A Lot Of Hot Air

It never fails, you get a bunch of gasbags together and before you know it, you're having to deal with a whole lot of hot air. Next thing you know, they're higher than a kite too!

Each October, the world's largest gathering of gasbags takes place in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For nine days, hundreds of hot air balloons fill the skies for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.

In 2023, my partner and I embarked upon a two week road trip, culminating with a morning mass ascension at the Balloon Fiesta. The shindig started before sunrise, think we were in the parking lot by 0500, with some of the balloons beating the sun into the sky.

As the sun peaked over the mountains and gradually shed a light on things, you got a better sense of the scale of the spectacle. For the mass ascensions, all the balloons take off in two waves, with hundreds taking off at a time.

One of the things that makes the Fiesta kind of unique is that you are there walking amongst the balloons as they fire up and float away.

It was such an amazing thing to see from up close.

Was kind of wild how much the light and temperature changed in the few hours we were there. Started out shooting in the cold dark, but the temperatures rose as quickly as the sun, had to strip our layers off before we drifted off for the day.

Tens of thousands of folks come out for the Fiesta, but even at the ungodly hour of zero dark thirty everything flowed smoothly and calmly. Judging by the sporting events in Louisville, didn't think it was even possible to gather that many people together without utter chaos.

That's probably enough hot air about a lot of hot air, but if you get a chance to check out the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, don't miss it!

There's just something special about 600+ gasbags gathered in one place.