It is lucky if one of those misty mornings coincide with the Pittsfield Balloon Festival…where the balloons launch over a ponding of the Suncook River. This weekend, the forecast looked great for two such mornings, and I got up early to shoot the sunrise launch.

There were two separate shows this morning…the sunrise, and the launch. The sunrise lit up an encroaching bank of clouds with spectacular pink and muted blue hues. This would have been a scene that I would want maximum flexibility on to work the composition…but with literally hundreds of photographers lining the pond, I didn’t want to give up my prime balloon watching spot.

Crowd at Pittsfield Balloon Festival

Fortunately, the color moved all the way from east to the western horizon, and color filled the scene in front of me!

Suncook Sunrise

When the natural color died out, the balloons took up the slack. Unfortunately the winds pushed the balloons the wrong direction initially, and the light was choked out by the same clouds that provided the brilliant sunrise…and shots weren’t ideal. Which was fine…as hot air balloons are mesmerizing…especially for a physics, thermodynamics and weather nerd like myself.

Eventually, the balloons made their way back over the pond, and a few nice scenes were composed. I am hoping for better light tomorrow…so a small teaser for today…

Balloon Festival

There can be neat effects in the atmosphere at extremely cold temperatures. Over open water, sea smoke and mist can hang, dancing in early light. Ice crystals can fill the air like a billion prisms, creating rainbows of diffracted light. Hoar frost can coat objects in long, beautiful spears.

Unfortunately, despite the cold, none of that was present this morning…

The plan was to meet up with local photography meetup group on Flickr for a morning shoot at Adams Point in Durham, NH. On the ride over, I kept hearing on newsradio and NPR how dangerous the cold was. COLD, like teens in South Carolina bringing all of modern society to a halt.  Space heaters sold out in Miami, who recorded snow for only the second time in all of recorded history.  Would anyone show in the frozen north, where my thermometer read ZERO? 

Well, I was pleasantly surprised upon arrival to see that a hearty group of about fifteen believed, as I, that there’s no such thing as weather too cold, just clothing that is insufficient.

The light, and the combination of and water didn’t produce any amazing effects, perhaps just a hair too much wind at the point.

Up the bay, closer to Durham, we could see some of the mist we were after, but there was none present for us.  Just a clean sunrise with a nice group. Not every morning will be a hit, but you’ll never hit ‘it’ if you aren’t out there.

The best light was right upon arrival, still way before sunrise. The bay was reflecting the civil twilight glow. With the combination of a polarizer, an ND filter, and a GND filter, I came away with what is likely the only keeper of the day.

Afterwords, we went over to the Big Bean in Newmarket for a well deserved hot breakfast!