Rising Up Together

A couple of weeks ago, I took the opportunity to attend a hot air balloon festival at Sand Hollow Resort in Hurricane, Utah. The balloons were amazing. It was the first time I’ve been able to attend such an event since 1999. I had forgotten how amazing the balloons are. I love how this image shows most of the balloons rising up together. A few balloons ascended earlier than the main group. I do have many more images of these balloons, so stay tuned…

This image is available for purchase at ArtPal.

Enjoy

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March 1, 2023February 28, 2023 by Kelly Guymon Photography Categories: landscape, PhotographyTags: colors, desert, hot air balloon, hurricane utah, peace, photography, sand hollow resort, serenity, solitude, Utah 2 Comments

Wild Weekly’s Photo Contest: Look UP!

I’m participating in the onlineadventure travel and photography magazine LetsBeWild.com’s Wild Weekly Photo Challenge for bloggersThis week’s Challenge is: Look Up, so venture into nature and point your lens above you!

 

Have you ever wondered what life would look like upside down?  Well, a friend of mine recently experienced this feeling.  This is what happens when you do a Tyrolian Traverse, then letting go and trusting your equipment.  He’s a lot braver than I am, but we had fun that day!

 

 

I’m reminded of a song:

“Up, Up and away, my beautiful balloon…”

 

 

 

Imagine the solitude in one of these!  It must be breathtaking from up there!

 

Here’s a “Bad Moon Rising”

And the moon coming up over the Eagle’s Crags in Zion National Park, Utah.

 

Here is the beautiful California Condor in flight, the largest bird of prey in North America.

Last but not least, the magnificent Peregrin Falcon.

 

 

February 28, 2013February 28, 2013 by Kelly Guymon Photography Categories: birds, hiking, PhotographyTags: Arts, astronomy, California Condor, climbing, eagles crags, hot air balloon, Moon, peregrine falcon, Solar System, tyrolian traverse, Zion Lodge, Zion National park 5 Comments

Wild Weekly’s Photo Challenge – Flight

I’m participating in the online adventure travel magazine LetsBeWild.com’s Wild Weekly Photo Challenge for bloggers.  This week’s Challenge is: Flying!

Question is, do stingrays really fly?  Or do they swim?  It’s so hard to tell sometimes. 

I have seen these fly, but not very often.  The only time they fly is to get into the trees at night to avoid the predators. The almost national bird: The Turkey.

Of course, if you really want to fly, you need something to get yourself into the air, but if you want to have a quiet time doing so, you’ll need to inflate a balloon!

 

Now, it’s time to get off the ground, but with many balloons, there will be some congestion in the air.

 

Now that we’re in the air, we fly among the California Condors, America‘s largest bird of prey.

 

Of course, they also need to come in for a landing.  They’re not so graceful on the ground as they are in the air.

 

When the Condor is on the ground, they look like the Grim Reaper. Don’t you think?

Of course, continuing with the bird of prey theme; here we have the magnificent Peregrine Falcon.

 

But what good is a bird of prey without their prey?  Here we have the Stellars Jay.

 

 

And the Mallard Duck:

The beautiful Mallard Duck all so cozy sitting in the sand.  But as the saying goes: “Birds of a Feather Flock Together!” Here we have the peacock and Mallards walking around.

 

I found this bird in Mexico at the Mayan Ruins near Tulum.  No idea what kind of bird this is.

 

Of course, we can’t forget our domesticated feathered friends like the parrot.

 

 

 

December 13, 2012December 13, 2012 by Kelly Guymon Photography Categories: birds, PhotographyTags: birds, California Condor, duck, ducks, hot air balloon, mallard, peacock, peregrine falcon, Stellars jay, Stingray 4 Comments

Wild Weekly’s Photo Challenge – Peaceful

I’m participating in the online adventure travel magazine LetsBeWild.com’s Wild Weekly Photo Challenge for bloggersThis week’s Challenge is: Peaceful!

There is nothing more peaceful than contemplating eternity.  It really makes us feel lowly and humble when looking at the Earth and what surrounds us, and what’s above us.

This is the Constellation Orion and Sirius, his faithful dog.

 

Here is the North Star in Zion National Park.  This is one of my favorites.  It’s simply amazing that mariners have used this Star for millennia for navigation and modern outdoorsmen use it to orient themselves to keep from getting lost.

Also, here on Earth there are places that can take your breath away and contemplate your insignificance when you get troubled by the stress of life.  For example:

This is from Gooseberry Mesa looking west at Pine Valley Mountain, a distance of roughly 30 miles.   I can sit here for hours just contemplating life and getting away from it all.

Here is another place you can think about how small we really are.  The world famous Grand Canyon.  This was taken from a helicopter flying over the Canyon.

Then who can forget the peacefulness of a hot air balloon in flight.

 

These were taken at a balloon festival at Snowmass, Colorado.  Enjoy!

 

I call this one “Reflections”.  One of my absolute favorites.

Last, but surely not least:

I would love to be up in this balloon.  It’s so quiet up there and talk about solitude and peaceful!

 

 

 

December 6, 2012December 6, 2012 by Kelly Guymon Photography Categories: hiking, PhotographyTags: astronomy, big dipper, camping, Colorado Plateau, constellations, contemplation, eternity, Gooseberry Mesa, Great Basin, hiking, hot air balloon, mariner, nature, navigation, north star, Orion, outdoors, peaceful, Pine Valley Mountain, Snowmass, solitude 6 Comments