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DPChallenge Forums >> Out and About >> Adirondack Balloon Fest (Upstate NY)
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09/13/2010 11:26:37 AM · #1
Anyone interested in a GTG or two at the Adirondack Balloon Fest September 23-26? It's in Glens Falls.

I am planning to go; just not sure when!
09/13/2010 11:36:49 AM · #2
Crud... not only will I miss the one in Ottawa, I will miss this one also. Oh well, I guess I will simply have to endure the hardships Australia has to offer. :O)

Ray
09/13/2010 02:37:27 PM · #3
Originally posted by RayEthier:

Crud... not only will I miss the one in Ottawa, I will miss this one also. Oh well, I guess I will simply have to endure the hardships Australia has to offer. :O)

Ray


Sounds like you have a nice trip to Australia planned! Enjoy! I'm jealous! (I'm guessing there's a thread about this somewhere, if not, let;s hear some details!)
09/13/2010 02:43:17 PM · #4
Originally posted by RayEthier:

Crud... not only will I miss the one in Ottawa, I will miss this one also. Oh well, I guess I will simply have to endure the hardships Australia has to offer. :O)

Ray


Well here's to lots of hot air for you in Australia Ray. :)

Glens Falls, been there a few times, lovely country in that area.
09/13/2010 04:05:36 PM · #5
When I was playing youth hockey, maybe it was high school(?), our team played Glens Falls. We won by something like 24-0, and the coach stopped putting out the first line part way through the game. They had cheerleaders, which we all thought was very strange.
09/15/2010 10:38:04 PM · #6
Slippy, I think your team was actually playing the cheerleaders. The hockey team had the day off. ;)

Also, anyone been to this festival? Best place to shoot from? A mountain vantage point? Iceland? ;)


09/15/2010 11:11:28 PM · #7
I've been up a few times, but only to the airfield location where they launch from. I preferred the morning launch (though dragging myself out of bed that early was less than fun). The crowd seemed smaller, with fewer kids running around... just a calmer atmosphere. My advice is to leave yourself plenty of time to get there, since traffic is usually backed up for miles. Watch the weather too... twice, I've driven up, only to find out while I was stuck in the traffic jam that the launch was canceled.
09/15/2010 11:39:32 PM · #8
I was wondering if being at the launch was even the best place to be...since it would be cool to catch some sunrise shots with balloons in the air, and being directly beneath may not be the best place...but I've never been to one, so I don't know.

I was thinking it would be nice to have my own shot even half as good as this..



BTW - Why not brave the traffic with me! Come on up! I may even go up twice, since I may not get it right the first time.
09/15/2010 11:49:37 PM · #9
They may do the "glow burn" thing before dawn, which is awesome to see, so be there extra early if possible.
The staging/launching area is great if you have more than one day to shoot. If not then possibly try to shoot the staging area first and have a driver, a route and plan to get to higher ground for more shots from a distance. If the roads are not too crowded, you can easily outrun the balloons because they will not launch if there is any wind at all.
09/16/2010 06:50:03 AM · #10
You certainly won't get any shots nearly as stunning as the one you posted from the launch area. From what I remember, there are some higher areas around the area, though I have no idea how to get there. You might be better off traffic-wise if you're not going the exact route to the airfield. I think they do a balloon glow thing after dark, but its not at the same location as the launch, so I've never gone.

I can't brave the traffic with you this time... I have visitors in town that weekend. But we are planning to head up there for the Saturday morning launch if the weather looks good!
09/17/2010 11:41:26 PM · #11


Catching a scene like this (over water) would be nice too. But I'd have to know the flight path to catch them over water, and if I'm not mistaken, the flight path depends mostly on the direction of the breeze that day!

Here's the schedule if anyone is interested....

//www.adirondackballoonfest.org/schedule.asp


09/18/2010 12:10:31 AM · #12
There is a link to the map on the website, and you can view the terrain from there to get an idea of where the water or higher vantage points might be. But I think you're right that it all depends on the winds that day. Looks like your best bet is somewhere to the west... if you're lucky!

I've been searching for any place where they would post an announcement if the launches were canceled due to weather, but have yet to find one. There doesn't seem to be any contact information on the website either. Does anyone happen to know if they post cancellations somewhere? Even if I was half way there and had to turn back, it would be better than sitting in traffic for an hour going nowhere!
09/18/2010 07:38:04 AM · #13
You might check with a local airport to see if they are going to launch. For the participants, it's usually a "call it as you see it at launch time" thing on a pilot by pilot basis, unless there is some windy or rainy weather in the forecast that would make it dangerous to launch.
09/18/2010 09:03:19 AM · #14
Originally posted by nshapiro:

I was wondering if being at the launch was even the best place to be...since it would be cool to catch some sunrise shots with balloons in the air, and being directly beneath may not be the best place...but I've never been to one, so I don't know.

