Not many people know that the wedding of one of the two Montgolfier brothers took place in Thailand. On the island of Koh Samui. In a place called Overlap Stone.
This is the beautiful place I decided to take the photo in.
A big cliff and no fences. Beautiful and dangerous. Since this place is high in the mountains, tourists are not brought here. And the locals don't really know how to get here. Now the bridge has been made solid and reliable for crossing to Overlap Stone. But before it was wooden with rotten boards and clearings between them.
To get to the famous stone you had to jump from board to board and pray that it wouldn't collapse under you. But you could only find out about this by stepping on it. Well, or if you came with a girl, then, like a gentleman, let her go first.)
Anton Selivanov got this balloon from an unknown source and organized everything to implement my crazy idea. Anton was driving a pickup truck under the scorching sun and kept the balloon half-deflated on the car. Otherwise, it would not have driven along the road under the power lines that cross the road. However, he got sunburned in the open sun and tried to hide from it during the shooting.
A family of Thais settled down near the famous stone. There is a truly Thai mess and disorganization all around. Thais who are not spoiled by tourists and money do not have any home culture or a well-kept yard near this house. If there is a place to sleep, this is a great house.
You can also build a roof from slate sheets, great! Moreover, they can drive a brand new pickup truck or an expensive SUV. That's cool for them. Venus arranged an open-air dressing room in the yard of such a house. There is truly Thai authenticity all around.
There are 200 species of snakes on Koh Samui. 20 of them are poisonous. But not this one.
We tie the rope to a stone so that the balloon doesn't fly away with the groom. Alexey tests its strength. He will later climb into the basket and rise into the air on the balloon. If the rope doesn't hold up, then we will catch him and the balloon either in the jungle or in the sea. Wherever the wind blows.)
Venus picks flowers. When the balloon rises into the air and everyone is in their places, we will first throw these flowers for practice. And after we understand which way the wind is blowing and how best to throw them, we will start shooting and throw rose petals, which you can see in the finished photo.
So Svetlana and I saw a ball that had broken away from a rock and was flying up for training. Without Alexey for now.
At that moment the basket came off the stone and the groom flew up into the air in a hot air balloon. The rope held.
And this is how we looked to Alexey from his height, from the rising hot air balloon.
Thai Montgolfier Wedding. A little backstage video from this unusual photo shoot on Koh Samui.
Photographer and retouching — Eduard Stelmakh.
Make-up and hair — Venera Mazurenko.
Bride — Svetlana Yarmots.
Groom — Alexey Yarmots.
Assistant — Natalia Stelmakh, Alexei Mikhailov, Pasha.
