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Independence Day is being celebrated this month in the US, where most of our members are. This image by John Forbes represents the tale of Betsy Ross.

• Video on BHQ
• Featured Member Portfolio

Video on BHQ

As the BalloonHQ.com photo gallery approaches 50,000 photos, we knew it was time to add something new, something big. We've talked in the past about adding video and even tried a few experiments. Recently, the solution became obvious. It seemed that the number of BHQ members uploading videos to YouTube was increasing. Rather than duplicating the data already being served well by another site, we chose to integrate YouTube balloon videos into Balloon HQ.

The same page BHQ members already use for uploading photos can now be used for sharing videos. Once your videos are online at YouTube, you can simply visit the photo upload page and add your latest clip using the URL YouTube gives you for sharing your video with others.

See what videos already appear on BHQ
Also available on the new balloonhq.net
Members can start submitting videos right away.

Using YouTube to host videos does mean that those submitting future Hollywood classics will need to have YouTube accounts. (Just sign up at YouTube.com. If you're only viewing movied, no youtube account is required.) We feel the added step is worth it for the following reasons:

• Those of you that already have stuff online don't have to upload it again. Just visit the BHQ photo/video submission page and enter the YouTube URL for your video.
• You'll get the best advantages of BHQ and YouTube at once. YouTube is available to the world and will allow people not specifically looking for balloons to learn about what we do and find their way to BHQ. At the same time, we add features on top of the YouTube stuff by allowing videos to appear in your portfolios, videos will be searchable along with photos to help you locate what you're looking for quickly, and our photo categories will apply to videos also.

We added one more photo category to our list. Some of the YouTube balloon videos you've uploaded are instructional, so we've added an "instructional" category so we may eventually have a teaching section on BHQ to go along with the step by step instructions for sculptures that we started buildign years ago.

Do keep in mind that this is new and things may change as we see how it's used and how well it works. More categories may be added later, search capabilities will be turned on as soon as there are enough videos that a search is needed, and other fun things will surely develop over time. Give us feedback.

Home on the range

Featured artist portfolio: Paul Holbert, Mr Balloon Entertainment

With the new videos online, we thought it would be a good idea this month to highlight the portfolio of someone that's started taking advantage of the video capability. Paul recently uploaded some interesting (and rather odd) videos showing that his creativity goes beyond just twisting a few balloons.

See Visit the portfolio of Mr Balloon Entertainment.

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