In the Neighborhood

 Unsettled Fall weather has often been a problem for Albuquerque's annual Balloon Fiesta.  This year, though, it looks like good flying weather for all nine days of the event.

 I thought I might not see any balloons up close this year, but on Monday morning a gentle wind from the north brought quite  few over our neighborhood.  Close to the ground there was just a very slight current of air which allowed several balloons to easily land on nearby streets.

I followed the descending craft as best I could on foot, but was not quick enough to catch any actually touching down.

 The balloons got me out on the streets of the neighborhood early in the day while the sun was low in the sky and the coolness of the night still lingered in the shadows

Arista

 I was given a roll of Arista Edu Ultra 200 some time ago.  I liked the results I got from it when developed in Rodinal, so I got a bulk roll and tried it with a variety of developers, none of which really produced results that I liked, including my last roll which I processed in Caffenol.  I have picked the three images from that last effort which seems to best show the film's potential, which I think is quite nice in regard to grain and tonality.

I've got at least a couple rolls of Arista left in the bulk loader, so I'll take another whack at it, paying more attention to shooting technique and processing.  I'll try rating the film at 100 ASA and maybe give it a little more time in the development as well.

The Party's End

 There was rain for most of Balloon Fiesta this year,  but the balloonists found a few opportunities to get aloft.  For the last day I took along my Hikari 2002 with the SMC Pentax A 2.8/135.  The film was Kentmere 400 processed in HC-110b.

Kentmere

The best part of Albuquerque's Balloon Fiesta for me is actually not the balloons, but the Flamenco dance performances in the Old Town Plaza Vieja which are staged by the National Institute of Flamenco.  I believe the small woman in the picture is Eva Encinias who founded the Institute as well as the unique Flamenco dance program at UNM.  The tall woman beside her is the head teacher at the Institute.

I shot a roll of Kentmere 100 and another of Kentmere 400 this time around.  Since I had two rolls of film to process I decided to try them both together using semi-stand processing in HC110 at 1:100 for an hour.  I was very pleased with the results which this choice yielded for the Kentmere 400.  The tonal qualities were very good and the grain was nearly undetectable.  I have mostly used PMK Pyro as a developer for Kentmere in the past with good results, but I thought the quality of the HC110 pictures made with my Nikon FE were just as good if not better.

The Kentmere 100 shot in my FED 1g rangefinder responded less well to the HC110 stand development, so I'll likely stick with PMK Pyro processing for that film which seems better able to handle the higher contrast of the slower speed film.

Balloon Fiesta 2019

The first day of this year's Ballon Fiesta got fogged in, but both weekend days saw impressive mass ascensions.  When the balloons are back on the ground everyone heads into Old Town for the rest of the day.  I walked around the Plaza Vieja with my Voigtlander Brilliant.

Most of my shots had bad light leaks.  When I looked closely at the camera later I could see that there is a dent at the edge of the back that is letting in the light.  I think I covered that the last time I shot the camera with some black tape, but it has been over a year since I last used the camera, and I forgot about the leak.  I'll try to do another roll soon with the leak stopped up.  I really like the little Brilliant as its images are always surprisingly sharp and the brilliant finder makes shooting the camera a real treat.

Flamenco en La Plaza Vieja

I enjoy the spectacle of Albuquerque's Balloon Fiesta, but the best part of the event for me is the appearance of the Flamenco performers in Old Town.  

This guitarist, the singer and the dancers were all exceptionally talented.  The last dancer came down into the audience and captivated them with her seductive charm.  That is a quality of performance called "duende" that flamenco always strives to attain, and this group certainly succeeded.

The color shots were on Fuji 200 with my Pentax Spotmatic and the 135mm Mamiya lens.  Photographing performers in the gazebo is always a challenge, but I thought the Spotmatic handled the contrasts well.  I gave the scene an extra stop of exposure over what the meter indicated.  The black and white is on Tmax 100 from my Zorki-2c with the collapsible Industar 22.