We attended my first ever balloon festival.  Now we have ridden in a balloon before but never been to a balloon festival. People I know who have attended these events have all raved about them.  I have seen pictures from other folks and the scenes they captured were stunning.  Some friends invited us to go and we were excited when the date finally came around.  Heading to the event I had high expectations and a little bit of uncertainty on how well I would capture the scenes with my photography.  

The Havasu Balloon Festival event was both organized and chaotic at the same time. Weather dictates a lot on the "if" and "where" the event unfolds.  

• Too windy and the balloons don't fly. That is what happened Friday morning and Saturday afternoon
• Wind direction determines if the balloons launch from the balloon staging area or from someplace else.  This happened Sunday morning as the balloons took off from all over the place.

The event itself was also very laid back.  I had purchased our tickets and parking pass online and was going to pick them up at Will Call.  You reach the place you pay for parking before you can reach Will Call.  So in parking line we were wondering how that would play out.  In the end it was very laid back and trusting.  We got to the gentleman who was collecting the parking fee and we asked how we could get the pass we bought online.   He said just go ahead and park, go to will call, and put the tag on your car and waived us on.   Asking an additional question if we would get towed while at Will Call he said maybe but he had not seen a tow truck so far at the event.  Just for precaution my wife stayed in the car while I got the parking pass.

The event is very laid back in another way.  I have heard other balloon festivals restrict how close you can get to the balloons while they are inflating.  Makes sense as it gives the teams room to work.  Here there were no restrictions.  You could walk up right next to the balloons.  In fact, many of teams asked folks to come closer and see what they were doing.  That was very cool.

From a photographic angle trying a balloon festival is challenging.  You have scenes where the balloons are far away and you want a telephoto and the next moment they are right next to you and pushing the limits of your wide angle lens.  Trying to us HDR is challenging as the balloons were moving a rapid clip.  But overall I was pleased with the images I captured and have a better understanding when I go again.  Take a look below at some of the images I captured.  Let me know what you think.

Hope you enjoyed the images and maybe we see you next year at the event!