One thing you’re unlikely to ever do in the South Bay Bubble is fly over the area on a hot air balloon.

For that, you’ll need to leave here, and visit Palm Springs, the Napa Valley or Temecula locally. Recently I spent two days in Temecula, a small town of 100,000 people about halfway between California’s two largest cities, Los Angeles and San Diego.

I was there shooting an episode of my PhotowalksTV series, where I focused on three key things: the Old Town Temecula, which looks like you’re stepping into the Wild West of yore, the miles and miles of rolling farmland for over 50 wineries, and joining A Grape Adventure on an early morning balloon flight over the fields. 

I’m a photographer first, so I wasn’t going to pass up the golden photo opp from the skies. 

But before I tell you more about it, let’s get the elephant out of the way: wasn’t I scared? 

Many people I ran into during my Temecula visit were, and said they wouldn’t leave the ground for such a thing. I have fear of heights. I get dizzy up there. But my camera eye wouldn’t stop me. 

Here’s the thing: on a balloon you step into a basket that goes up. It’s not like parasailing, where a boat drags you into the air, and you dangle up there. That’s scary. Having my feet firmly planted in a basket is a whole other story. I loved it. Especially considering the shots I was able to get. 

The question was how to photograph from up there?

In the above BTS video, I look to answer all your questions. I’ll give them to you in print here, but trust me, my voiceover against the images of the balloon flying along are way more powerful. But here goes:

My go-to camera of choice was the Insta360 X4, the latest edition of the wild and crazy camera that looks at life differently from most—in full 3-D 360. The camera sells for $500, and recently got a big upgrade from the stated 4K recording of the previous model, to 8K mon the X4. Truth is that every shot you take will be heavily cropped, because the beauty of the Insta360 system is that when you film in 360, you choose which side of the image to work with–left or right. Each one gets 4K, so you’ll never really have an 8K image.) So with cropping, expect more like 1080p. But that’s twice the quality of the previous model, so welcome. (I reviewed the X4 here:)

The money shot in the episode was waving to the camera in the sky, with the entire balloon visible, not just a portion of it. That’s a shot you wouldn’t be able to get with rival GoPro, or your mobile phone. I would daresay that outside of paying someone to fly a drone as you launch, only the Insta360 could pull this off. I show in the video how I got it.

One key thing I did for this shoot was to arrive the day before, at 5:30 a.m., to scout, watch the crew set up, get shots of the balloon taking off, do a stand-up (intro) from the field with the balloon rising behind me and get some drone shots, which are some of my favorite from the episode. Even if you don’t plan on doing a balloon shoot, it’s always good to show up the day before and plan things out.

I was able to get additional timelapse setup shots on the day of my flight, but I was still happy to get two shots at it. On the first day, I wasn’t sure where to stand to be able to get the complete upright balloon once it was set up. One of the crew members at A Grape Adventure told me to keep stepping back further and further away. That way she would indeed fit in the frame. 

The key shot all of you will want if you visit is of the balloon going up into the air with you looking down and waving. There are two ways to do this: One, if someone from your party doesn’t join you, he or she can get it for you. Otherwise, have an extra phone or camera with you, and put it in the hands of the crew. The folks from A Grape Adventure happily picked up the shot for me and I’m sure would do the same for you. 

Speaking of Temecula!

I’ll be hosting a live Photowalk in Temecula’s Old Town on Sunday 8/4 at 9 a.m, so I hope if you’re in the area, you’ll come join me. Also, if you can’t make it, I’ve written out a photo itinerary for your next visit, which is available in the new Photowalks Itinerary section of this website. We have over 75 posted so far, and more coming every week.

If you go:

Temecula is 90 miles from the South Bay, and will take you an hour and a half to two hours to drive there, depending on traffic. 

The town has many chain motels for your lodging, while the wine country offers fancy wineries and bed and breakfasts in luxury surroundings that will make you think you’re in Tuscany. I stayed at the Vine House, which is in the heart of wine country and charges around $200+ nightly mid-week. Even fancier digs could be found at the Domaine Chardonnay, which has rooms starting at $500 nightly.