastern sky lightened up considerably. I made my way south, toward that spit of land jutting into the lake.


Several balloons landed there but many others continued on further, landing on the southeastern shore of Lake Havasu.


Meanwhile, there were still quite a few balloons drifting off into the western sky.


Carnival rides and other festival activities carried on into the evening, but I did not! I stayed around a few minutes longer, watching the “glow” of some of the balloons still moored on the island.


I also spent a few minutes simply enjoying the awesome sunset that Mother Nature provided for the ending of another beautiful day!

A note about the two photos of the balloons with the golden sky: Those two shots were taken with the camera at the maximum 35x zoom setting and about 20-30 minutes prior to the sunset photo. I made no changes or color corrections to those shots (or any others, for that matter though several had adjustments to contrast and lightness).

10 comments:

Jasia said...

And these pics are even more exciting! OK, now I am truly envious. I really wish I was there with my camera in hand. Instead I have to settle for an ice festival here in Michigan today.

Barbara Poole said...

What joy. And I love the balloon and Ferris wheel shot. These are such fun photos.

Sue and Fred said...

Beautiful pictures! It looks like you are having a good time. : )

Becky Wiseman said...

Jasia, Ice Festivals are fun too! However, I much prefer the warm weather I've been experiencing for the last week! And the Balloon festival was awesome. A few years ago I went to "The Great Forest Balloon Race" in St. Louis and got to walk among the balloons as they were preparing to launch. That was really awesome!! Wanna go to the Albuquerque Balloon Festival with me? Would love to go there - in October, I think.

Becky Wiseman said...

Thanks Barbara, it was a lot of fun to shoot them!

Becky Wiseman said...

Thanks Sue (and Fred). Yes, indeed. Having a good time!

Linda Edwards said...

The Color in the top two pics is amazing!

Carol said...

Love em all, love the golden dusk color too. Please don't tell me you were hand holding that at 35 zoom?? Really?? Super impressed if you say yes, I have trouble going to full 20 zoom on mine.

Becky Wiseman said...

Ummm. Yeah. I get lucky once in a while! If you look real close, they aren't all that sharp... One of these days I might break down and buy a tripod. Maybe not. Then I'd feel like I'd actually have to use it! LOL.

Carol said...

Becky, I have the same issues with the tripod. I actually grabbed our out of the back of the closet at the stick built and added it to Tana before we left home. Trouble: It is so stinking heavy. It would kill me to carry it more than 20 feet.

Friend of mine has one of those mini pods, with movable legs, only about 8 inches tall. I might go there?? She can keep it with her all the time. Also thinking of looking at new full size tripods, but, they must be VERY lightweight.