The Disneyland Traveler Takes A Step Up With Picture Taking

After a long hard debate with myself, and with the approval from the ultimate authority - namely Mrs. DisneylandTraveler, I finally took the plunge and purchased my first DSLR camera. Most of the pictures on this website have come from a variety of point and shoots from Kodak, Nikon, Fuji and a couple of Sony's. Often times I get home and am a little disappointed with my photographic output. Sure, there are some pretty good shots but I always thought I could get better ones if I just had that one really good camera. That's what I tell myself anyway.

Well, enter the Canon EOS Rebel T3i (600D elsewhere in the world) Digital SLR Camera. Could this be the ticket to getting those great Disneyland shots? Well, time will tell. All I know is that I've got a lot of reading to do and practicing to work on in order to get up to speed with the camera's capabilities. With a little luck and some fair winds behind us, we could have another Disneyland adventure in late March. Then we'll finally see - is it the camera or is it the photographer?

One Stunning Photograph

Official Disney Photography by Gene Duncan - Disney's Animal Kingdom Park

Gene Duncan, official photographer of Walt Disney World, is retiring after nearly 40 years of service. He gave his farewell in a post on Disney Parks Blog (link). He also left a single photograph, a stunning photograph as a parting gift.

 

When you think of a photograph of a Disney Park you think about the rides, attractions, and carefree fun you share with family and friends. Gene left posting a very different kind of photograph taken at a Disney Park, a photograph of an African silverback gorilla taken at Disney's Animal Kingdom Park. This is a very different Disney Park photograph - dark, deep, mysterious, and contemplative. I've never seen anything like it. It is magnificent. Thanks Gene.

The Main St. Time Machine

I played around with one of my photo editing software applications a week or so ago. You know... these pictures are recent.... but they also could have been from the mid 50's if you don't look too close at what people are wearing. The absolute wonder of Disneyland U.S.A's Main Street is it's timelessness. The new Starbucks location in the Market House on Main St. is about to put timelessness to the test as the intimacy of Main St. collides with a modern dining facility that has huge interior space and is basically "skinned".

Around Disneyland - September 12, 13 - Pictures - Part 2

Aladdin 

Continuing on with my friend and his wife with the photos he passed on to me from his Disneyland trip a week ago.

Aladdin - Wonderful Show Still Going Strong:  Aladdin has been showing to packed houses in DCA's Hyperion Theater for about 11 years or so. There was a bit of down period when the show's best sequence - the Whole New World, flying carpet ride segment - had to be tamely altered following an accident with the carpet. But the flying carpet is back and the show is restored to its total glory. These really are some good pictures.

I know - Jafar is the bad guy - but he really is a good bad guy

We could all use a magic lamp, a genie, and 3 wishes

The Genie - Still the best part of the show and the movie

Cars Land at Night:  As regular readers know, I spent so much time in Cars Land during my week at the Disneyland Resort last spring that by the time I left, I was sick of the place - crowded and over hyped, lacking in any substance other than one really great, great ride. But even I have to admit, the place makes for beautiful pictures at night glowing in neon and accented by the gloriously lit mountains.

Sun going down - lights coming on at Cars Land

Adventureland State of Mind

The broadband connection to the internet was down for awhile this morning. The wireless router needed to be reset and in order to do that it would require me to sneak back into the bedroom where Mrs. DisneyalndTraveler was sound asleep. Sneaking back into the bedroom would have caused the dog to go bat crap crazy waking Mrs DLT to begin her Saturday in a not very good mood. I waited for the boy to get up then I held the dog while he sneaked into the room and reset the modem. Mrs. DLT did not wake up. Whew!!! one less thing to not get in trouble for today.

So  I worked on the above picture with software on the computer while the internet was down. I hadn't done that for a very long time. I mus say, I'm rather please with myself. 

Disneyland and the Camera Conundrum

My cell phone contract was up so I decided to pick up a new phone a week or so ago. My old HTC smartphone worked fine but these cell phone manufacturers make you feel like if you don't have the latest and greatest then you are just out of step with the modern world. So I did some research and came up with the Samsung Galaxy S III as my target. After a couple of days to adjust from my old phone I have come to the conclusion that the Samsung is an outstanding product in countless ways and much better than my old HTC (which was fine).

While researching the phone I read reviews that people were so enamored of the S III's picture quality that they have flat out given up on their regular digital cameras as strictly use the phone as their primary picture taking device. The S III is also capable of shooting full 1080p HD video. So the question becomes that on my next trip to Disneyland, can I walk in the place with only my cell phone and no other photo or video equipment and still get the desired result of countless great shots to share and post? That answer remains to be seen as I haven't had a chance to check out the photo quality of the camera myself just yet.

I'm always tinkering with the perplexing problem of picture taking at Disneyland. On my last visit which was in the spring of the year and the weather decent I used a high quality Sony point and shoot that was very small in size - perfect pocket size in fact. I also picked up a Kodak quickie HD video camera that also was pocket size (though a bit larger than the Sony camera). So I mainly wore cargo shorts with the Sony in one pocket, the Kodak in the other pocket, my wallet safely in the back pocket where is it should be and a couple free pockets for other odds and ends. And with all the photo stuff firmly pocketed, it left my hands free. I thought it was the perfect system. Nothing is perfect.

The free hands is kind of important. Nothing like getting on a ride that requires you to strap yourself in while fiddling with camera bags. I always feel like I'm holding the ride up while I get situated with seat belts and the camera in - camera out situation. Of course, there is always the possibility of doing what I once did long ago and leave a camera (the ancient film type) on the Skyway ride.

