Pie In The Sky Hot Air Balloon Festival

What do you get when you spend three days shooting thousands of pictures? If you’re lucky, you get a couple of minutes of quality time lapse footage. At least that’s what I was going for. To be fair, it wasn’t three full days. Just some (very) early mornings and some warm afternoons & evenings at the Pie In The Sky Hot Air Balloon Festival. Shooting time lapse footage can be tricky, as once you start shooting a scene you’re committed for at least half an hour or you won’t have enough shots for a sequence. During that time, many things can happen. This was my first time attending the festival and I started shooting several sequences only to realize I didn’t have the best angle or the action didn’t happen where I thought it would. If I return next year, I’ll have a much better idea of how to photograph it for time lapse or perhaps I’ll just shoot stills.

Hot air balloons ascend into the sunrise during the final send-off at the Pie In The Sky Hot Air Balloon Festival in Kyle.

Overall, the event was great except for the cancellation of the glow show both nights due to high wind. I was looking forward to photographing the hot air balloons glowing from the inside at dusk and making it an intregal part of the video. The pilots and attendees were disappointed as well but, as it often the case, nature had other plans. Still, the sunsets and sunrises were beautiful and provided a colorful backdrop to the action on the field.