Anybody else see the moonrise tonight? I’ve always tried to photograph the moon when it’s just over the horizon and have always missed it by the time I find the right place to set up. I almost missed it again tonight. I got some really decent images of the moon as it was rising in front of Handley High School. I had some fun with this one.
Handley High School’s iconic cupola at night.
It’s a real thing. At least as far as the public goes. Disney has yet to officially acknowledge the Hidden Mickey phenomenon, although they do sell Hidden Mickey books in their gift shops. hmmm….
Apparently it all started when EPCOT was being planned as more of an adult-targeted park including the sale of alcohol. Since Disney characters and alcohol were taboo together it was established that none of the characters, especially Mickey, would ever be seen inside that park. Well, the Imagineers took it as a challenge and started incorporating them into everything they could. Voila! Hidden Mickeys.
The general rule is that if it’s not associated with Disney then it’s not really an “official” Hidden Mickey. It’s still fun though.
Not so hidden, but it makes for a great image. | Order a print of this image.
There’s a feature on the aerial camera that I didn’t think I’d be using, but it came in handy last night. It’s not really auto pilot, but for a photographer it comes pretty darn close. The camera can be set to snap a photo every 30 seconds for as long as I want. So I can concentrate on getting some cool HDR series on the ground while the aerial cam just hovers and snaps away. I used it last night to shoot an awesome sunset. I sent it up as the sun was hitting the horizon and just left it there until I was done on the ground. Pretty cool if you ask me.
This is my go-to spot for awesome sunsets. I’ve never been disappointed. | Order a print of this image.
And I did promise that I would reveal what last night’s photo actually was. Here’s a before/after comparison.
Aren’t most discoveries just a combination of knowledge, timing and just plain dumb luck. As I was going through my images from this evening I simply looked at this image differently and it just hit me. Out of the blue. Crazy how that happens sometimes.
Can you guess what this is? I’ll post the answer within tomorrow’s post.
We all know that the clouds are moving, but it’s incredibly subtle movement. At least to the naked eye. I was driving home this afternoon and that cloud formation was just screaming for me to grab my camera. I shot some video with the aerial camera, but I’ll have to play with the stabilization a bit before I post it (if I post it). I didn’t really stabilize this one (as you might be able to tell) because the algorithm was getting confused by all the cloud movement – there’s no real reference point.
The big downside to landscape photography is the incredibly early start times for the day, especially for shooting the sunrise. On a good day I could be up as early as 3 and as late as 9 that same evening just to shoot the sun. Am I dedicated or crazy?
I’m pretty excited to be heading into that time of year when the sunrise isn’t at some ridiculously early hour of the morning! | Order a print of this image.
The whole time I was here I kept thinking how cool it would be to fly the drone over it.
That’s the Hollywood sign at the very top right of the image.
“Adults are only kids grown up, anyway.”
– Walt Disney
If I’ve learned anything from any of my trainings throughout my entire life, it’s that successful businesses get that way by putting the customer experience at the top of their priority list. The two companies that immediately come to mind for me are Apple and Disney. Sure, they’re for-profit companies, but their ultimate goal is to deliver a customer experience like no other. When you can put aside that “I’m gonna get rich doing this” attitude and focus on being creative and innovative it all tends to work itself out. And Disney is exceptionally good at it. To watch my dad over this past weekend was pretty cool. At almost 80 years old, he enjoyed that park every bit as much as any of the adolescents who were experiencing it for the first time.
There were a lot of ways I could have gone with today’s post, but this image worked no matter which way I went.
Every once in a while I’ll post an image that’s just not meant to be viewed on a mobile device. Realistically, I’d love for these types of photos to be viewed on a large HD screen of some sort where you can get in close and see the whole range and all the detail. This image is a prime example, but unfortunately it’s too big.
I’m wrapping up a whirlwind weekend in California that literally began back in February when I registered and began stressing about having to run (everything went well, btw), and I’m sitting in the airport a whopping 5 hours early for my flight. So I need to kill some time.
I shot a series of images of LA and the surrounding area today while in Griffith Park so I decided to try something – a mega/super/ultra, or whatever you want to call it, panorama image of LA. It turned out great, but it’s going to be sized to fit your screen so it’ll appear really thin. I posted it on Flickr (500px has a limit of 15,000 pixels on the longest side!), but it’s still sized to fit. Bummer. I wonder if I can get it printed full-size…
16 individual images. File size is 2.82 GB. Dimensions – 30926 X 3121 or 128.9″ X 13″ or 3.273 M X .33 M! It’s 10.6 feet long!
Cedarmeade Studios 