balloons at Snowmass
Aug, 2013Views
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leeannforrester
April 28, 2015
Thanks to everyone who made this one of the top 10% most viewed photos on VB. I appreciate your support!
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken at Snowmass ski area in Colorado. My husband was doing the Snowmass to Aspen half marathon that coincided with the Snowmass Balloon Festival. The balloons we're taking off and landing from the golf course below the ski slope.Time
This was around 8:30 to 9am. The runners had just taken off up the slope and I headed down to drive to the finish line in Aspen. The light still had some sweetness to it.Lighting
There was still some sidelight, though it was disappearing rather rapidly since this was August and the sun had been up for a while. the sun was located in the east and a little south. I was madly clicking since the balloons we're returning as the day began to heat up. We weren't allowed to go down to the staging area so I was above the balloons as they began to landEquipment
I was using a Nikon professional film camera. This was the mid 1990s. It is so long ago I'm not sure the film though I usually shot iso 200-400 film. My guess is I used my 26-80 telephoto lense. No tripod or flashInspiration
It was a perfect morning, clear and sunny and the balloons we're so festive. I really wanted to get a lot of several together. The moment was right and they we're in good light. I don't remember how many shots I took of them. I know quite a few because it was film. But I can still feel the cool breeze, warm sun and the bright cheerful colors of the balloons. The picture takes me immediately back in timeEditing
Early processing was done at the lab. When I scanned and uploaded it I did some minor touch-up on color. I was still pretty new at post processingIn my camera bag
I normally now carry Nikon D80 with my Nikkor 50mm f1.8, a Sigma 70/300mm f4 tell and a Nikkor 28/80mm f3.5 zoom. I shoot handheld a lot but am needing to use a tripod more as I get older.Feedback
With the digital you have so much more control over iso. That would have been useful plus you see your shots. I had to just keep shooting. The technical stuff is great to know but to me you need to feel something our it just becomes a snapshot. It need to move you so that when you nlook back on it 20 years later you are taken back to the scene and can feel it all over again. Don't shoot just to shoot. Shoot to capture an emotion or a story.
