It’s the Bristol Balloon Fiesta this weekend, and they’re notorious for not saying whether the mass launches will happen or not – so I set the alarm for 5:30am (ugh) yesterday to try to see the 6am ascent, but fell asleep before they confirmed it would happen. Then the evenings have been too windy for the launches, so I made myself get up for the 6am launch today.
I’ve been dreaming about getting a film of something we experienced a few years ago – a stream of balloons floating along the Avon. I’ve seen the mass ascent from the Fiesta once, and it’s fine, but I really want that river-of-balloons echoing the river, and to record the roaring of the burners.
I was so pleased with myself for being up early, in the beautiful morning light, and watching the balloons from Vauxhall Bridge felt great, I was convinced it was going to happen… until we realised the wind was taking them east, away from us.
I had that really crappy FOMO feeling (Fear Of Missing Out), and I feel for Vik and Matt, as I was also having low blood sugar and literally didn’t know which way to turn – chase the balloons? Find a different spot? Try to find breakfast? Luckily Lockside was open early and I recovered my equilibrium – and then on the way home, there were these gentle-looking streams from the Outflow into the river, with clouds of silt. The incoming tide was a fast one, but the force of the outflow was pushing the stream far over the water. I only got 5 minutes of this, but I love it, it’s my perfect meditation film:
The only thing was wanting about 15 cameras pointing at different points. But I here’s a mobile phone film-ette of a different point of the river at the same time:
I’m new to instagram, because I didn’t really know how I’d use it, but I’m really liking using it for this project, and having a more curated selection of photos. I like comparing my flickr, twitter and insta, and how the mobile videos look in square format v standard rectangular aspect ratio.
Avon Stories 