Sunday, October 10, 2010

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

This was my first time at the world renowned Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.  It is a sight to be seen, but must be experienced rather than told.  One of the great things about this event is the fact that spectators are not excluded from the actual field so it allows a person to get close to the action and stand amongst the balloons as they are laid out, inflated, and launched.

The event was one of several firsts for me.  It was my first time shooting mostly Manual, my first fireworks, and my first extensive (and challenging) night shooting (other than lightning), and my first time using my Benro carbon fiber monopod... A must for the night shots!  The night shots made shooting in Automatic nearly impossible as it causes the shutter speed to be very slow and with the balloons reacting to slight wind variations, it causes the "ghost images".  So shooting in the Manual was nearly mandatory which I seem to have accomplished quite well, though I know there is room for improvement.  I am not sure my white balance is quite right though it was on automatic.

We were able to meet up with a good friend from Aviano, 10 years is way too long, Denise, Zach, and Sage... it was fantastic seeing you all!

Feel free to criticize, I am still figuring it out.

The night burns (actually early morning) were excellent to watch, "all burns" and "flicker burns" were beautiful, I will likely edit flicker photo series and show as a video to give an idea of what it was like.





Many shaped balloons and themed balloons, quite detailed in design and strange in function.



This just looked wrong... we know why Spongebob smiles... below the knees, nothing else needs be said.


The bees were quite fun, The baby has an odd basket.  The pilot is handicapped and he is not in a basket, rather sitting on the propane tank... his legs hang there.  I was told they have magnets of some type so they can connect in the air and fly together but I am not too sure about that.

Darth Vader from Germany.  The ground support crew were all dressed up as storm troopers.  The bees can be seen in the background as can the Breitling balloon.

I am quite surprised with the outcome of the fireworks shots.  The show was great!



2 comments:

  1. Those are very fun, Kyle! Thanks for posting.

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  2. Excellent night shots, especially liked the third one. And, I loved the bees! great shot!

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