New Camera? Sounds like a perfect excuse for another Disney trip! (Sept 2011)

[Cafeen]

I got your PM and will text you that day around 11 a.m. and we can hopefully hook up.

Your plans sound great; and I can't wait to see LOTS more pics of my "home" away from home.

Sounds like a plan.

I can't wait to take lots of pics of my own home away from home either .

woohoo single digits... I am just a couple of days further out than you. Leaving on 9/24. looks like lots of fun. It is nice that you get to spend some days with your mom and then a couple of days where you can just work on your photography. Sounds like a nice balance.

Lots of DISsers going to MNSSHP 9/27 I am going 9/27 and maybe 9/30 just depends on how much I feel I "missed" the first time.

Not sure if if you know but 10//1 is Magic Kingdom's 40th b-day. There is a thread trying to get a meet together. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2784675

Even better than Tonga Toast is the Pineapple/Mac nut pancakes YUM-O That is on my must do TS every trip

looking forward to reading your TR and seeing your pics

Down to 1 week now! At this time next week, I'll be finishing up my dinner at Jiko! (For which I'm picking up the whole tab for shhh, don't tell Mom).

We did basically the same plan last year, Mom there Thu through Mon, and then me solo the rest of the time. It worked out great. If only I had worn socks on Day 1 it would have been so much better, doh.

I'm planning to attend all 3 when I'm there. 9/23 with Mom, then 9/27 and 9/30 on my own. My camera is just about all warmed up and ready to go.

Speaking of the camera, I pulled the trigger on that lens I've been blabbing about today. So, the Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 will be arriving to the office tomorrow. I did have to buy from B&H as Amazon ran out yesterday , this means that I had to spend ~$22 more for next day air than I normally do (Amazon Prime gives me $4 next day, well worth it for all the stuff I order), but oh well. (It also meant I couldn't use the $50 Amazon gift card I found from March...)

As for breakfast, I'm actually not a fan of Macadamias, the pineapple sounds good though... we'll have to see if I can pick them out (or convince Mom to get them, so we can split it up )

And the MK birthday, I will be there. Thanks for the link, I heard about it in passing on the TP&S thread, but didn't know the details.

 

[Cafeen]

6 Days! (I'ts 12:22AM this time ) Only 6 more days and I'll be "home". Only 4 more days of work-crap to get through too. My god am I ready for this vacation.

At any rate (I say this a lot...)

The Plan
Once again, earning my commando "credentials", after a late PM EMH at Epcot, my plan for the day is AM EMH at MK! I can sleep when I'm home, too much to see at Disney!

AM
Well, the aforementioned AM EMH is the plan for the day. This will be my 2nd to last day at MK, and I need to utilize it to take some of the daytime outdoor pictures on my list. So that's the plan. Some massive UWA work outside the castle and hub area is the main plan as well as some other attractions.

I do hope to recreate something like this shot from last year:

And this would be great with the UWA
​

It figures that Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse is closed this year for refurb, I could have used that for some good views , oh well.

Lunch
Lunch today is at Grand Floridian Cafe. It's nothing special, but I hear it's very good so that'll work out. It'll also grant me some time (granted, around midday which kinda stinks for lighting) to shoot some of the GF resort.

PM
After lunch, it's off to Epcot again! It is my last night in Epcot for the week, so the plan is to capture what I've missed, and say goodbye to my favorites (MS and SSE)

Dinner
Le Cellier is the plan for dinner. This marks the 3rd year in a row that I've gone here, and the first time for dinner. Figures huh? When everyone wants dinner, I want lunch. Now that everyone wants lunch, I want dinner. I've never been one to follow the trend!

After Dinner
Depending on what time I get out of Le Cellier, I'll setup for Illuminations and watch/shoot it. (I have a remote shutter release thing, so I can watch and shoot at the same time!) This may also be preview day for F&W, so I'm sure a little snacking may be in order.

