Going Ballooning

One thing that I've been wanting to do for a while is photograph my friend, Tracy Sines, and his parents, Jan and Gary, doing hot air ballooning. This Saturday (September 25), I got the opportunity to see them in action. And boy, was it fun!

Tracy's parents own Balloon Stormers, a company which flies in races, trains pilots, and offers rides throughout the state of Missouri. They've competed in the US, as well as Costa Rica, Mexico, and China. They also own the World's Biggest Gumball Machine and Coco the Clown balloon. Neither balloon flew on Saturday.

We (Tracy, Steven and Melissa Silvey, and I) drove to New Haven, Mo., to attend its annual balloon race. The race was actually canceled because of weather, but some people flew away, including Tracy's mom, Jan. His dad, Gary, decided to inflate their balloon, the World's Biggest Gumball Machine. Here's some of my favorites from this event.


This one was taken through the vent at the other end of the balloon. I love that I caught them peering into the balloon to watch it inflate.


This one amuses me - this big guy (he's 6'10") 'fighting' against this balloon. Tracy told me that he's been doing this job since he was around 12. Back when he was smaller, the balloon used to drag him. Now, not so much.


This one cracks me up. It really looks like Gary is blowing up the balloon like bubble gum, instead of with the fan.


I love how the flame is reflected in Tracy's glasses.


Another one that makes me chuckle - this was toward the end of the day. Tracy was working at deflating the balloon.


Steven (left) and Tracy (middle) unload the balloon as Gary (right) sets up the basket. I love how I've caught them in the moment.


Tracy's mom, Jan, piloted the balloon that they actually did fly on Saturday. Since the race (where they chase the 'hare') was canceled because of weather, it was more of a pleasure flight. The guy she took up had a camera and was taking lots of pictures. The woman in orange waving, Scotty Cobb, was part of her crew. She and her husband, Don, were in the chase car.


Gary Sines ponders for a few moments before deciding to inflate the Bubblegum Machine balloon. Even though he's looking my direction, he wasn't actually looking at me.


Steven and Tracy strap the balloon to the basket. You have to make sure that the lines aren't twisted.


After the balloon has been stretched out, they use a fan to blow air into it. This is the air billowing in. They ended up having to borrow a fan, since the one with Gary (Jan's chase car took the other one and I believe the gas can) ran out of gas. At one point, he almost backed over it with the trailer, but luckily, he heard us yelling to stop.


The wind blows as Melissa holds the mouth of the balloon open.


Tracy works at retying some of the lines after he realized that they were twisted.


As the balloon inflates, Tracy fixes the vent at the top of the balloon. The metallic blurry thing on the left is the burner and the brown blurry thing is part of the basket.


After the balloon is filled, they heat the air inside. Steven helps hold the mouth of the balloon open while Gary uses the burner to heat the air. It never occurred to me that riding in a balloon would be hot, but when that burner blows, it is hot. I guess that's why ballooners wear hats.


Gary, out of focus in the foreground, and Tracy in the background. I think, at this point, I was in the balloon. They'd tethered it and each of us got to go up and down in it.


Taken while Melissa and I were up in the balloon. Melissa is smiling down at her husband, Steven.


After they'd deflated and quickly rolled up (because rain was starting to splatter) the balloon, they were sticking it back into the trailer. Tracy is in the process of kicking it a little farther into the trailer so that they can shut the door.