We recently held a birthday party for Thomas in the park near our house. I have been feeling overwhelmed lately, so the goal was something low key – just a few kids, a pinata, pizza, cupcakes and some playtime at the park.

And of course we had balloons. A beautiful bunch of bright primary colours that I planned to hand out to the kids as an extra party favour at the end of the party.

And when a photographer has balloons, well, you know….

Ten minutes after I took these photos, the very clever slip knot tied by the guy at the party store proved to be not very clever at all. I watched helplessly as the balloons floated away into a perfect blue sky.

But that’s the great thing about photography. The balloons would have been deflated in a few days anyway, but these photos will remain forever.