I was thinking it would be nice to have my own shot even half as good as this..



BTW - Why not brave the traffic with me! Come on up! I may even go up twice, since I may not get it right the first time.


one of my favorite shoots that I did was at a balloon launch...I was able to get right in the area where they were filling the balloons and it was fabulous...BUT it was a very fast pace...it went much, much faster than I had ever dreamed of...I had thought I would be able to go from balloon to balloon, if I had I wouldn't have gotten the shots that I have now, I would have missed alot of them. You can volunteer to go with one of the teams for the chase/landing (I don't know what it is called) they asked me (and I was a total stranger) but I didn't know if they would be coming back to the same area where they launched or not...would have loved to do that...you could try contacting the airfield and getting the name of some of the groups and talk to them ahead of time....someone was riding in the balloon and that would be a really cool prospective...
09/18/2010 01:46:09 PM · #15
The Thursday 5:00 pm opening event:

Crandall Park - City of Glens Falls - Opening Ceremony - Flight of 12+ hot air balloons Performance of Stony Creek Band in the shell

I don't think I've ever been there (though we did the Glenn Falls to Lake George bike trail a week or two ago) but it looks like there's water in the park, and if it's a good cloud day, that might present some interesting opportunities.


09/25/2010 11:10:51 AM · #16
Well, it was clear and calm when we drove up this morning, but as launch time approached, the winds picked up and no balloons lifted off. A few inflated (the best they could anyway) to try to keep the kids and photographers happy. They were all saying that conditions looked optimistic for tonight and tomorrow morning. We're going to head back up this afternoon and hope for better results. If only they had a quicker flow for traffic in the area!
09/25/2010 11:30:04 AM · #17
Here's wishing you better weather this evening.
If you plan to be on the field where they are inflating and launching, I agree about what Ja-9 said about how fast it will be moving along. You need to have your camera loaded with plenty of battery and card, and don't spend a lot of time setting up one shot, or you will miss 40 shooting opportunities.

I was very fortunate in N M in 06 to be there on a couple of days when they launched about 700 balloons each day in waves of about 30 per group, so there was enough going on on the field to have plenty of opportunities to shoot the balloons setting up and lifting off.
The event that I went to with yakatme and yakatyou in North MIami only had about 15 or 20 total balloons, and I didn't get nearly as many good photos because there was not enough time to move around and cover more than a couple of the launches. The weather was marginal there, though they did launch almost all of the balloons.
ETA NOAA US Forecasts interactive map Here's the weather in 3 hour increments. Click on the map to zoom in. There is a wind speed and direction overlay. It looks like Sunday is going to have less wind than today. Tonight is not looking much better than it was this morning. At least there is no rain forecast for either day, and temperatures are great for the balloonists and for the audience.

Message edited by author 2010-09-25 11:54:27.
09/25/2010 02:14:14 PM · #18
Thanks for the link. We decided to wait and try again for tomorrow morning instead of the evening launch tonight. I can't imagine being at the NM launch with 700 balloons. When I've been to this event before even 90 seemed overwhelming at times.
09/25/2010 02:20:26 PM · #19
What time did you go Melanie? Where was the traffic? Google tells me to get off at Exit 17 and head up from there.

I was planning to go today, but found a friend who wanted to go, and tomorrow was better, so we are going tomorrow morning! (Now I'm glad we didn't go this morning.)

I did go Thursday for the opener. The weather was great, and I got some nice pics, but not the landscapes with balloons I was hoping for. Still it was great fun. (The traffic was bad there too...I ended up turning around, parking in P.C., and walking about 1/2 mile to the park; and I beat most of the cars.
09/25/2010 06:54:12 PM · #20
We left from right near the airport at around 4:45. We got off at exit 17N, and then found our way through Glens Falls, but it took us up the eastern side of the airport where there is only paid parking for $5. (I think we're going to just do that tomorrow). We ended up driving up around the northern side, and that was when we started hitting the traffic to go into the airfield parking. We probably sat in that for 30 minutes, but parked the car at almost exactly 6:30am. I think if you get off at exit 17S, that is the 'standard' way the directions are given, and the traffic was backed up almost to the highway the last time I went for an evening launch.

My fingers are crossed for good weather tomorrow morning! :)
09/25/2010 07:56:43 PM · #21
Melanie--sent you a pm...maybe we can meet up sometime in the morning.

Did you look for (and find) any better perspectives to shoot from there than "below", or do you think the airport is sufficiently big and has nice enough bg's for landscapes?

I have my alarm set for 3:15 am...ugh...that's about an hour after I usually go to bed!
09/25/2010 08:53:32 PM · #22
I'm really jealous of your guys' adventure! Have a blast!
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