On New Year’s Day, I decided to go out to airport that was about 10 miles north of my house and take photos of airplanes as they were landing. My wife bought me a really cool monster zoom lens for Christmas. While I was shooting pictures, I spotted a hot air balloon about 5 miles away that had just launched. I decided to chase the balloon and get some really cool late evening shots.

I was having a really good time and felt really alive while chasing this balloon through a small neighborhood. I found a clear spot and parked just in time for the balloon to fly directly over my head and I got some great shots. It was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.

That night, we went to a New Year’s party across the street. The only people we knew were our neighbors who had invented us over. After about an hour, I overheard 2 guys talking about an airport and hot air balloons. I went over and started up an conversation with these guys. I told them that I had been out earlier in the day and had taken some great balloon shots and put them on my website. One of the guys was a balloonist and asked to see the shots. We got on my neighbors’ computer and pulled up my website. His jaw dropped and he said “that’s me!”.

How weird to shoot pictures at some distant location and actually meet the pilot in the same day.

Here's the shot:
http://www.funplacestofly.com/eventpics/DSC_0041.jpg

Have a goodun!
Smitty
http://SmittysRV.com - my RV-9A Project
http://FunPlacesToFly.com

[Edited 2008-01-03 13:07:31]