Balluminaria - Eden Park Balloon Glow
Balluminaria is an event that takes place periodically in Eden Park in Cincinnati, Ohio. The event is a 'balloon glow' in which owners of hot-air balloons inflate them at night because the flames make for such an eerie and beautiful effect. It's quite extraordinary to behold as one hot-air balloon after the other ignites its burner and, finally, all of them light up at once.
I hope you enjoy these photographs. It was extremely cold that night and I couldn't operate the camera while wearing gloves. My hands didn't warm back up until after I got home and that was a forty-five minute drive!
The Warm-Up
At first, only one or two hot-air balloons lit up at any given time. The combinations were random as each balloonist checked out the hardware prior to the final demonstration.
Chatting
The hot-air balloonist chats with a young lady, both seemingly oblivious to the inferno above their heads.
Balloon Glow
Finally, all of the hot-air balloons light at once. Despite the cold, it was worth the wait. The brilliant colors of the balloons in combination with the reflections in the water of the reservoir resulted in an incredibly beautiful vision.
