Monday March 23rd, 2015

The exercise:

Write about: the balloon(s).

Dropped by the gym I worked at last winter this afternoon to pick up a form I need to do my taxes... whenever I can make time to do them. Max came with me so that Kat could do some work at home, and while we were waiting for my paperwork to be found in the bowling alley office Max spotted a balloon.

It was left behind after the most recent birthday party and, obviously, Max was encouraged to take it. He did so eagerly and we played with it for a while at the park before bringing it home, where more fun was had before dinner.

So there's your prompt inspiration.

This morning I spent a little bit of time in the apricot blossoms with the new camera. Other than a brief period where I thought I'd broken it (turned out I'd just accidentally switched it from instant single shots to a ten second timer...), I was quite happy with the results. Here's the one shot that really caught my attention:


I've probably taken very similar shots with my old camera, so it's easy for me to see how much more detail and clarity this one contains (click it for a bigger version). I still want to do a few more things with it, but I'd say there's little doubt now that I'll be purchasing this camera.

Mine:

"So where's the birthday boy?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know? With all these balloons I can't see more than five feet in any direction!"

"Well, why did you order so many? There must be twice as many balloons as there are people in here."

"You can thank Roger for that, not me. He was worried our little Jeremy would feel bad about himself when only two or three kids showed up for his party."

"So he decided to make it impossible to tell how many people are here? That's great. Utterly brilliant."

"Tell me about it."

"Where is Roger, anyway? I need to give him a piece of my mind. And maybe a couple of needles so he can start making some space to breathe in here."

"How the hell am I supposed to know?"

3 comments:

Greg said...

That's a great picture at full size, where the wasp really stands out as the focal point of the picture. Very nicely done! Although given the subject matter, I'm not sure that one would sell well :) I can see why you're liking this new camera.
Now there's a difference between children and dogs: dogs tend to avoid balloons (after the first one at least) because they don't like the way they make a loud noise and disappear.
Heh, I think filling the room with balloons to hide the absence of friends is a great idea! All Roger needed to do to finish it was draw faces on the balloons so that they could be actualy friends....

Balloon
A shot rang out, shattering the crystalline calm of the summer's day. Augustus Bergequestrier leaned over the side of the basket and swore.
"It's the bloody Montgolfier brothers!" he said. "They're trying to shoot us down again!"
"But why?" drawled the woman. She was lying in the bottom of the basket in a state of alluring deshabillé.
"They think that their balloon technology is superior to our flight technology," said Augustus, pulling his pants back up. "As if!" Another shot rang out, and somewhere above them there was a startled squawk.
"What was that?" asked Shangai Suzie, sitting up and looking concerned but sultry.
"Just missed a pigeon," said Augustus. "Oh bugger, you'll need an umbrella."
"An umbrella?" said Suzie, pointedly. She started to gather her clothes together.
"The shooting makes them nervous," said Augustus as a steady patter started down from the cloud of pigeons tethered to the basket, getting rapidly heavier.
"Bugger this!" said Suzie peering over the side of the basket to see if she could jump. "I'm definitely on the side of balloon technology!"

morganna said...

Bobbing
Along
Lighter than air
Lollygagging along
Out and about
Over the rooftops
Never to return to Sticky Hand!

Marc said...

Greg - yeah, when his balloons pop Max just tells me I have to fix it because it's broken...

Hah, Suzie. Also: I'm with her on that one, balloon tech over bird tech.

Morganna - I am impressed that you managed to paint such a vivid image while also pulling off an acrostic. Nice work!