Photo Plans

• MK - Castle "Postcard" shots
• MK - Various attraction exterior UWA work.
• GF - Misc shots
• Epcot - Missed shots on the list
• Epcot - Illuminations (possibly)

 

[KatMark]

Allan, plans continue to sound great. Can you believe we are so close to the trip?

 

[Cafeen]

So, before I start on Day 9. I'm going to share a few pics. Note, these are "Test Shots" that I took with the new lens. Just to see what it can do. I claim no artistic vision with these at all.

I look soooo tall!

My friend Mike's new car (Kia Soul)






And the outside of my building.





​

I just want to say, I can't WAIT to get to Disney with this lens. I have a feeling it's going to be on my camera 90% of the time! The angle of view is amazing! I did another just view test on one of those poles outside my office. They're maybe 9inches in diameter and I wanted to see how close I could get before they filled up the frame (in portrait). I crept closer and closer until it finally did. I looked outside the viewfinder, I was roughly 2 inches away!

I also took a (pretty crappy) shot of my other friend in the elevator back upstairs. I got all 6ft 4in of him in the frame, with tons of ceiling as well, in a little tiny elevator. It's going to be fun!

Ahem, so anyway.

The Plan
The first bit of this plan is to point out that I skipped day 8. Well, not really, but I can't count in my titles. I was going to change it and just not mention it, but now let's see if we can confuse any people who stop by later .

AM
AM EMH at AK. I can bet you know what I'll be doing. If you guessed riding Everest over and over again, you'd be wrong.

It's safari time. Big lens, early morning lighting, lively animals, yep. Planning on at least 2 ride-throughs (yes Firefox, "throughs" is a word, stop with the squiggly red underline plzkthx). The rest of the time, I'll try and hit up Everest, one of my challenges will be to get an on-ride image "with motion", so that should be interesting. Good thing I'm not a Hands in the Air rider! I'm also planning on attempting this with Mom (so as to not bother another rider next to me ) so this is just a backup day for it.

I am planning on spending most of the day here, so that works out well too. The rest of the morning will be spend on the Maharajah trail with the big and UWA lenses. Tripod securely stashed in a locker.

Lunch
Tusker House again?!? Yup. I wanted to do lunch here last year, but didn't for some odd reason (I had time for it too). This time I'm going to do it. I have to remember not to go all out though.

Really looking forward to this too. Glad I catch it before it goes to the characters in December!

PM
Will probably spend the afternoon in the Dinoland area. Riding Dinosaur and seeing what there is to see. Not sure if Primeval Whirl will be up and running or not. I actually enjoyed that when I went last year, we shall see.

I also hope to catch the 3pm parade (which is astoundingly... at 3pm!) and shoot some of that.

Dinner
Around 4:30ish, I'll head out of the park and over to the Grand Floridian again (remembering to pick up my tripod!) I have Dinner at Citrico's at 5:30. If I get there early enough, I can take some more shots of the resort.

Citrco's was one of the top places from last year, and their Warm Banana Torte was amazing!

​

After Dinner
After Dinner, it's time for MNSSHP #3! At this point, it's all "been there, done that" so it's time for all out photo blowout. Setting up early for Hallowishes, lots of long exposure tripod use. UWA goodness. Should be great!

Photo Plan

• AK - Safari and trails
• AK - Everest On Ride Motion
• AK - Dinoland
• GF - Yummy food
• GF - General shots
• MK - Hallowishes
• MK - Night Life

And this wraps up day 9. I only have 1 more day to go until it's time to come home . BUT, at least I only have 6 (well, I can ALMOST call it 5) until I get to do all this for reals!

 

[MAD4EEYORE]

Yea! This PTR sounds good so far. I have read your other trip reports and I love all your pictures! With all the new camera gear I can't wait to see what you come back with. You deserve it with all that OT. Are you trying to go mad? When in ATL you shouldn't have a hard time finding something to eat. Don't forget the socks either! Have a great trip!!!

 

[Cafeen]

Yea! This PTR sounds good so far. I have read your other trip reports and I love all your pictures! With all the new camera gear I can't wait to see what you come back with. You deserve it with all that OT. Are you trying to go mad? When in ATL you shouldn't have a hard time finding something to eat. Don't forget the socks either! Have a great trip!!!

