I dropped by California Adventure this afternoon hoping that the clouds would break up and that we might be treated to another epic sunset tonight. Unfortunately, as soon as I set foot in the park, it completely clouded over and not long afterwards, it began to rain. :( Rather than packing it in, I decided to try some long exposure shots around the Grizzly rapids before heading over to Disneyland. Fortunately, the fireworks were not cancelled due to the rain, and I was finally able to shoot "Remember, Dreams Come True" again after a break of several months. Hopefully I'll have some shots up for Fireworks Friday this week.

3 shot HDR with the Pro Optic 8mm Fisheye

Tags:   Disney California Adventure Grizzly Rapids. Mill Long Exposure HDR Nikon D7000 Por Optic 8mm Fisheye

© All Rights Reserved

A great time was had by all tonight at the Second Annual Semi-Official Corey Dorsey Meet at Disneyland. In attendance were Gregg, Justin, Ryan, Melyna, Corey, Kory, and yours truly. It seemed that half of the park was behind refurb walls, and even though you can't quite see it here, half of the Matterhorn is covered in scaffolding as it is currently closed to be refurbished with new bobsleds to be installed this Spring. One of the things I have learned while shooting in Disneyland is that if you walk slow enough, eventually most of the cast members and even the security personnel will head out, leaving you completely alone in that particular section of the park. Such was the case tonight as Fantasyland completely emptied out while I was shooting brackets. I finally caught up with our group shortly after I took this shot. As closing time was 8 PM tonight due to the advent of the off season, I was able to get this shot at 8:40 PM. Let's hear it for the off season!


3 Shot HDR with the Sigma 10-20

Tags:   Disneyland Fantasyland After Hours Sigma 10-20 Nikon D7000

© All Rights Reserved

If you've been following my photostream for any amount of time, you might notice a certain pattern begin to emerge when it comes to the skies that somehow make their way into my shots. I guess you might say I'm a dramatic sky addict. A great looking sky is like crack to me. I honestly need help. I was thinking it might be time to head to the Betty Ford clinic.

Keeping this in mind, I really didn't have time to drop by the Disneyland Resort on Monday, but I knew that the storm was about to break up and set off in hopes that some clouds would still be around when I arrived. Fortunately, it was POURING when I arrived on Ball Road, and the clouds literally broke apart as I walked into California Adventure. i spent the next hour shooting like a maniac and got my fix for the evening.

I thought this latest fix might last for awhile, but the sky that greeted me the following night almost put me in the hospital. (I blame Gregg Cooper who sent me a text telling me to run out of my office to check it out.) Unfortunately, all I had with me was an iPhone, and I was in an ugly part of the San Gabriel Valley, so all I could do was.....watch.

Oh the humanity!!

Like I said...I need some serious help.

The shot above is a handheld 3 shot bracketed HDR taken with the Sigma 10-20.

Tags:   Sunset Storm Disney California Adventure Park Nikon D7000 Sigma 10-20

© All Rights Reserved

About two years ago, after having some success shooting the fireworks from New Orleans Square back over the Mark Twain, I began searching for other alternate locations to shoot the fireworks from. One of the ideas that immediately came to mind was Tarzan's Treehouse. I knew the fireworks generally went up over Big Thunder Mountain and as the Treehouse offered incredible views of Big Thunder, I was pretty sure the fireworks would look amazing from there.

After asking around, however, I was told that the Treehouse would NEVER be open for the fireworks as they always closed it prior to the beginning of Fantasmic. It seemed that the lasers from the show were aimed directly at the tree and the Disney lawyers thought it might be a bad idea to let their guests get blinded while running up and down stairs while 75 feet or so in the air.

So I gave up hope of shooting there and set about shooting from just about every other location in the park where they were visible.

Until about three weeks ago when I heard that Fantasmic would be going down for about two months for some maintenance. On my first try, i was turned down yet again as it was raining and the tree house is closed if the stairways are wet. :(

But on my second try, I finally made it up there with my tripod and found a spot that was not blocking the traffic and waited for the show to begin. I was very excited to finally be shooting the fireworks from up there, but during the show I was a bit disappointed to find that most of the larger shells were lost in the branches of the tree from the main three spots where Big Thunder was visible. The spot that I chose had the least obstructed view overall, and I felt that the branches made a nice frame around the scene.

It is also worth mentioning (spoiler alert here if you are into that kind of thing) that from this same location, Justin Cooper and I were able to see Tinkerbell actually come in for a landing. Well...she didn't LAND quite so much as dangle, but it was kind of neat to see her "backstage" as it were. Gone are the days where she would go crashing into a mattress pad on the other side. The pulley system simply stopped and she was lowered to the crew below. We couldn't see the crew, but we did see her dangling around waiting for her next cue.

So final verdict: The view is actually quite nice from up there but there is NO sound track other than the Tarzan music between the occasional cheetah screams and baby yodeling, and you lose some of the larger shells in the branches. And obviously there is no view of the castle either. But if you've been there and done that with the castle and main street, I highly recommend a trip up the tree house the next time it's open during the fireworks.

Oh...and happy Fireworks Friday! :)

© All Rights Reserved

I believe I shot this a few weeks ago at one our Disney Photography Mafioso meets. I think I was probably setting up for this shot just before everyone ditched me to head off to ride Big Thunder. (The audacity!) This was my first time trying out the B&W 10 stop ND filter, and I was itching to try it out on in an area where i could pick up some reflections from water. I'll be headed up to Yosemite again this weekend, so I'm hoping to use it up there as well. I think this particular exposure clocked in at 30 seconds

If you get a chance, please view this larger on black by hitting the L key. Thanks! :)

© All Rights Reserved