Behind-the-Scenes with the 2020 Panguitch Balloonfest

  1. Behind-the-Scenes with “Teton Mountains and Sunflowers”
  2. Behind-the-Scenes with the 2018 Panguitch Balloonfest
  3. Behind-the-Scenes with “Presiding”
  4. Behind-the-Scenes with “Moulton Barn and Tetons”
  5. Behind-the-Scenes with “Asgardian Treasure”
  6. Behind-the-Scenes with “Natural Bridge”
  7. Behind-the-Scenes with the 2019 Panguitch Balloonfest
  8. Behind-the-Scenes with “Grand Canyon”
  9. Behind-the-Scenes with “Are You Worthy?” and “Forge”
  10. Behind-the-Scenes with the 2020 Panguitch Balloonfest
  11. Behind-the-Scenes with Fall Waterfall Scheduled for April 28, 2025
  12. Behind-the-Scenes with “Idaho Falls Waterfall in Autumn” Scheduled for May 26, 2025

It’s time for another BTS take on 1 of my photo shoots. Since the next in line is another balloonfest, we’re taking another behind-the-scenes look at that event in general. Now, let’s go BTS with the 2020 Panguitch Balloonfest.

Audrey Cramer Photography's fine art photograph of one tri-color rainbow hot air balloon taking flight in Panguitch Utah with a blue partly cloudy sky
This is the balloon I flew in.

This balloonfest is different from previous balloon and subsequent hot air balloon festivals because this festival afforded me a unique opportunity. Thanks to a weird twist of fate, 1 of the balloon sponsors could not use his gift of a free flight. So, he passed it along. It ended up coming to me. I was fortunate enough to ride in a hot air balloon during the second day of the event.

I met with the balloon crew the day before to introduce myself and learn what I needed to do to prepare for the flight. Of course, I made a point of photographing the balloon in flight. There was simply no other option. A photo of that balloon needed to enter my portfolio. Period.

While I was out in the field photographing the balloons every morning of the 2020 Balloonfest, my bts videos centered upon the day I was scheduled to take the flight. There is an exception which I will cover later. I took several videos before and during the flight. Here they are in a cluster for you. Perhaps you can feel my anticipation and excitement merely from the number of videos I shot that morning.

I recommend leaving this video muted. The noise of the fans is all you hear.
There’s really no narration to listen to on this video. Leave it muted unless you want to listen to some barely audible random chatter.

The flight was excellent. I learned that you do not feel wind up there. You are going at the speed of wind so you will not feel it pushing against your skin. Most people don’t seem to think about that until it’s pointed out to them. I know I didn’t until I observed it for myself. Now, here are some of the balloon photos I took while on this hot air balloon flight.

Audrey Cramer Photography's fine art aerial photograph of three hot air balloons flying over a field in Panguitch Utah with a blue partly cloudy sky
Audrey Cramer Photography's fine art aerial photograph of a hot air balloon cluster floating over a field in Panguitch Utah
Audrey Cramer Photography's fine art aerial photograph of three hot air balloons flying over a field and reflecting in a pond in Panguitch Utah with a blue partly cloudy sky

This was not the end of the surprises which came with this event. During the evening, the balloon teams set up on Main Street for the glow or candle-lighting. Ultimately, it’s up to each balloon team whether or not they inflate their balloons for the glow or not. If they don’t, they at least light their propane jets and shoot off dramatic bursts of flames in the night.

I’d been hearing hopes of seeing the glow for the past couple of years. People were expressing that it had been several years since any team chose to inflate their balloon and do the glow instead of the candle-lighting. Well, this was the year. 3 of the balloon teams decided to inflate and I finally experienced the glow which I’d heard about from multiple sources. So, I captured some bts video of the 2020 Balloonfest glow.

This part of the event gave me these hot air balloon photos. Who would have thought that I could be this lucky that year?

Audrey Cramer Photography's fine art photograph of a hot air balloon glow and a candle-lighting at night in Panguitch Utah
Audrey Cramer Photography's fine art photograph of a hot air balloon glow at night in the streets of Panguitch Utah
Audrey Cramer Photography's fine art photograph of a hot air balloon glow featuring 2 balloons at night in the streets of Panguitch Utah

If you’d like to see more of my hot air balloon photos from that day in the field, then check out this article. It will show you all the images I took that day in addition to more details about the shoot itself.

So, now I turn things over to you. What do you think of my 2020 Panguitch Balloonfest photos now that you can see the bts videos? Do they add something to the pictures for you? What do you think of the flight video? How about the glow video and photos? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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