Scenic Sunday: At Lake Shawnee

Click photos to see larger version.

A few of the photos I took Friday evening at the annual
Huff 'n' Puff hot air balloon rally at Topeka's Lake Shawnee.
(The funny pointy thing at bottom center of the above photo
is the partial reflection of the balloon passing overhead.)

As a rule, no matter where you park, when they're airborne
the balloons are visible from anywhere in the park.

Not so Friday evening.

First, they flew low because it was "almost too windy to launch".
There was hardly a breeze, but I'm not a balloonist so I'll
have to trust those who are about the wind issue.

Second, once the few that opted to fly were airborne, the
"wind" carried them away from where a friend and I were.

So the next three photos are of the very first one that took off,
the ubiquitous Re-Max balloon, as it floated out of sight.
(Click any photo to enlarge.)

A rather amazing shot given the circumstances...

We were on the east side of the lake, and the balloons launched
to west of us, which meant I was shooting into the sun.



And there it goes...


It was 15 minutes before the next two balloons lifted off,
so I went looking for other interesting shots.

The tree behind the park bench in the previous photo.
The two aforementioned balloons are in the distance.

Same tree, same balloons.
I used the tree's branches to block the sun...

...but it peeked through anyway, making mirrored
sun streaks, from above and off the water.

The sun can be a photographer's friend....as in
'when life hands you lemons, make lemonade'.

Same tree as before, but looking across the cove that
leads to the swimming area (out of frame to the left).
No clue what the blue stuff is, but must not be harmful
to the tree because park staff is on top of such things.
(It can also be seen in the top photo.)

Whatever it is, it looks rather medieval up close
(as close as I could get without wading into the water).

Alas, I filled the memory card before my friend and I left the
park, or I would've had photos of incoming traffic backed up
for at least a mile, maybe two. Also one incredible shot
of a balloon suspended above the spillway.




This scenic photo meme is the brainchild of
Aisha at Scenic Sunday.
It can be landscapes, buildings, flowers, or
anything you consider a "scenic" photo.

Be sure to check out the other SS entries!


Hope you had a great weekend!