High in Colorado

Last week we got high in Colorado...

Usually that means rambling around the alpine on a high peak... But this week was unique.

A good friend Corinne came to town from Denmark and such an occasion prompted something special. We booked a hot air ballon flight from Jeff at Fair Winds. I have watched the balloons launch from the backyard, a few hundred yards over the fence dozens of times and have been anxious to go up...

Jeff captained our balloon and has been flying since the late 1970's and he and his crew create something truly magical for their clients.

I cannot wait to fly and get high again... hotairballoonridescolorado.com

Full Contact Piñata

Celebrating another solar spin and it continues to be a wild and crazy ride... 

A fitting and incredibly welcome way to celebrate with flying candy, temporary tattoos and lots of laughter... Honored to have such fun individuals sharing this orbit and these revolutions... 

Special thanks to John for allowing his nice Jeep to take a few hits... 

And after shooting this I think we have some semblance of what it must be like to be on the frontlines as a war photographer. Someone managed to mangle a new BD carabiner with their grand slam broom swings...

Perpetually Electric

The front yard... ©Bennett Barthelemy

standing, kneeling and shooting pictures on my porch this last hour…

darkness began to take hold as this powerful storm moved very slowly east to west. transfixed. 

wondering. can i capture this? 

every couple of seconds the sky lights up. flashes. illuminating thick cloud curtains, hidden worlds thousands of feet in the air. lightning across the sky sideways at the edge of the glowing cloud. dancing dendritic bolts arcing to the ground and bringing moments of daylight again to the purpling evening skyline.

a gift - that i can safely be beside this wild creative force of incredible beauty – its presence at once humbling and riveting. gentle wind carries small spatters of rain from this storm to cool the palpable humid warmth in the air, as it cools my slightly feverish flesh that lies exposed. 

percussive yet muffled booms from this glittering horizon. so clear the awesome intensity. yet feeling so safe. so at home…

this elemental and almost painful beauty, this magic - has blown softly into my life... i am perpetually electric.

Bridging The Generational Divide

When I was 31 I spent a few days backpacking the Chilkoot Trail in Alaska with my father... He brought cotton Levis, had no rain jacket and had twisted his knee getting in shape for the trip when my hasty divorce just a month prior left me with tickets to Alaska and no partner to hike with. It is one of my fondest wilderness memories - this "accidental" time spent with my dad.

This last week I shared some 60 miles with a father and son team across the Continental Divide in the Rockies of Rocky Mountain National Park. Between lightning storms, high altitude hypoxic forays, over flowered alpine tundra and snowy passes - I saw a similar bonding evolve between father and son - a bond that I believe only shared extended time in wilderness can provide...