Thanks for posting, and following the other TRs . I know the first one was real popular, the second kinda flopped , we'll see how this one does.

I'm REALLY excited about the use of the new camera down there. I've been into photography really ever since I was little. I still remember this pretty darn good picture I got of Old Faithful when we went to Yellowstone back in... 91? with my little 110 camera. I used to annoy my parents by going through film on that thing like it was water .

At any rate, it has now matured into something entirely different, but it's still a huge thing to me.

The OT was what it was. Most of it I didn't mind so much as I was doing what I love to do, coding/scripting. The crap they've had me doing this week though, is a whole different story , and much of the OT this week was waiting for the other guys to hand me off stuff, and they work slow and milk their OT, not something I appreciate at all.

But, only 3 more work days left (well, 3 1/2, as I gotta package something up so they can try and do some of what I do while I'm gone ).

Thanks for the reminders about socks! I looked all over my house and found 1. Just 1 sock, the rest have disappeared into the neverland. I guess I better buy a package or 2 before the trip. Amazon here I come!

 

[Cafeen]

So, we're already on Day 10. It's a good thing I'm getting this out now, as this day is only about 13 days away now. In 13 days I'll be LEAVING WDW .

But let's not get too ahead of ourselves right?

The Plan
AM
Since this will be my aforementioned last day at Disney, I'll be up pretty early in the morning packing all my stuff (well, some of my stuff, since I don't unpack in the first place) and carting it all down to Bell Services to hang on to.

Breakfast
I have an 8:10 AM ADR for Crystal Palace. Yes, this is one of Kathy's favorite breakfasts , but I'm not doing it because of her. I'm doing it to be in the park before opening for a chance or two at some empty (or near empty) shots on Main St. I'll do my thing at breakfast and visit with Pooh and the Gang ("Ceeellllleeee-brate good times! C'mon!" erm, wait, that was Kool and the Gang wasn't it?) and then head into MK proper.

AM pt 2
The rest of this morning will be spent celebrating MK's 40th birthday by taking lots of pictures and maybe doing a ride or two. I'm planning to use the time to get some of the MK daytime shots that I've missed earlier in the trip, as well as to take part in any special stuff going on.

Lunch
Since the hassle with my flights caused me to be leaving 3 hours later than originally intended, I had time for lunch! Wee. I'm eating at Liberty Tree Tavern on my last day at around 12:50 PM. I really enjoyed my lunch there last year, so this is a treat. Really looking forward to..

I'm drooling right now thinking of it. Plus the fact I haven't eaten for about 8hrs and I'm getting hungry...​

PM
I'm pretty open for the end of this day, but I don't have too much time. I figure I should be out of LTT by about 1:45, and there is a Dismeet at 2pm. In the end, I must leave no later than 3:30pm though, so we'll play this by EAR.

PM #2
By around 3:30pm, I will be heading back to the CSR to await my ME pickup (which should be around 4:30pm). Snapping some final shots, doing all that fun stuff.

My flight home takes off around 7:30pm, so I'll probably grab a bite or two to eat at MCO during that time.

I'll fly to Atlanta, then onward to Mobile, and be in town a little after 10pm. This puts the kabash on my original plan to eat at Sabor (my little Mexican restaurant right near my house) after getting home, but, well, an extra meal in Disney should make up for it.

When I get home, it's time to transfer ALL of my files from the laptop over to my desktop to begin post processing on them. This may take awhile.

And... well, as Porky Pig is known to say... That's All Folks!

I'll be posting my shooting plan here soon for you folks to take a look at and offer suggestions, but they'll have to be quick as I'm gone in 4 days!

Coming Attractions: The TR will be spawned off of this same thread. It's easier that way. It works since the PTR is nice and short .

 

[MAD4EEYORE]

YOU LEAVE TOMOTTOW! A BIG BRIGHT BEAUTIFUL TOMORROW!!!

