Splash Down
I was at the river just as the sun was rising over the mountains. The banks were too overgrown to see the balloons that were already in the water south of where I was standing, so I waded out into the middle of the Rio Grande in knee deep water where I got a much better view.
It was the last day of the day of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, a lot of balloonist had already left, so there were not as many balloons up as in previous days.
This balloon came down very quickly and plunged into the water making quite a splash.
The envelope came down over the gondola, almost touching the water.
the envelope was suspended for a second before springing back up.
The envelope sprang up very quickly, yanking the gondola out of the water.
The gondola was swinging as water ran out of the bottom.
The balloon stabilized, hung in the air with the gondola still draining.
Then the balloon dropped the gondola back into the water, more gently the second time.
Once everything was stable, the pilot let the gondola sit in the water for several minutes before taking off again.
After I was out in the middle of the river, people started gathering along the banks.
A couple of women ventured into the water, but only the woman in the white hat was adventurous enough to wade out to the middle where I was. Turns out she's President of one of the kayak clubs.
There were several balloons in the river at any given moment.
The whale balloon came right over me and splashed down about 30 feet from me. I didn't have my wide angle lens, so I had to do a panorama that only got only a thin slice of the whale. It's a huge balloon.
"Hey paparazzo! What are you doing standing in the middle of the Rio Grande?"
At one point three balloons splashed down about 10 feet away from me on three sides. Their envelopes were bumping together, but I could only get a portion of the three envelopes towering over me without my wide-angle lens (I would not have changed lenses while standing in the Rio Grande).
At another point a couple of balloons splashed down right next to me with their envelopes touching. When one of the balloons lifted off, its gondola knocked into the side of the other balloon and slid over the top of the other balloon's envelope on its way up.
There was a mist rising off the surface of the Rio Grande for much of the time the balloons and I were in the water.
The flying pig was one of the last balloons to splash down before the river became quiet, and the balloons flew off to the northwest ending nine days straight of flying — the first time the balloons flew everyday of the fiesta since 1996, I heard someone say.
Tear of a Clown
Burn Coco burn
Mama always told me not to look into the eyes of the sun, but mama! That's where the fun is!
Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone
DOG photo by Laurie Price
GONE photo by Laurie Price
IT photo by Laurie Price
photo by Laurie Price
Lobo Louie & The Cubs
Chicago Peace Rose
Lobo Louie looking for a Cubs win
And... The Cubs win 4 to 0 over the Pirates
Reaching for the Moon
The International Ballon Fiesta is under way, and several balloons flew over the house today. The opening of the 27th Annual Old Church Fine Arts show was a success. Susan Graham did a really nice write up with photos at Susan Brant Graham Photography.
Sasha sat out in the catio and watched the balloons
SAD is Good
For the longest time, I could not see what Dylan could possibly see in her either — she was pathetic in his presence, stumbling over her words and any object that happened to be near. How he had the patience to deal with her self loathing, dysfunctional character was beyond me, as she wrung my patience very thin at times — but they say love is blind or maybe it sharpened his vision and helped him to see past the superficial flaws into her true character and understand the deeper strengths lying dormant under all those insecurities playing on the surface of this shy 16 year old — a young woman who eventually has to “man up”, and pull herself together to battle dark forces and demons in an attempt to overcome death in the fantastical realm of the underworld.
“Strong as Death” (SAD) by Julia Lund is very well written, creative and entertaining. This is Ms. Lund’s first novel, which I read for the first time in March 2014, and I had promised to write a review, then never got around to it; I reread it to refresh my memory intending to write a review, but I got distracted again. When she posted on her blog that she was offering “Strong as Death” free until Sunday, I got inspired to review it. I reviewed her second novel, “Selkie”, in July 2015.
If you like fantasy, stories dealing with the ideas of souls, life after death, hell-like and heaven-like places, and dragonflies you will love SAD. The story is an engaging tale about Minnie Shilling, an aspiring cellist, who sets eyes on Dylan Lachlanand, and falls madly in love with him, but there are evil machinations to steal her soul that promise to end their young love. As Minnie begins to sense she’s being watched, she sees mysterious creatures, and feels a dark presence she cannot explain, her dysfunctional character begins to mature when she realizes that she is not crazy — there really is a sinister darkness stalking her — a dark force that eventually drags her into the underworld.
There were many times I wondered whether Minnie’s love would really be as strong as death; especially after she entered the dark world of Thad and his demons, soul reapers, shape shifters, the labyrinth of books of dead souls, lifetellers, and the other un-worldly places she encountered in the underworld. A world that is so very imaginative and well done. Who can resist an invitation to discover places with names like the Déjà Lu, the Plain of Ethad, the dark realm of Thad, and the land beyond the Door of Lies?
