photographing the hot air balloons in cappadocia

When most people see images of Cappadocia they instantly think of getting that classic selfie or the image with balloons and a breakfast on the balcony but when I saw images online of this very cool tourist attraction, I saw photography adventure. Getting to Cappadocia is fairly easy once you get to Istanbul, a quick 1 hour plane ride then a good 2 hour drive with a shuttle and you are there… ok maybe not so easy. Hotels usually offer transfers for a low fee for such a distance so that does help things. In terms of companies they are all very similar and have heard good things from most of them, mine wasn’t organised by me so I don’t have a recommendation but they all seem to be pretty good from reviews on Google.

The night before… RAIN

Once there you are enchanted by the beauty of Cappadocia, however when I arrived the weather was not good, it was cloudy and threatened to rain. I walked around the town to soak it all in and took some images of the landscape while admiring the beauty and unique views in front of me. After taking a few images the clouds closed in and the rain came down. I was quite worried about the rain and was told by the locals that the weather looked like it was going to clear and the wind settle down. I found out that the biggest reason balloons don’t fly is due to wind, so if its strong then you probably wont fly no matter if there are clouds or not.

The morning of the flight I was picked up around 330am and taken for a breakfast and a safety briefing. From breakfast we were taken by van to the groups of balloon. Thankfully as luck would happen the balloon I was on left a bit later which meant I had a good mix of photographing the balloons from the ground as well as when going up there being enough balloons already in flight to capture some good images. Thankfully as predicted the weather cleared and as you can see from the photos the mix of clouds from the bad weather the night before and enough gap in the horizon meant it was to be a spectacular morning to shoot this experience.

Preparing to Shoot - What Gear 

This was my first time I had 2 camera bodies on a trip and i thought this was the perfect shoot to try shooting with both bodies. The camera and lens combination of choice for this trip was to be the Fujifilm X-T3 and the 10-24mm F4 with Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) on and my trusty Fujifilm X-Pro2 which I had the 50-140mm F2.8 also with OIS to try and capture some unique perspectives on the telephoto end of the focal range. I took a spare battery but thankfully I didn’t need them and could concentrate on shooting from the sky. I also brought my Really Right Stuff travel tripod which I only had maybe 5 mins to shoot a couple of images from the ground before rushing off into the balloon basket. Shooting with 2 bodies while moving quickly with the dynamic light was not easy but it was really good to have both wide and telephoto. I was really happy I brought both although it was a little stressful going back and forth and juggling the bodies.

Up up and away

When in the balloon I had a corner position thankfully which mean I had a great view. Everyone does get an unobstructed view but being on the corner gives you more flexibility to shoot in different directions so I was very happy. There isn’t much room in the basket so trying to shoot with 2 bodies was challenging i wont lie, however I will say the balloon does climb altitude slowly so its easy to focus and get some great images. It is literally like you are floating on air besides the random fire flames its a good photography experience as you take it all in and line up some images.

an amazing sunrise

It really was an amazing sunrise, I was spoilt to the point that I got get god rays which is a photographers dream. Thankfully I could capture the god rays with the telephoto and compress the scene between the balloons and the sky. Everyone in the balloon including myself was in awe as the sunrise unfolded and lit up the balloons, landscape and sky. There was so much to capture on this experience from the balloons in the distance to the sheer amount of balloons against the unique volcanic landscape. The light lasted for a good half an hour and just kept on giving until the clouds eventually covered the sun but by then i had my images done and just enjoyed floating on top of the world until we landed and enjoyed a glass of champagne.

why i loved it

There is something about aerial photography, be it hanging out of a helicopter strapped in by harness, to floating in the balloon like this experience or hanging the camera out of a Cessna, (stay tuned for that post) I got to capture a unique perspective which really did inspire me to shoot and help me express what i am seeing and to share with the world. I hope you enjoy my images, thank you for reading. You can see more of my images from my travels on Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/stephenvincentgrace