Are you all pack and ready to go? Are you saying I'm to excited to sleep? I love that DW commercial!!!

Have a great time and I can't wait to hear all about it when you get back. I can't wait to see all your amazing photo's. Oh NO taking photos of food with that new lens.....don't want food to appear larger than it is.....

 

[Cafeen]

YOU LEAVE TOMOTTOW! A BIG BRIGHT BEAUTIFUL TOMORROW!!!

Are you all pack and ready to go? Are you saying I'm to excited to sleep? I love that DW commercial!!!

Have a great time and I can't wait to hear all about it when you get back. I can't wait to see all your amazing photo's. Oh NO taking photos of food with that new lens.....don't want food to appear larger than it is.....

I still have 1 day to get though , so almost there. I was a bit confused at first, until I realized you were in GA so your 11:15pmish post was 12:15amish your time.

I'm not packed at all, not one bit. Well, I got my MNSSHP tickets for Friday in my suitcase. And my camera bag is "packed", but it stays that way. Well, technically it's not, as my camera is sitting on top of my PC right now after importing some more test shots with the new lens (trying to get exposure right, it's a bit darker than I'd like it, but I think I figured it out).

I also still need a haircut. I tried on Saturday but they were inexplicably closed. I was going to drop by today, but I fell asleep after work ><. Tomorrow or else!

Then I have to do all my laundry tomorrow (I don't have many clothes, so I pretty much take them all, it's nice living in the south and wearing shorts from March to November) and after that, I'll toss them in the new suitcase and be packed (it's nice being a guy heh).

Tomorrow is a little bit of work-related work, craft my itinerary and photo schedule docs (I have all the info, just have to put it together and make it printable), buy MNSSHP tix for 9/27 and 9/30 and print those up, reformat my SD cards in my camera, and create a sheet to enter meal prices and stuff in to see what I actually saved (as opposed to what I'm planning on saving), oh yeah, and check-in for the flight and print boarding passes and pay my stupid baggage fee (I think I'll only pay one way, when I pay both on the outgoing trip, I get confused when returning and tend to flub things up).

And lastly, I made a slight change in my plans. Now, instead of going to Disney, I'm staying home.




JK.

Instead of GFC on 9/29, I'll be going to The Wave instead. Figured a nice salad and a bison burger would be better than whatever I was planning for an app and yet another steak.

 

[Cafeen]

So, my itinerary and general daily photo plans are posted. My ADRs are listed. My MNSSHP tix are purchased (well, at least for Friday). One last thing to nail down, but this is flexible and most people won't care too much about it .

I started typing out all my photo plans that I have in my document, and then I got bored reading it, so the entire thing isn't going to happen. Most of it you already know anyway .

Instead, I'm going to post the challenges that I've laid out for myself.

• Shot Count
  • Daily: 100 per day while Mom is there
  • Daily: 300 per day during solo portion
  • Total: 2500 total
• Magic Kingdom
  • Recreate the "Moon Shot" of Cinderella's Castle
    
  • "Splashdown" at Splash Mountain
  • Long Exposure of Carousel
  • Hallowishes
• Epcot
  • Spaceship Earth on ride (No Flash, this is one of the trickier rides, so I've heard)
  • UWA of WS over water from the FW dock area
  • Quintessential Monorail & SSE shot.
  • Getting down low with the model trains
  • At least 1 UWA shot from each pavilion
• Hollywood Studios
  • Streetmosphere (I normally don't really watch or interact with them)
  • Indy and/or LMA show (big lens, and UWA if up front)
• Animal Kingdom
  • Everest Main drop - On Ride. (Both stopped and motion)
  • The Lion (though, that's more up to him than me)
  • Baby Animals (Elephant or Gorilla, though she's not really much of a baby anymore!)
• Resorts
  • CSR - Dig Site pool nighttime long exposure
  • CR - Sunset over MK from the observation deck
  • BWI - Night shot over lake from YC dock (UWA)
  • Poly - Wishes from the beach
• Food - Creative angles and composition. (Beyond just the, here's the plate, isn't it pretty?)

