Airships Among Us

While out in the twelve foot butterfly bushes photographing an addiction I kept hearing... pssssssshhhhhhhhhhttt....psssssshhhhhhhhttttt....psssshhhhhhhhttt.. Looking around the bushes I tried to make out what was creating that unusual sound. Now it was coming closer at regular intervals. Starting to get kinda creepy. Maybe a neighbor was using an acetylene torch. Pushing my camera through the center of the two towering bushes to get a beguiling butterfly shot, what to my wondering eyes appeared? Rising up in my vision was a sight I had not expected...a big fat colorful balloon. Cool. I started running with my camera to get past the trees and to the clearing by the cornfields.

What I kept hearing was the regular sound of the fire in the basket powering the airship. As the balloon and gondola floated over the trees and up it did not occur to me that the sound should have dissipated too. It did not but I was not noticing because I had my Nikon smashed against my face furiously taking photos of this rare alien sighting in the Shire. The sound had remained the same because another balloon was at my side and I had not noticed. Look at the size of these behemoths compared to the size of the people inside! They can be very sneaky for such huge colorful objects!

Needless to say I was very excited to be in the midst of airships in my own backyard. It was a perfect evening to  enjoy the beautiful unfolding scene from above, perhaps a local pair celebrating an anniversary of love. I wonder then if someone else follows on ground level with a good camera to get glorious shots of them on their trip skyward. At times like these I wish I had a Nikon D700 or better to capture the moment more clearly myself.

The balloons slowly moved away towards the mountains then turned back closer to the farm and floated over the buildings below.  Finally I was able to get both balloons in my sight before they disappeared over the trees. Oh if only they had come directly over me and the King had been home to enjoy this evening adventure!

I could not wait to experiment with the photos of my unique evening. Playing with some of the images there were also some fun happy accidents I had to share. I love the serendipity that happens in blend mode. First up is a twilight night effect .....looks a bit alien infused.

Then there is Mount Doom! Really a 'Dante's Inferno' thing going in this image! I will probably do more with all of my images of the balloons because it's not everyday an airship comes to our realm!

Ending this post with a steam-punk vision of the evening that I just might put on a card. Made with a PS brush I created from some old clip art. Just so you know...during editing of some these images I used textures and a fantastic frame from Jerry at Shadowhouse Creations. If you click on the first image that begins this post I made it a little bigger than usual so you can enjoy the beauty of the frame.