One memorable weekend: paragliding and on top of the mountain!
This below is probably my photo I like the most from that weekend, the Sun touching the ridge of Stara Planina mountain and spreading beautifully its rays over the Rose Valley. But let's put my story right!
In the late May, together with few friends, all photography lovers, we went to a photo-weekend dedicated to flying over and photographing one beautiful part of Central Bulgaria, called Rose Valley, known after its perfect climate for growing a special type of Damascus Roses used for production of rose oil.
It was a three-days adventure, however I'm going to focus on the second day, Saturday, since this was a day full with scenery views and amazing experiences. Of course, the Friday night, when we arrived at the hotel we were about to spend two nights, there was a nice dinner, with local foods, good drinks and what's best than time, spent with people, resonating at the very same artistic frequency as yours?
We woke up very early and went to the nearby famous mountain peak, Buzludzha. There we welcomed the birth of the new day:
My trustful old four-wheel drive car friend managed without glitches to get us almost to the top of the mountain so it deserved to be included in the frame along two of my photo-friends ;)
Indeed, the day started very beautifully!
The ridge of the Stara Planina mountain is covered with wind turbines and here is a perspective of mine, machine next to a girl. One could really feel the deep and powerful vibrations when standing next to these powerful things. You could rather feel than hear the low frequency noise they make. I've heard when I was a student that sometimes people who live next to them go crazy under the influence of such waves! Thankfully, this area isn't populated at all.
Have you ever heard about the abandoned communist monument built on top of the Buzludzha peak? It had been used for the congresses of the Bulgarian Communist Party before the democratic events in 1989. Since then this huge building, resembling a flying saucer has been left to decay and recently security details have been arranged because it became too dangerous to enter in it. Nevertheless, there is an international group called "Buzludzha Explorers" who try everything possible to get inside and make photos.
Still in the morning, we've been surrounded by a herd of horses left in the wilderness of the mountain. They were afraid and suspicious of us at the beginning but in few minutes they curiosity prevailed and they came closer to us. Few of them were quite playful!
The afternoon came too quickly, we enjoyed the beauty of the Nature and waited our turns to hop on the motor-para-glider and take photographs from high above...
Finally it was my turn, as a gentleman I was the last "passenger" for the evening. We took off I looked below me and captured this stunning field of blossoming lavender:
Few minutes later I took the sunset photo from the beginning of my story, just so you know.
Flying over the Russian architectural style church in the small town of Shipka:
Check out my brave sneakers, LOL:
While paragliding you can feel your heart... in all your organs, and then... you see it below:
Wait now! Is that a screenshot from an economy strategy computer game? Nope, that's how barley harvesting looks from above. Colorful, right?
Civilization painting. I'm not sure what this is, but it doesn't look quite nature-friendly to me...
And few other photos from above:
Now you have the challenging task to guess whether my knees were shaking when we landed! LOL
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Thank you and have a great day!
That is one exciting weekend! The views from above looks really awesome, though I'm not sure if I could appreciate them if I'm the one paragliding lol. Thankfully you're the one who did it and even managed to take some good shots, so I could enjoy the scenery vicariously.
Congratulations for your first curie vote, Damian =).
Thank you so much, @scrawly! Both for the warm words and for your support! Indeed it was awesome. Not my first paragliding, I have to admit, but the first near the house of my grandparents, so it was exciting in many ways... Also, it was a tandem flight - the hands you see in the frames, are of the pilot, a friend. Mine are of course... keeping the camera steady. :) I even forgot to mention these in my story :)
Looks fantastic @lightcaptured! I only visited Sofia when I went to Bulgaria, and was gutted not to visit the spaceship looking building that you’ve shown here. Would have loved to take my drone and film it from the skies.
Nice paragliding shots too - what did you use to take the photos, and weren’t you worried about dropping it?
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Thank you, @goodwithtravels! Sofia is really beautiful, I live there at the moment, having all four seasons, lots of old interesting buildings and sightseeing and friendly people! Just to mention it is covered in snow the last 3 days :P
Bulgaria is a very beautiful country, I've photographed hundreds places and there are still so many to visit and enjoy...
To answer your photo questions... yes, I always worry. A lot!!! The strap was wrapped three time around my wrist during that flight :) By the way, it is a good idea to wear ski glasses, with no glasses the first few minutes are total loss, until the eyes get used to the wind...
Generally I love prime lens but when paragliding this is too restrictive, since changing altitude is slow and expensive in time... So I used Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM along with my Canon EOS 5D Mark III camera.
Cheers :)
Sounds amazing!
If I'm ever back in Sofia, I''ll be sure to give you the heads up. Would love to go paragliding some time; perhaps I'll find a way to try it next year on my trip across Asia.
Sure! Drop me a line ;) The pilot I flew with is currently in Nepal as far as I know :) So if you're planing to go there, I highly recommend him :)
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Thanks so much! It is both a pleasure and an honor, @curie!
Steem on!
A breathtaking adventure over the skies. I'd trade a lot of important stuff just to get a moment like this. These are memories worth keeping and having some of it framed is a bonus. These are awesome photos by the way. :D
Much appreciated, @adamada. It isn't so expensive to try this. Usually flights are 30 or 60 minutes - plenty of time to make few hundred photos if you know the most beautiful places. Some of my friends managed to take 2 thousand photos but I am quite picky and selective, LOL :) Of course, courage is what I needed most, considering I kinda have fear of heights :)))
That is really memorable pictures. I was surprised to hear that you are able to makes pictures while paragliding, is there moments when you let your hands off and just concentrate on the photographing or is it like recording while flying then you cut off the scenes from your record? I was really impressed with that lavender field, that is incredible pattern you see from the height and the beauty of that church with golden dome, looks impressive. Like that strange monument, it is really look like flying saucer. The combination of your black and white and colorful pictures made a trick, great contrast and brilliant quality.
Thanks so much, @stef1!
It is a motor-paragliding, and the hands and legs you see in the photos are those of my courageous pilot ;)
There isn't much communication between us, it is very noisy up there, mainly by the engine. Hand-signals are the only language up there.
So I am let's say 90% focused on photography. I don't make videos when I fly, only photos and I fly with the best camera I have at the moment, since still, you know, paragliding costs and I want the best results ;)
You are super brave and super adventurious, i think i would die of heart failure. Nice one
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Thank you, @paulag, but I am far from that :) I have fear of heights but sometimes it is worthy to get out of our comfort zone, isn't it? :)
thats way way to far outside the comfort zone for me to try
You know, the kind of things that look very dangerous, until you do them once. This is one of them :)
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A true adventure and those images! WOAH!
Thank you! :) It was, indeed :)
There are even more good photos from that day, but I didn't want my story to be too long and potentially boring. I will be sharing them in separate posts in the next days/weeks ;)
Can't wait to see them!
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