Saturday, September 09, 2006

Labor Day Weekend

::: Warning! Lots and lots of pictures ahead- it will take a while to load with a slow connection :::

We were so busy last weekend, and I was wiped out for days afterward and having several things to work on for upcoming deadlines that had to be met.... sorry for the long delay in getting my blog updated. I have oodles of pics and things to show you!

Our fun started on Friday, Sept 1 when we went to the Happy Apple Farm to pick and enjoy some delicious fruit right off the trees. We went last year over Labor Day weekend and made applebutter from most of what we brought home; this year I made apple pies to take to a picnic at Kristen's house on Monday. We still have quite a few apples left, more apple butter may be coming if we don't use them in something else soon!




(anyone have any suggestions on how to remove the lens glare from Brenna's hair? my filter broke on vacation and I have several pictures with these)

Saturday and Sunday were dreary, rainy days here, so we stayed at home and did something, I don't remember exactly what at this point. Probably the usual unexciting stuff.

Sunday night it was a little breezy, but we decided to head down to Memorial Park to see if they were going to do the evening balloon glow. It was the only night they were able to do this, so it was more crowded than usual. But, we enjoyed seeing the balloons light up the night sky.

Monday morning we got up bright and early and went back to the park to see the balloon lift off.
The winds were just right and once the balloons were up in the air they hovered around the park instead of disappearing over the horizon like they usually do.
We wandered over to the lake and got to see one of the balloons dip down to touch the lake. We weren't sure for a few seconds if he was going to be able to get the balloon up in the air again, but he did and I was able to catch a picture of it going back up and the water that had collected in the bottom of the basket streaming back down towards the lake.
I always love the pretty colors, so now I'm just going to treat you to a few of my most dazzling favorites from the hundreds of pics I took! :)
The above shot of Brenna is one of my absolute favorites out of everything I took. They have a photo contest each year for the best pictures of the balloon festival. If you look closely, you can see the reflection of a balloon being inflated in the lenses of her sunglasses... pretty cool, but it is not the first thing you see. The newest category they have for the yearly photo contest is 'digitally enhanced'. The Grand Prize winning photo for last year was a picture of the balloons lifting off from the park at sunset- they only lift off at dawn in reality, so the person enhanced the image to turn it into a sunset with the balloons in silhouette. So, I tried my hand at spiffing it up a bit...
I'm still not sure that it is enough of a 'balloon image' to give me a shot at winning anything (the grand prize winner gets a ride in a balloon at next year's classic), but I just might submit it and see what happens. I have a couple of weeks yet to decide- what do you all think of it?? Does it make enough of a 'this is a balloon classic photo' statement? You can enter as many photos as you like, but they charge you an entrance fee for each photo you submit.

3 Comments:

Blogger Robin said...

Cool photos!!!! I love the reflection in her glasses! You shoul totally submit it!

7:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I would submit it! I think it says alot of what a balloon festival is, what would it be without people enjoying them after all ;)

9:41 PM  
Blogger Chrissy said...

I agree, deffinately submit it. What a wonderful idea you had!

(A suggestion about the glare above...I would try the burn tool to remove it. Make sure the hardness and opacity are set low. The burn tool will darken the area, which should be alright since her hair is a little shadowed in that spot. You should then be able to blend it away.)

12:08 PM  

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