These days its tough to know what's more important to me - the freedom to just get on a ride and go or getting really good camera shots which requires fiddling around with equipment and bags. The enjoyment of a Disnyeland ride is fleeting. The pictures of a ride hold up for years as evidence by this blog where I still post photos that I took with my first digital camera in 2002. And if pictures are that important why not go all out and just use one of the high quality digital SLR cameras from Canon or Nikon. Yeah they are really big but just think of the picture quality that will hold up for years.

Or just take pictures and videos with my new cell phone.

The Haunted Mansion and a Picture of 3 Hitch-Hiking Ghosts

Annie Leibovitz's photograph of 3 ghostly residents of the Haunted Mansion

Annie Leibovitz's photographs have been gracing magazine covers & spreads along with museum walls for close to 50 years now. She is the pop generations most iconic photographer with some of her most memorable work being celebrity layouts in Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair magazines.

In recent years, Annie has worked with Disney in capturing classic memorable scenes with a pretty impressive list of models. Like this one - the 3 hitch-hiking ghosts of the Haunted Mansion featuring the popular actors Jack Black, Will Farrell, and Jason Segel.

Annie Leibovitz at work with Jack Black, Will Farrell, and Jason Segel
A Disney Parks Blog Photo

Disney Parks Blog posted two articles related to the photo-shoot this past week.  You can view the posts linked here and here.  For me, it's just fun to watch an extraordinary artist at work with something that must be incredibly fun.

Photographer Annie Leibovitz sets a shot - A Disney Park Blog Photo

Disney also produced this little video during the photo-shoot:

Confessions Of A Wannabe Disneyland Photographer

That's a really nice picture of Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle. It's from my extensive collection of Disneyland photographs that have been taken over the years. I didn't take that picture. Mrs. DisneylandTraveler did. She takes nice pictures. I carry the camera.

Of course I take pictures too but I stink at it. I don't completely suck when it comes to taking pictures, just mostly suck. Of all the pictures I have taken over the years (well, since the advent of digital photography) I probably like less than 5% of my total picture taking output. But I try. And try. I really, really want to take good pictures but my efforts often fall short. I admire people who can take a good picture. Mrs. DLT can take a good picture most of the time. Me? Well... I'm handicapped. Literally to a certain extent.

I had a great Mom. She passed many great things on to me I would like to think. And she passed  one not so great thing on to me as well. My mom had a tremor in her hands. It's called benign familial tremor. Her hands trembled. She passed that gene on to me so my hands tremble. Oh, it's not bad. I'm fully functional with my hands but they do shake a bit including when I hold a camera. You also may not want to get too close to me in a buffet food line. So there ultimately is the struggle with my picture taking at Disneyland. Pictures are not always razor sharp. In fact, rarely are. I probably have to take twice as many pictures as the next guy simply because so many will be deleted because of poor quality. Darn it. Oh, by the way, my mom was a waitress, shaking hands and all.

I try and blame the camera for a lot of this. Maybe if I have that perfect camera, then I can take magical pictures. In the years we have been married, I think Mrs. DLT and I have gone through 4 or 5 digital cameras. Sometimes they eventually break. Sometimes there are "accidents" as Mrs. DLT learned that it is not such a good idea to have a camera tethered around your neck when you walk into a swimming pool. But sometimes, I'm just looking for that camera that will say to me "just leave it to me Mr. picture taker, let me do the work, your hands are not a problem".

I really think I would enjoy photography as a hobby. Goodness know I need something to get me out of the house. Why not go take some pictures? The local Fry's Electronics is selling a Canon T3 DSLR camera this week for $379 (it was almost $800 when it first came out). The good people at Fry's send me an email every week suggesting things I might like to buy. This week they put the camera on sale that I could drool over. The Canon T3 is an outstanding piece of photographic equipment by almost all accounts. Could this be the camera that allows me to take that perfect Disneyland picture or pushes me out my chair on a Sunday morning to go take some pictures of, well, anything? I don't know. It's nice to dream about it.

Stupid hands....  Oh, by the way, whatever I wrote a photographs above, it also applies to videos. Probably more so.

Here are a couple of videos of Ol' Mr. Shakey in action. The first one is kind of short. Nice shot if the camera was still...

The next one is a longer video from a few years ago. I didn't take all of the snippets but the ones I did aren't hard to find.

Favorite Disneyland Photos #1 - Quiet Matterhorn

As I move on through this blog, I constantly have to revisit my Disneyland digital photographs looking for what hopefully is the right picture to go along with whatever I am writing about in the blog. Sometimes I have the right picture. Sometimes I have to settle for the best that I have on hand with a reminder to myself that I need to get a better shot of xxxxxx on my next trip. I suppose the constant looking through the photographs would be easier if I had them better organized but I really don't. I just have them organized by year.

For the readers of this blog, these pictures that I select as my favorites may not seem like anything special but there is just something appealing about them to me, something that catches my eye in an interesting way.

The picture above (and the one below) are from 2004 taken with my first 3mp Fuji digital camera. These are pictures of Matterhorn Bobsled cars (now retired) first thing in the morning before the ride has started to take on guests. The picture above I like because its like peeking around a piece of foliage to steel a glance at something very special at an interesting angle. The picture below is a step or two away with the bobsled cars quietly lined up waiting for the busy day ahead of taking delighted Disneyland guests up and down the iconic mountain. The stories those sleds must have.