While wandering the vast emptiness of the underworld, a place that’s surprisingly full of stuff, Minnie meets Mullog, a forlorn and much maligned little demon. I really loved Mullog. The idea that there can be good, even in a demon, is such a nice touch. I also really liked the relationship between Minnie and Mullog. Their ad hoc communication through her interpretation of his music was delightful. Her ability to have compassion for a demon who is despised by all the other demons demonstrated the goodness in Minnie’s heart. Her ability to set aside her fears and prejudices and befriend a lonely demon gave him a sense of happiness and purpose in his otherwise miserable life captures much of the essence of the book. I appreciated the faithfulness of the characters to each other in an age where being faithful is often non-existent.
Minnie holds on to life only through the strength of love in the face of death — “Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.” (Song of Songs 8:6). Can Minnie’s love continue to burn with a mighty flame? Is her love really as strong as death?
The View is Gone
The view of the steeple through the window in the garage is gone, blocked by the Imperial Building
The 27th Annual Old Church Fine Arts Show runs from October 3rd through October 11th. Laurie had a watercolor chosen by the selection jury and one of my photos was selected, as well. There is an opening reception this evening, October 2nd, from 5 to 7 pm. Everyone who is in the Albuquerque/Santa Fe area is welcome to come.
When I was in the parking structure doing my weekly photos of the construction progress, I noticed that the view in the photo selected for the show is gone, covered by the new Imperial Building. The photo that is in the show (see below) was taken with film and I printed the photo in my darkroom. The exposure of the scene from inside the dark garage with its shadowy walls and the buildings seen through the window in bright sunlight is very difficult with a digital camera. The digital image takes a lot of adjustment of the RAW file to get a balance between the bright daylight through the window and the dark shadows inside the garage. I ended up with a really great 6X7 negative that I used for the photo, so all I had to do was print the negative. I was surprised that I did not have to "dodge" the shadows or "burn" the highlights when I printed the negative — I just had to do a couple of different exposures to decide on the contrast I liked, and there were details in both the brightly lit buildings through the window and the concrete walls in the shadows. I had forgotten how much latitude a large negative has to handle high contrast images compared to digital, even full-frame digital.
The original sketch for Laurie's watercolor was done in a small sketchbook on location in the Louvre. She painted the watercolor on an enlargement we made from the original sketch, and referenced her notes and other sketches she made at the time to recreate the colors and immediacy of the scene and the experience.
The steeple through the concrete window of the parking garage taken in March 2015 when the Imperial Building was still a hole in the ground. "Through the Concrete Window" 8X10 Gelatin Silver Print
Laurie's entry, "La Joconde"
Boxed and Sacked
Rosencrantz watching the other kitties from the couch
Najar in a basket in the shelf looking a little tortured over the paparazzo sticking a camera in her face
Lola studying Icelandic while making a "cat call" on Laurie's phone
Since we have cats, we have litter boxes (not pictured) and boxes littering the floor. Can you find all four cats in this photo?
Sasha boxed in geometric style
Spunk thinking inside the box
Diné and Guildenstern sacked out
Guildenstern and Diné sacked out
Wonder Woman & Horses
Wonder Woman told me she has taken on the job of organizing the pet parade for the past three years. Since I've organized various events in years past, I'm sure she has to do a lot of work, with few resources, and even less thanks. She has done a great job organizing the pet parade. Thanks Wonder Woman.
I can tell you from experience, it's easier to herd cats than it was for Wonder Woman to get this crowd to line up in an orderly fashion
Even had a unicorn show up for the parade
Miniture horse and an alpaca
Checking out her prizes
Intergalactic horse and carriage
Horse rides for the kids
Traffic control
Blood Moon Rising
The air was cool under a crystal clear sky as I stood on the banks of the Rio Grande watching the Sandias fade into darkness — the moon was soon to rise. At first geese and ducks flew overhead, quacking and honking barely visible in the twilight, then they floated by as twilight gave into the darkness, their paddling feet rippling the water, their voices squawking softly, and they became visible only for an instant as they passed through the moonlight reflecting on the water. A porcupine shook the bushes to my left rising from its daily slumber, heading out for a night of foraging. It was a beautiful night to stand outside for three hours to photograph the moon as it rose, half eclipsed and turning to blood when it became fully eclipsed. Photographing the blood moon rising was a much better experience than when I photographed the blood moon setting in April.
Monday Bloody Monday
http://photos.tandlphotos.com/blog/2015/4/monday-bloody-monday