So yup, that's how I'm challenging myself. Beyond these challenges, most of the rides are in the list, and the "faster" ones also should include motion (this means slowing the shutter speed down and letting the "scenery" go by, to give a different feeling. Similar to my TTA shots from last year's MNSSHP, which I also hope to redo this year).

 

[MAD4EEYORE]

Sounds like you are almost ready to go. Don't even joke about not going that would be so sad. The Wave sounds good. I love bison. I've only had it as a steak not ground. It is not fatty at all. Very lean. Can't wait for you to review that one. The deserts sounds yummy and will for sure ruin that "diet" meal.

Have a good time! I'll be here when ya get back waitin with bells on!!! Wish I was headed there myself but I will be in December for a quick stay to see the Christmas things.

 

[Cafeen]

Sounds like you are almost ready to go. Don't even joke about not going that would be so sad. The Wave sounds good. I love bison. I've only had it as a steak not ground. It is not fatty at all. Very lean. Can't wait for you to review that one. The deserts sounds yummy and will for sure ruin that "diet" meal.

Have a good time! I'll be here when ya get back waitin with bells on!!! Wish I was headed there myself but I will be in December for a quick stay to see the Christmas things.

I'm still really looking forward to The Wave, though so far everything has been great.

Just doing a quick check in here. It's about 5am and I'm awake and bored. Pictures are overall great, though I'm not feeling the magic as much as the past trips. At least at the resorts and restaurants. More about that later.

Hope all is well with everyone else.

 

[Cafeen]

Well, it is about that time. Sitting in MCO waiting for the flight home. Magic came back, but could have been better. Getting sick halfway through the trip is never good . Otherwise the trip was decent and I'll have pictures up at some point.

 

[MAD4EEYORE]

Can't wait to hear all about your trip! Glad the magic came back. I hope your flight and travels home go well.

Sorry you weren't feeling well and got sick. My family tease me about being curse with vacation-itis! I get sick whenever we have a trip planned. It's all the stress of getting ready for the trip and making sure everything is taken care of. It's not fun being sick when your on vacation. Hope you are feeling better.

 

[Cafeen]

Can't wait to hear all about your trip! Glad the magic came back. I hope your flight and travels home go well.

Sorry you weren't feeling well and got sick. My family tease me about being curse with vacation-itis! I get sick whenever we have a trip planned. It's all the stress of getting ready for the trip and making sure everything is taken care of. It's not fun being sick when your on vacation. Hope you are feeling better.

I can't wait to write about it! I am in the middle of running all my pictures through Lightroom to process them, it's going to take awhile though. There was a black mark somewhere in my camera that showed up in many of the pictures, so I have to take the time and touch up that spot on the majority of them.

Overall, I took about 2.9k pictures, with about 300 deleted in camera and another 900 rejected on import (duplicates, poor focus, uninteresting, oops those are my feet, etc). Going through the 2nd sort now removing more dupes and lower quality photos and I'm down to about 1652 of 1733. Only have processed some of day 2 though. After all the processing, I'll have to export them all (4 times, for different sizes), write up the database stuff for my galleries, and then upload them all... So it'll likely be until this weekend at least. (Sheesh, this is a lot more work than I was expecting... what was I thinking!)

The trip home was.... well, not so great. The flight left MCO late and I didn't arrive to Atlanta until about 9:15pm (with a 9:45pm flight to Mobile). I then hobbled all the way from gate A1 to D14, being rude along the way, with pain in my feet bringing tears to my eyes, only to arrive at the departure gate at 9:40pm, about 5 minutes after they closed the doors . So, I got to stay in Atlanta for the night...

Let's just say that I'm REALLY not happy with Delta right now, but unfortunately, I have very limited choices from Mobile. Me, and all my stuff did make it home around 11:30am yesterday though, but it was definitely a journey.

Getting sick mid-trip was a bit of a bummer, moreso because it make me pretty apathetic about even taking pictures, so some of the days I took far less than I would have. I still got a good number (as seen above), but there were a few on my list that I just didn't get to.

