Rare atmospheric anomaly above Mt Fuji, Japan.  Photography by Sekine’s Motoharu

smokey mountain national park

FOR LARRY WALTERS, WHO DREAMED SINCE HE WAS A CHILD OF USING BALLOONS TO FLY; WHO IN 1982 SPEND FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS OF HIS TRUCK-DRIVING DELIVERYMAN SALARY TO BUY SUPPLIES, INCLUDING ONE LAWN CHAIR, FORTY-TWO BALLOONS, AND A HELIUM TANK, WHICH HE USED TO INFLATE THE BALLOONS, ARRANGING THEM IN A RING AROUND THE LAWN CHAIR, A STURDY ALUMINUM TYPE FROM SEARS, IN WHICH HE LAUNCHED HIMSELF ALONG WITH HIS PELLET GUN AND WATER JUGS A THOUSAND FEET A MINUTE INTO THE CALIFORNIA SKY, WITH THE GOAL OF CLEARING THE SAN GABRIEL MOUNTAINS TO REACH THE MOJAVE; WHO AGAINST ALL ODDS FLEW, FROM A BACKYARD IN SAN PEDRO TO LONG BEACH, AN IMPERFECT MAN ON AN IMPERFECT FLIGHT PATH, WHO BROUGHT HIS CAMERA BUT DIDN’T USE IT; WHO, UPON HIS ARREST BY THE LONG BEACH POLICE, WAS QUOTED AS SAYING A MAN CAN’T JUST SIT AROUND…..

FUCK YES LARRY YOU DID IT BABY

Amelia Gray - FOR LARRY

George F. Kerr (1870-1953), “Harper’s Bazaar”, 1902 Source

piskis_ludicrous

Georges Méliès, An Impossible Voyage, 1904

Patrick Caulfield (British, 1936-2005), You’ll be sick if you spend all your time indoors, 1970. Gouache, 40.6 x 36.2 cm.

The Girls of Summer, Ontario, c. 1944.

CRISS CANNING, Green Chrysanthemum, 2016

Castle in the Sky (1986) dir. Hayao Miyazaki

Kobayashi Kiyochika, Firefiles at Ochanomizu, 1880