A Thousand Lights

Pre-dawn light over Goreme as we float high above in a hot air balloon.

This view over Goreme and surrounds in Cappadocia as the first light of day glows on the horizon from a hot air balloon was truly magnificent.

As some of you might know, I'm not the biggest fan of heights. In fact you could say they terrify me. My heart rate spikes, I get sweaty, and feel completely off-kilter - like I'm going to topple over at any moment and plummet to the ground below.

So getting up at 4am to hop into a basket about to be lifted into the air by a giant balloon may seem like an odd decision for me to have made. But I love flying. There's something about it that makes me feel so free and alive. So I thought I'd give this a go.

The morning was calm with little to no breeze, which allowed us to ascend up to 1,400m - the upper limit for the balloons in the region.

And I was terrified. I found myself pressed against the centre wall of the basket with my eyes closed, trying to get as far away from the rim of the basket as possible. All I could think about was the fact that the only thing separating me from certain death was a few centimetres of wicker whilst being lifted into the air by a giant burner…

When I did finally manage to control my breathing and open my eyes, this was the view spread out before me; the lights of town in the early morning pre-dawn and the other balloons glowing from within as they rose into the clear, cool air.

More photos from this amazing experience to come, so stay tuned!

The details for this image are:

• Nikon D750 with Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 G2

• 1/500s

• f/2.8

• ISO4000