Balloons in the Valley of the Gods

For the second year in a row I was fortunate to be invited to the Bluff Balloon Festival in Bluff, Utah. This festival is always a spectacular sight with colorful hot air balloons flying amongst the desert red rock of south eastern Utah. Last year I photographed the event and you can see the results in a slide show here.

This year, on the last day of the festival, the balloons headed out to the Valley of the Gods. This was the first time in two years the balloons have been able to fly here. This remote valley is one of my favorite places on earth. I have hiked, camped, and photographed for clients here many times. But it is a first for me to photograph and fly here in a hot air balloon.

From a photographers point of view this event can not be beat. The Valley of the Gods is a landscape of exciting colorful red sandstone rock sculpted into towers that reach to the gods above. mix in vibrantly colored hot air balloons that like to fly in the first hours of the day; perfect light.  How can you go wrong?

Here is a slide show of images from this unique event.

A Look Back, 2011 In Photos

I had some great adventures and exciting work in 2011. As is becoming a tradition on my blog, I look back over my year at the experiences and photos I created using them to map to plan for where I want to go photographically next. Knowing where I have been helps me move with purpose into the future.

In 2011 I started the year off with my first ever hot air balloon ride while photographing the Bluff Utah Hot Air Balloon Festival. I did some great international travel ( Germany, Spain, Austria), something I have been missing in my work and life over the past few years. I had spme great river trips, and I further developed opportunities for a new direction in my work. I had several assignments photographing for non-profit organizations creating an opportunity for my photographs to make some change in areas important to me like river conservation. I hope this trend in particular will continue in the coming year.

The slideshow below contains photographic highlights from my 2011 year. They are organized randomly and draw from some of the events I highlighted in previous blog posts. I hope you enjoy the show and I encourage you to add comments, critique and any other feedback to the comments section below. If you have ever taken one of my classes you know how important I feel critique is, and how important it is to growth. So I welcome yours.