Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM

09/11/2009 12:47:36 AM · #1

Anyone planning on attending the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta this year? Hubby and I are hoping to be in ALBQ in in the area from the 9th-15th. would love to attend and any suggestions on best place to shoot the event from. I'm willing to go to two different locations on two mornings if it gets me some interesting photo opps. :)

Any suggestions or anyone wanting to meet up and shoot...would love to hear from ya!

Thoughts? I looked at another thread on just the ALBQ "things to do" and the Sandia Mtns seem to be a big hit. Would also like to hit Santa Fe. (We have to go to Datil one day.)

Ristyz

Apple iPhone 12 Pro

09/11/2009 01:55:19 AM · #2

Caveat: Balloons don't fly if there is much wind. On your first day, go onto the grounds, go early, the lines for vehicles can be bad. consider doing a park n ride. On the second day, go into Rio Rancho and watch it from across the river. I haven't tried that yet myself but I see the potential there. Traffic will be awful anywhere you go. If you want to take pics, get someone else to drive.

after the balloons, you can ride the Tramway (world's longest) to the top of the Sandias or you can drive up the back way. Also in ABQ is Petroglyph Ntl Monument. The zoo is decent. Bosque del Apache is only an hour south in San Antonio (the birds don't really show up fully until mid-November. Santa Fe is an hour north and there is lots of shopping. Plenty of India reservation casinos in the area. Sandia, Santa Ana, Isleta. Most have other entertainment from time to time. I'm sure I'll think of more.

Sony DT 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspherical ED Zoom Lens for Sony Alpha

09/11/2009 09:38:54 AM · #3

Thanks Cristy, I've never been to ALBQ so we will be floundering around like a bunch of idiot tourists! I'll take all of your suggestions! :)

If anyone wants to go shoot, let me know. It would be fun to meet a few DPCers.

houstonian

Sony DSLR-A200

09/11/2009 09:44:36 AM · #4

I second the Sandia tram. It is awesome.

pixelpig

Sony Alpha a55

Sony DT 1.8/50mm SAM

09/11/2009 10:03:59 AM · #5

Yes the tram is awesome. The mass ascention of baloons offers many photo ops. Go very early, before dawn, so you don't miss the fun of preparation. Take a jacket & maybe even gloves. After the mass ascention you can change locations to Rio Rancho or wherever there might be a special event.

MelonMusketeer

Nikon D7000

Nikon MF 50mm f/1.4

09/11/2009 10:21:51 AM · #6

Several of us went to the balloon fest in 06. We did a 10 day tour of the area. In Santa Fe, we stayed at the El Ray Inn, which was a very enjoyable place to stay, and it was handy to everything around town there.
We visited an old coal mining town called Madird, which I think was not too far south from Abq. It was an artist's commune in the 60's and 70's and some of them are still there with things like a nice blown glass shop. There is a coal mine museum that has live shows, and there and a very cool old cemetery above Madrid, where miners and some of the artists are buried. The artists have monuments made from all kinds of things by their artist friends. To get to that you take a road named "Backroad".
The Santa Fe Nat'l Forest has some good trails, and there is an overlook where you may be able to get a fine evening/sunset shot over SF if you can find it.
The Balloon Fest is a "click a second" event, so take a lot of memory card space and go early. We left our motel down town at about 4:30 each morning, but it is very worth getting up that early to be on site as things begin to happen. If your time plans allow it, the day when they fly the "shapes" balloons is just awesome. The predawn flights are a joy to see and shoot as well. There are some pix in my DPC portfolio. There are two albums of our trip in my .mac gallery here; M M's .mac gallery We lucked up and I met some new friends, balloonists who were from our area. All four of us got to go up with them and ride as part of their chase team when some of them had to return to Florida mid week.
I would plan to work around the weather, because you can do the Sandia Peak, Petroglyph N M, or one of the other side trips if the weather is too windy for the balloons to go up. If you do the Sandia Peak, you may want to try to set a custom W/B by shooting a white object through the window of the tram car as soon as you board it. I didn't do that, and the tint in those windows is tough to correct for later. If you do the W/B, don't forget to change back to normal when you exit the tram car.
In any case, have a great time, and share some pix when you get back.

09/11/2009 03:06:34 PM · #7

Wow, thanks for the info. (Great shots in your albums Waddy!)
I appreciate the suggestions everyone. Tring to do this on the cheap-cheap, so we'll see what happens! :)