2007 Plano Balloon Festival - Part 2

Emily and I got up early last Saturday to go to the Plano Balloon Festival.  It's an annual event that starts on Friday and lasts all weekend.  Thirty two balloons participated this year, launching twice daily.  A number of non-profits set up shop at the event, along with food vendors,  and even a fireworks shows.

We got up at five, grabbed the camera gear I had packed the night before and took off to have breakfast at Poor Richard's, a local diner serving breakfast and lunch.  We got to the festival at 6:30 AM and that's when I started snapping pictures.  Emily reminded me the night before that I should have packed our tripod, but I didn't feel like digging the thing out of the closet.  I rarely use it, but I think it would have been handy.

Regardless, there was quite a crowd there of spectators and photographers.  I managed to shoot 450 shots from 6:30 till about 8:00 AM.  I must have swapped lenses 10 times depending on what I was shooting.  I took a 50mm F1.8, 24-105mm F4, 70-200mm F4, and the 10-22mm F3.5 wide angle lens Emily just got me for my birthday.  Some folks brought more camera gear than me and had their tripod, but I swear they weren't even shooting!  What's the point in dragging all of the camera gear to an event like that if you're not going to use it?

Early shot of everyone getting set up.  There was a good bit of fog on the field.

This crew was sponsored by Shepps.  This shot shows them testing the burner.  There's quite a bit of heat coming out of that thing!  Laid out in the foreground is the balloon -- Airabelle,  a large dairy cow.

Emily smiling as I take way too many pictures.

Me, having fun.

The launch that morning was going to be a "fox and hound" where one balloon would be the fox and the rest the hounds in chase.  This Remax balloon was the designated fox.

Close up of the crew righting the Remax fox balloon.

Balloons to the right...

Balloons to the left...

The "fox" taking off.

Airabell is starting to look like a cow.

Lift off.

Give it some gas...

This balloon drifted directly overhead, so I couldn't resist taking pictures directly underneath.

Airabelle's almost done.

Close up of Airabelle's leg inflating.

Felix.

Daisy inflating.

Daisy ready for lift off.

We have lift off!

Airabelle in flight.  This balloon was a kid favorite.

Wide angle shot.  A lot of balloons.

While we watched the launch, the announcer told the crowd that the Albuquerque balloon festival has 700+ balloons!  This was only 30 or so.  Maybe when Sam's a little older we can make our way to that one.

Chris