It is that time of year. Once again, the Great Texas Balloon Race comes to the local area! I’ve missed it the last two years but not this year!

I woke up early this morning and headed to Longview to get some shots of the special shape Yoda balloon. Being a long time Star Wars fan (let’s not talk about the latest ones), I looked forward to getting some pictures of the venerable old Jedi Master.

I arrived just in time and the balloon crew arrived soon afterwards. They first stretched the balloon out across the field and all you could see was green material. It didn’t take long using a regular fan to start pumping air into the material and then came the fire!

As the hot air from the fire was pumped into the balloon the material began to lift up and no longer needed to be held up by hands.

Soon, the hot air in the balloon began pulling upward enough that the basket was set upright, almost as if by some hidden “force” was at work.  🙂

Soon, Master Yoda was awake and looking over the crowd of those who came to pay homage.

While I was there, one lucky young man got a quick ride off the ground. I’m not sure if he was happy or scared.

As I left, Yoda looked down and gave me an approving smile. At least I think it was a smile.

Then, just as I thought I was done, I looked up to see that there were many more of the “regular” balloons that were flying over Longview, so I had to make a couple of stops to catch them.

And I wasn’t the only one taking photos of the colorful balloons in the sky.

Tomorrow I’ll be getting up extra early as the balloonists will be competing for their accuracy challenge. Stay tuned for more photos!

All words and photos copyright 2018 MHampton Photography 
Equipment used: Canon 1DX Mark II, Canon 24-70L 2.8