OGDEN VALLEY BALLOON FESTIVAL
AUGUST 2005 - 2006
Three groups 54, 15 & 45 photos
AUGUST 2005 - 2006
Three groups 54, 15 & 45 photos
August 11th of 2005, the Ogden Valley Hot Air Balloon Festival was held at the Wolf Creek Resort in Eden, which benefits many local charities. This Festival runs for three days and the Balloon part of it is held in the mornings and again in the evenings, except for Sunday night. I was there morning and evening to photograph all of the Balloon events, and managed to get 534 photos during the three days.
On August 19th of 2006 I photographed the morning balloon event and later that night the Balloon Glow. For those that don't know, the balloons have a very thin nylon fabric that lets the light of the propane torch shine through. When the pilot heats the air in the balloon, the outside glows quite brightly in the dark. The only problem, they seldom do it at the same time, but twice they did have a countdown and all torched at once. Check out the picture near the bottom and if you click on it, you can see 15 more photos of the Balloon Glow.
My ride in a balloon
In 2005 I was talking with my neighbor Roy Zimmerman and mentioned that I was going up to Eden to photograph the balloon events and he told me that his son-in-law Buzz Biernacki, (who is from Albuquerque, the capital of ballooning), had a balloon and was going to be here for the festival. He said that if I would join them I could have a ride in the balloon. What an opportunity, I couldn't pass it up, so I joined with them and helped out with the ground crew work. I was able to photograph some of the action of setting up, inflating, flying, deflating and repacking in-between helping out. And I did get to fly in Buzz's balloon. I was worried about doing it, as I have a fear of high places. It's hard to explain why, but I suffered no fear at all. I had one of the best experiences of my life. I recommend that everyone try this at least once.
There are three groups of photos that you can look at from here. The Balloon Festival and a ride in the balloon along with ground crew preperation, and photos of the Balloon Glow in 2006.
to look at these photos
click 'The Festival' , 'Night Glow' or 'Balloon Ride' buttons
54 photos 15 photos 45 photos
click 'The Festival' , 'Night Glow' or 'Balloon Ride' buttons
54 photos 15 photos 45 photos
These photos were taken with my new Canon EOS 20D, 8.2 Megapixel SLR Camera using a Canon EFs 17-85mm IS USM Superwide to 5x zoom lens. The photos shown here are set to lower resolution and compressed 10:1 for faster loading. You are welcome to look at or download any of the photos. If you use them on any other webpage, please give credit and refer back to me.