However, despite all the complaining above, it was overall a good trip, and Piglet's big hug on my Saturday morning CP breakfast was one of the good points . Well, that, and everyone (at least 3 people in the office) asking if I lost weight over my trip... my trip of 10 days of DxDDP... /shrug. (As a note, I have no idea if I did, I don't weigh myself because I frankly don't care. I've lost at least 50-60lbs over the span of the past 10 or so years (most of it over the first few of those), but not in a good way. My caffeine and nicotine diet is NOT going to win any awards )

 

[KatMark]

Sorry for all the woes coming home...that is never fun.

Looking forward to reading all about the trip when you get the pictures ready.

 

[MAD4EEYORE]

WOW! What an adventure you had! Glad you are home finally after all that. Sorry about all the Delta trouble and airport trouble. The ATL airport is huge and you can get lost in that place if you don't know your way around. Did you take the train or did you walk all the way to the next terminal/gates? Did you have to stay the night at the airport?


You had DxDDP and still lost weight?!!! That excites me for my upcoming Dec trip! You took ALOT of pictures. I thought I took alot of pictures. You beat me in that dept. That takes some time to put together. I'll try to be patient. I'll grab some and and wait.

 

[Cafeen]

Sorry for all the woes coming home...that is never fun.

Looking forward to reading all about the trip when you get the pictures ready.

Thanks Kathy. It just seemed like one of those off trips, you know? Considering I'm planning on bringing Beth and Emily down next time, I suppose it's good I got it out of the way this time.

Funny thing. I was doing the math, and I'm pretty sure it was trip #13. Sounds pretty doomed from the start eh?

WOW! What an adventure you had! Glad you are home finally after all that. Sorry about all the Delta trouble and airport trouble. The ATL airport is huge and you can get lost in that place if you don't know your way around. Did you take the train or did you walk all the way to the next terminal/gates? Did you have to stay the night at the airport?


You had DxDDP and still lost weight?!!! That excites me for my upcoming Dec trip! You took ALOT of pictures. I thought I took alot of pictures. You beat me in that dept. That takes some time to put together. I'll try to be patient. I'll grab some and and wait.

I was pacing the train, so much that every time I got within 50 feet of the doors, they went into the "The doors are closing, and will not reopen" speech, so just missed it! Instead of waiting, I just kept going. The next morning, the trains were down, so I had to walk the WHOLE way on my blistered and battered feet , not fun.

Delta did put me up at a Comfort Inn though at least. It wasn't too bad, the lobby area was very nice, the rooms, meh. I was spoiled by CSR rooms too much .

As far as the weight, I guess /shrug. I did leave quite a bit of food on my plates though, and rarely went up more than twice at the buffets (and when I did, the plates were smaller). I think being sick for part of it helped, as it dropped my appetite down some too. Then add walking 8-10 miles a day, and it worked out. I did spend all 24* of my snack credits on drinks though (Well, I bought 1 eclair, 1 dole whip float (so that's a drink, right?), and 2 bananas )

(*Note: Yes, 24, for 9 nights. We'll see why eventually).

As for pictures, I have a couple preview pics up...

Note that by far, not all of them are of this caliber...

(These first two I took specifically for my Step-Mother. She loves sunflowers so I just had to get some pics for her.)

Edit: Adding my first attempt at HDR photography (took a few sets for this, though far fewer than I should have looking at this one now.)

 

[MEK]

Wow - I absolutely love your pictures. Something to aspire to. When you do your TR can you put a little blurb in about how you shot some of your pictures - settings, which lens, filter, editing. Maybe one picture per update. That would be so cool.

 

[Cafeen]

Ok, so enough PTR talk. I created a new thread over on the TR forums, conveniently named the same thing (I'm creative like that).

New Camera? Sounds like a perfect excuse for a Disney trip! the Trip Report.

I will add some blurbs about some of the photos as well, not all of them, as there's a ton, but the "Flagged" and "4-5 Star" ones that I've decided are a cut or two above the average ones will have something if needed.