For Florence and Hussein

I really like the first one. But I think the clouds come out better in the third one. I love the composition of that first one. It's really good. The only thing I could think of to improve it would be to post process the clouds a bit Can you create a mask for the counds/sky and increase the contrast a bit? Or maybe adjust the curves on the couds? But I love the balloon. That blue is so bule! Looks great.

Great shots. Very colorful and Being that I'm in the USA, I just love the buildings around the balloon, You don't see that everyday here.
And also who's Florence and Hussein. The only Hussein we know here is Saddam.

Nice shots, but now I'm curious about the backstory.

Florence and Hussein are 2 hostages in Irak since 150 days.
Florence is a french journalist and Hussein is her irakian guide.
Yesterday a balloon has been launch at their memories so people don't forget them.

Thanks MCB for the comments.

Nice shots.

This happened about 1/2 mile from my home... and I wasn't even aware of it (but I was away from town for the week end).

Yesterday and today, french hot air ballooners were asked to fly carrying pictures of the french journalist Florence Aubenas and her irakian guide who were both kidnapped 150 days ago and are still kept as hostages somewhere in Iraq until now.

Btw. the "buildngs around" belong to the world famous Château de Versailles, one of the french most visited monuments (5 millions people a year). The scene did take place yesterday evening in front of the castle, a place which is usually crowded by tourists buses - but not in the evening when the visits have end.
Tens or hundreds of thousands of american people come here every year to visit the castle and the magnificent park, built under the reign of King Louis XIV (the Sun King) : incidentally, it's the place were the Treaty of Versailles was signed on Sep. 3rd 1783, establishing the independence of the 13 first american colonies. You know the rest of the story from then onwards...

These are all quite excellent and the story is heart rending. A job very well done.