PHOTOGRAPH INFO

This is my third of four photos from last Sunday's hot air balloon festival.

The balloon is technically called an "envelope" and it's made from rip-stop nylon as well as a fire-resistant material called Nomex. (Astronauts and race car drivers wear Nomex.)

The wicker basket underneath carries 10-20 gallon propane tanks that provide the heat to keep the balloon in the air. (The air inside the envelope has to be hot compared to the air outside the envelope for take-off.)

Attached to the bottom of the envelope is a "burner unit" that ignites the propane. When the pilot is ready, he or she opens a "blast valve" to release the heat from the burner unit.

In this photo taken from the wicker basket, you're looking up through the ropes holding the envelope to the basket, and seeing the flames coming out of the burner unit and going up into the envelope to keep it aloft. The balloon was a dark bluish-black color.

The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology, dating back to 1783.

Post-processing: Shot with the Canon EOS 5D and theCanon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens at 70mm, ISO 400, f/2.8, shutter 1/800s. Curves adjustment and color balancing.

Thank you for visiting Durham Township!

--Kathleen

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I love the color and the way the ropes converge to the right, pulling me away (hopefully) from the fire.

Extraordinary! What else can I say?

Very nice graphic composition !!! I like this render... great capture !

Gorgeous.The kind of insight you provide to certain worlds that I am not even aware of.I look at your photos and realize that there is always another way to look at things and people.
thank you

Very unique view. Very dramatic. I love it!

Magic as always. There's no way I would have guessed what this is without an explanation. Interesting shot.

Awesome shot. Very dramatic and nice composition.

wow, love this!

Open......slow scroll....."what in the world is that woman shooting now"?...a six-pack of fools repel into hell?...the "new and improved" web of Spiderman on Steriods....but, OK the balloon thing works too.

Wonderful hues and composition, Kathleen. Good example of a "working eye" and a working brain. (with a working camera of course!}

Hot thanks,

What a great perspective! Nice shot.

I thought you were on a suspension bridge with a fiery wreck in the distance... but Tinnon with the fools rapelling into hell really takes the cake! Either way..nice shot, Kathleen!

I could stare at that all day long.

How cool is that, well actually probably not with a massive gas jet but you know what I mean.

yowza!

Straight and fine!

This is a far cry from your usual.

So captivating.

There are many events, institutions or common bonds that interconnect to program our conscious and subconscious thoughts regarding how we should live our lives. Service to our country, loyalty to our employers, going to church, getting married, having 1.8 children, sending them to public schools, joining the country club, eating fast food, shopping at Walmart, having a dog and spending our two week family vacation at the beach are only a few of many "accepted" behaviors. Unfortunately, these bonds that connect us to these "accepted behaviors" can become part of a cultural prison that mentally, physically and spiritually confine us.

Why must we conform? Do we have to fit in? The answer in most cases is that "accepted" behavior takes less effort and causes less problems. There is no thinking involved; we just do what the majority of other people do. Occasionally, someone becomes aware that there is "something" that exists outside this structured world but is afraid to or is unsure of how to move forward and leave the supposed safety and security of institutional behavior behind. They quickly give up the effort to explore the unknown and quietly return to the supposed safety of this ordered world.

But, this great and mysterious unknown, this ever shifting flame,is right there for all of us to see! It can be our salvation if only we'll take the chance ! There are no guarantees and it is most certainly inconsistent and ever changing like the colors that it produces, but at least we are free to experience it. Let us all sever these cords, break free of these bonds and walk into the flame together!

Excellent abstract.