Balloon Fest, Plano

[ircandids]

Is anyone going to the Plano Balloon Fest, Sept 21, 22 and 23.

http://www.planoballoonfest.org/main.html


roger

40d and 20d
Canon lenses: 17-55 EFS f 2.8 IS, 70-200 F 2.8 IS USM, 100-400 F 4.5-5.6 IS USM, 85 F1.8, Tamron SP 1.4x convter.
580 and 550 flash

[chenology]

hey thats the day after my finals! i might hit it up~

[mmcaleer]

I will never return until they let up on the restrictions. I was not impressed with the Plano Balloon Festival. Plano charges $10 for parking and you have to walk over a mile at most lots. The admission is $5 per person so you can see the balloons a couple hundred yards away when they launch and pay extra to do anything. They fence off the public from approaching the balloons. Take your loooong lenses if attending.

The Lions Club holds a festival up 35E off Lake Lewisville that is much better. You can get up close to the balloons, talk to the pilots and most will put your kids in their basket for photos. You are standing right next to the balloons while they fill them so you can get that shot inside the balloon as it fills. They even had more balloons there in 2006 than Plano did. The cost there is minimal, I think it was a suggested $5 or $10 parking fee which all went to charity and that was it. This year it was cancelled because the park was flooded due to all our rain.

Mike

[ircandids]

Mike thanks for the info...

Roger

[jon_k]

Oh wow... I was planning on going. After your story on the B.S. I'm highly reconsidering. I had no clue they have fee's and restrictions on how close you can get. I've got a 1600mm lens but I feel like I can get higher quality pictures with my wider lenses. The walking a mile+ from a parking lot that you PAY to park in is ridiculous. No shuttles or anything?

[mmcaleer]

Here is the map of the facility. http://www.planoballoonfest.org/map.html You can see they close Spring Creek Parkway between Jupiter and Parker so you have to walk. The closest parking is at the College.

I looked back at last years pictures and found one that shows the relationship between the audience and the balloons. This shows the closest you can get to the balloons, others are much further away. Not bad, but this was the first balloon festival I have been to where they keep the crowds away from the balloons.

[mmcaleer]

I just noticed this. Take a look at their web page. http://www.planoballoonfest.org/main.html There are two picture that show the crowds lined up to see the balloons and they cannot approach beyond a designated area. The other problem is that if you have small children you have to lift them over your head so they can see above the crowds or walk further away from the balloons to find a hill or raised area.

[jon_k]

Wow... forget it then. I'd really like to be close to the action and I feel I'd have more fun being able to get closer to the action (and better shots too!)

When's the next Lions Club baloon festival? I'll pass on Plano's. It's a drag because I had
already heard of the Plano one and already had the Plano one marked on my calender. ;-(
Thank you guys for warning me and saving me an evening I could better use to photograph other things!

I won't be going because I imagine it as being stuck in a moshpit struggling to get to the rope where you can see the action. The rope is 300ft + from the balloons so even then you can't get the action without your telephoto. Then you realize your perspective/angle is bad and you want to get a better angle yet you can't cause you have to fight the crowd to move position again. No thanks! I'll do some street photography that day or something. ;-)

I was really expecting to be able to roam free and stuff.

[nyphotopro]

The folks running the Plano Balloon Festival have their heads up their collective butts. I had an assignment from a major stock photo house and news agency to shoot it. However, after calling and emailing mutliple times over five weeks and not getting any callbacks or responses to my press inquires, I cancelled to shoot. People in Plano are way too stuck up - as in their heads stuck way up their butts.

[Stephen H]

I went over there a couple of years ago with my daughter and her friend, and we enjoyed the trip. It was windy, and they only got a few balloons off the ground that day. But it was neat just walking around and seeing what all there was to see (ie, booths and exhibits and stuff).

[virtuousphotography]

Aw, poo! I was planning on going, too! Ahhhh well! Like Jon said, that's a good weekend to do some other shooting!

[CBass]

WOW you just took the air out of my ballon lol. That sucks cause i get my new camera monday and this was going to be the first event i planned to shoot. Well we still might go just to check out the other stuff but man im dishearted now. Is the light up the night deal still worth a shot or two? Anyone know if there is any water they will be over when doing that would love to get some night reflection shots.

[raehowell]

I have never gone to the Plano Balloon Fest, I was thinking of going but after the posts I doubt that will happen. I have been to the Highland Park Fest on Lake Lewisville. It was really cool. You are one the field where the balloons launch and they fly over head and dip into the lake. This year it was cancelled due to the park being under water from all the rain. Here are a few pictures that I took. I am not a pro so keep that in mind when viewing the pics.

[engstrom]

I still might head out to the balloon glow at the Plano Balloon Fest this Friday night. Yeah, I was at the Highland Village Festival a couple years ago and it was great, but I've never been to the Plano festival. Hey, if I can get at least one good shot on Friday I'll be happy.

[mmcaleer]

If you are used to the Highland Festival you will be highly disappointed with the Plano Festival.