There’s a magical whimsy about hot air ballooning. It’s always appealed to me because of the silence, grace and intimate connection with your environment that you can’t get from other forms of flying; unfortunately there’s also the issue of complete lack of control over navigation, and the fact that your sole protection from the elements is a wicker basket, and the only thing keeping you from crashing is a thin bag full of gas. But still, I do enjoy watching them fly and very occasionally going up in one myself. MT
Images from a variety of events.
Fire. Nikon D700, Zeiss ZF.2 2/28 Distagon
Unhappy at being left behind. Leica M8, 35/2 ASPH
Rising. Leica M8, 35/2 ASPH
Watching the show. Nikon D700, 24/1.4
Evening glow. Nikon D3100, 85/1.4 G
High priest saluting the power of fire. Nikon D700, 24/1.4
Ming Thein | Photographer 
I see your fire, and raise you mine! 🙂
Interesting perspective!
First one is beautiful Ming and a tribute to your capture skills and the D700/Zeiss combo. The Leica is showing its noise in #2, but I also suspect internet compression issues. Very nice. I took a series of these last July. I’ll post a few on my FB page for you.
Best regards,
Pete
Thanks Pete! Yes, the M8 wasn’t exactly the cleanest high ISO machine…in fact, ISO 1250 was positively jellybean-like.