Have you met David Rizzico yet? He’s a KelbyOne member based out of North Carolina with a unique interest in two different photography niches—keep reading to get to know the artist behind the image!

1. Can you tell us a little bit about your image, Hot Stuff?

The photo was taken Friday night during ‘Glow’ at the Carolina BalloonFest held every year in Statesville, North Carolina. For people who have never been to a hot air balloon festival, ‘Glow’ is where they usually have several balloons tether to the grown and the pilots of the balloons fire up the burners on their hot air balloons to get them to glow during the dusk hours. I took the photo because the lighting up of the balloons is one of the most impressive things you will see since some of the burners can be anywhere from 15 million BTUs to 21 million BTUs. To put that in perspective, the average home furnace is approximately 100 thousand BTUs.

2. What gear/software did you use to create this image?

At the time I took this picture, my kit consisted of my Nikon D750 using my 1st generation Tamron 70 – 200 f2.8 lens. (It was shot at 200 mm f8 1/320 of second at ISO 800.)

3. What do you like to photograph?

I mainly shoot sports, aviation, and the occasional landscape. (Though my wife has got me to photograph a couple of events where she was volunteering at for the campaign for a fellow teacher who is running for the NC State house.) One thing I should note is that I don’t shoot your normal sports like baseball or football. I like to shoot Medieval Fighting and IDPA shooting matches.

4. Were you inspired by a KelbyOne class or instructor to create this image? If so, which class or instructor inspired you?

Several instructors have inspired me in with creating this image. First and foremost was Moose Peterson who rekindled my love of aviation at my first Photoshop World in 2017 when I took his Pre-Con class out at Stallion 51. Serge Ramelli is another instructor that has inspired my how I start out retouching. Dave Black’s class taught me to look behind me. Or in the case of this photo to see the photo within the photo. Finally, Scott [Kelby] is a big influence on me as an instructor and as the host of the Grid. His ‘Blind Critiques’ have taught me a lot.

5. What’s your favorite class on KelbyOne and why?

Favorite Class on Kelby one, well that is a tie… The aviation geek in me says it’s Moose’s class on Air Shows, and Dave Black’s class on shooting high school sports with Scott.

To see more of his work, check out David Rizzico’s website and follow him on Instagram at @drizzico.