Chagrin Falls Balloon Fest

Are you looking for somethng colorful to shoot over the Memorial Day weekend? Then check out the Chargin Falls Balloon Fest!


The Balloon Fest takes place from Thursday May 21st to Monday May 25th, here's the details

Thursday May 21st Balloon Glow 8:30pm

Friday May 22nd
6:30 pm Mass Balloon ascension from CFHS This is when I'm going


Saturday May 23rd
6:30 am Balloons fly in to CFHS
6:30 pm Balloons launch from CFHS

Sunday May 24th
6:30 am Balloons fly in to CFHS
6:30 pm Balloons launch from CFHS

Monday May 25th
6:30 am Balloons fly in to CFHS

On Thursday evening they have the Balloon Glow where all the balloons are lit up to the sounds of music





On Friday through Monday the Balloons take off at 6:30am and fly into Chagrin Falls High School and at 6:30pm the balloons launch from the baseball field behind the school.

Here's what I plan on doing, I've been to the Balloon Glow before and it's pretty cool but I might not attend the glow this year, I like watching the Balloons take off in the evening so I'm going to go on Friday night and if the weather doesn't cooperate I'll use Saturday as my backup date. I plan on getting there around 5:30 to get a good parking spot.

Balloon Photo Tips:

1. See which way the wind is blowing then position yourself so the balloons will fly toward you.

2. Look for colors, shapes and patterns









3. Use people as scale to show how large the Balloons are





4. Show the crew at work





5. And of course show them in the air!!!





A friend of mine who works on one of the crews tells me there are going to be three specially shaped balloons flying this year, A Duck (seen in the Glow photo), the Energizer Bunny, and a truck shaped balloon, so you don't want to miss it.

The balloons launch from the Chagrin Falls High School field behind the school. See map below for directions from your location.

GPS Coordinates
Latitude: 41.4283302
Longitude: -081.3775026

Click the blue balloon for directions from your location to the High School entrance. The P is where you should park. The red balloon shows the field where the balloons will be taking off.


View Chagrin Falls Balloon Festival in a larger map

Since the Balloon Fest takes place over five days this is a Go On Your Own Shoot or if you'd like to hang out with me, I'm going on Friday evening with a backup day of Saturday evening. If you'd like to Tag a Long with me Email Me or post a comment below.

To see more photos go here: Balloon Fest Photos

Hope to see you there!!!

Oh and since the Balloons only fly in good weather and calm winds you might want to check the weather maps on the right side of this blog.

For more info on the Balloon Fest go here: Chagrin Falls Balloon Fest

Lake View Cemetery & Daffodil Hill

Ok Spring is finally here and it's time to get out and start shooting. A great place for April photography is Lake View Cemetery. Lots of great buildings to photograph like the Garfield Monument and Wade Chapel. Then there's the famous Daffodil Hill that is lined with hundreds of daffodils. You'll be able to use all of your lenses here from macro to telephoto.


If the weather is good I'm planning on going to Lake View Cemetery on April 26th, if you'd like to join me here's the details

WHAT: Lake View Cemetery Shoot
WHEN: Sunday April 26th
TIME: 8:00am
Where: Meet at the Daffodil Hill

If you'd like to join me Email Me or just leave me a message below. Everyone is welcome!!! Hope to see you there!

Lake View Euclid Ave entrance GPS Coordinates

Latitude 41.5139448
Longitude -81.598742

Click on the Blue Balloon to get directions to Lake View from your location:

View Larger Map
Click on the camera icons to see where the Garfield Monument, Wade Chapel and Daffodill Hill are located

Cleveland St. Patrick's Day Parade

I have to work, but a good photo op for those of you who have the day off is

Cleveland's Saint Patrick's Day Parade on Tueday, March 17th at 1:04PM

The weather is supposed to be great.

Remember no drinking and photographing!!!

More info here: Cleveland's Saint Patrick's Day Parade

Sled Dog Photos

Hey even if we didn't get a chance to photograph the Sled Dogs, the photographers at The Big Picture did....

Sled Dog Photos

Sled Dog Classic has been CANCELLED

The Sled Dog Classic Shoot scheduled for Saturday March 7th has been cancelled.

The weather this weekend is calling for temperatures in the 50's and rain showers so unfortunately the Sled Dog Classic will not take place. We'll have to try again next year!

Doesn't look good for the Sled Dog Classic

Well it doesn't look to good for the Sled Dog Classic next Saturday, while the Siberian Husky Club hasn't officially canceled the event yet, I don't think it's gonna happen based on the 10 day forecast for the Cleveland area. There's no snow on the ground and there's not much snow in the forecast in the coming week, in fact near the end of the week they are predicting rain and temps in the 40's. Cleveland 10 day Forecast

Stay tuned for further details....

Sled Dog Classic Postponed until March 7th

Hi Everyone, the Sled Dog Classic Photo Shoot at Punderson State Park is now scheduled for March 7th, 2009. I'm planning on going on the new date if you'd like to attend on March 7th please Email Me

I just found out that the races will now start at 10:00am so we will meet at Punderson at 9:30am

March 7th & 8th Punderson
(NE) Sled Dog Classic
Fun & Fitness Watch sled dog racers mush their teams through challenging race courses
• Spectators are admitted free •
For information call 440-564-2279



Hi Everyone a cool place to shoot this winter is the Sled Dog Classic at Punderson State Park on 2/21/2009. The event is free for spectators. This should be a fun Photo Shoot, I've never photographed Sled Dog Races before and I'm really looking forward to it.

They have all different classes of races and even have a Kid n Mutt Fun Run

More information can be found here: Sled Dog Classic Race Info

Time : 9:30am Races are from 10am to 3PM
Place: Punderson State Park
Park Map: Punderson State Park Map
Directions: Click on the camera icon to get directions from your location. To view a larger map Click on "View Larger Map" below.

GPS Coordinates
latitude: 41.46118938889867
longitude: -81.21947765350342


View Larger Map


Sled Dog Photo Tips

This is my first time photographing Sled Dog races and I always like to be prepared when I photograph a new event. One way to do this is to study other photographers work, by doing this you can see what works and what doesn't work. A good place to find photos of the event you are going to photograph is on the photo sharing sites. Since I have my photos on Smugmug, I figured that would be a good place to start, so I searched Smugmug for "Sled Dogs" and lots of galleries popped up with photos of Sled Dog races. Some photos were good, some more like snapshots and some were outstanding. Go here to see the Sled Dog Galleries

So what did I learn?

1. The best shots are taken with the Sled Dogs running toward you. Shots from the side are not as dramatic

2. Get down low at the dogs eye level.

3. Try and take some human interest shots of the dogs and their owners

4. Sled Dogs are cool, try and get some good portrait shots of them.

5. Try to capture the peak action.

6. Try to show how strong these animals are as they pull the sleds.

Well those are some of my tips, if anyone else has any tips to share, just click on "comments" below and leave your tips, comments and suggestions.

If you are going on the Sled Dog Classic Shoot or any cold weather shoot you want to keep your hands warm but still be able to use the controls on your camera so what do you do? You might want to try a pair of Glommitts, Glommitts are a combination of a glove and a mitten.

Glommitts will keep your hands warm when you're not using your camera and the top mitten part folds back to expose your fingers when you are taking a shot.

There are a lot of different makes and models. Just Goggle glommitts to find out where you can purchase them.

Glommitts can be found at most sporting good stores. I get a lot of my stuff at Cabela's online. Click on the Cabela's link and enter glommitts in the search field. Mine are a couple of years old so they may not carry the brand above anymore, but they probably have new and improved models.