Wall of Tears

Gallery: Man & NaturePosted April 12, 2011290 views10 comments

The first weekend of April, the Navajo Nation held their first balloon festival in Monument Valley. It was a great setting of colorful balloons against the red sandstone buttes and mesas.
In this image, a balloon is set against the shaded tear stained wall of Rain God Mesa. Some of the color on the sunny side of the balloon was blown out, and thus I painted some color back in.

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by Pete D on April 12, 2011 at 5:34 PM

Cool. I want to go on a balloon ride there! The panoramic crop (?) is a nice way to suggest movement. This may approximate reality, but I'd play around with the background/balloon exposures. Thanks for the larger view.

Pete D.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 590 Posts, 1794 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on April 12, 2011 at 7:35 PM

Very cool shot Doug. Would have been great to be in that balloon. I like the pano format too. Not a background you would expect with a balloon in the shot. Nice work.

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

Registered on February 1, 2004, 752 Posts, 14140 Comments

Comment posted by Eva McDermott on April 12, 2011 at 8:02 PM

I like the contrast of the balloon against the canyon wall Doug. The light and color on the balloon look natural. I too like the pano format.

Registered on January 4, 2009, 1015 Posts, 13229 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on April 12, 2011 at 8:28 PM

Great job of contrasting the colors in the balloon with the color and texture of the wall.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Schrayer on April 12, 2011 at 9:41 PM

Excellent composition, Doug. This definitely lends a great sense of scale regarding the size of the sandstone wall. I think I remember seeing more of your shots from here over on RMNP. This must have been amazing to see in person.

Registered on May 28, 2004, 114 Posts, 2890 Comments

Comment posted by Nancy Lea Sandy on April 13, 2011 at 11:14 AM

Nice contrast in colors, texture, and time.

Registered on January 24, 2011, 576 Posts, 6942 Comments

Comment posted by Florian Aubin on April 13, 2011 at 11:29 AM

impressive view with beautiful hues.
i wonder if a larger view would give a better feeling about the immensity of the rock wall...

Registered on April 8, 2011, 8 Posts, 100 Comments

Comment posted by Doug Koepsel on April 14, 2011 at 10:36 AM

Thank you for your comments. In talking with the balloon crews at camp, one may be able to volunteer and help as a ground crew member and possibly be invited to go up in the balloon. That would have been a nice ride above the valley and certainly with a different perspective.

Registered on April 1, 2010, 196 Posts, 1592 Comments

Comment posted by Tom Dobrzanski on April 15, 2011 at 10:06 PM

I very much like the capture Doug! The colour of the balloon against that rock is eye catching :) A pano crop suits it perfectly. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be possible (because of the top and the bottom of that sandstone) but I would really like to see it in Fibonacci spiral composition. That would increase the feeling of a balloon against that massive, red sandstone. This wasn't a critique at all Doug, just a different POV as I like it just the way it is :))

Registered on September 27, 2010, 17 Posts, 164 Comments

Comment posted by John Williams on April 16, 2011 at 5:48 PM

Sweet. I don't know how big the wall is out of the frame, but love the idea of more of the wall if possible.

Registered on September 6, 2007, 221 Posts, 5985 Comments