Over St. Patrick's Day weekend, I went down south to Belen, New Mexico to photograph the balloon festival. About 74 balloons participated during the morning mass ascensions. And for those wondering, yes, it's "rallye", not "rally". Not a typical word we see.

To my delight, all three days of the balloon festival enjoyed good flying weather. The Sunday weather forecast did worry everybody but, the weather was just fine. I also got to fly twice! I will admit that I didn't really get any good photos from the air though. So I just enjoyed the rides.

On Saturday, a local skydiving group put up a short demonstration with four skydivers swooping in onto the main field. I didn't know what I was doing to photograph the action so, I didn't get any good shots of the skydivers. A shame, I won't be seeing another skydiving demonstration for a while if I do at all.

Anyway, below are some of the pictures I shot. Not all are winners but, I had fun, and I look forward to my next balloon festival.