Officially this event is titled "The Wake Up To Missouri U.S. National Hot Air Balloon Championships", but that's too long to type! I'll just call it my "1995 Balloon Pictures" instead.
On August 18th through the 27th 1995, for the first time ever, the US National Championships were held in Columbia, Missouri. I attended and took a few photographs (a no-brainer... I live in Columbia, so how could I pass up such a thing).
When we arrived, 20 minutes earlier than the advertised take-off, there were
already balloons in the air. Snapped this quick shot while most were still
inflating.
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The event was held at the Boone County fairgrounds, a fairly large area, and
it took awhile to walk down to where the balloons where launching from.
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The actual launch area wasn't all that big and as soon as a balloon would
launch, another crew was pulling in behind them to start setting up.
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While I could get pretty close to the balloons, with 20,000 expected visitors
per day, they couldn't let us get right in among them. All the people you see
standing around in this picture are members of the crews.
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As I walked back from close to the launch site, I snapped these four pictures. They are spaced about 1 minute apart and show how the balloons progress across the sky. The wind was blowing from the north and directly away from me. The balloons' path took it right over US Highway 63 north of Columbia. Stopped traffic dead on this busy highway for a good long time. There are a number of balloon owners in our area and I've seen a number of balloons over the years... but to see this many at once leaves you with a feeling of awe.
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I never had thought much about what a hot air balloon would look like after dark... but they are neat then as well! Next year I'm bringing a tripod for the 1/4 second exposures seen here. Out of a number that I took, only these two didn't suffer from camera movement. In my youth, I could handhold a 1/4 second exposure... but not any more.
Hope you enjoyed these as much as I enjoyed taking them. The event will be in Columbia for the next two years and next year I plan to take pictures with the web in mind (as opposed to this year's after-thought).
If you would like to see more about this event... here is a link to the unofficial homepage.
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Last modified on 03/25/2001
