To Infinity...

To Infinity..., originally uploaded by Brian E Mitchell.

1/10 70mm f7.1 -1/3EV

As you can imagine I get some ribbing for being a flower shooter and for my obvious fascination with all things Disney. So, Kurt, this post is for you, it's got flowers and Disney in it!

I'm a big fan of Buzz Lightyear and it was cool to see the front flower bed at Epcot done up with a Toy Story theme. They change it up every year for the Flower and Garden festival.

This shot actually shows one of the things that I find most frustrating about shooting at Disney. See, this is not the shot I wanted. The one I was working on was about 10 feet to the left and quite a bit wider.

I didn't get that shot because of the other people in the park. I stood in the spot I wanted the picture from for 10 minutes and just could not get a clear shot, so I walked away angry and frustrated. I stayed that way for awhile. I had missed a "once in a lifetime" shot. Being angry and frustrated, though, didn't do me a bit of good.

It did reteach me a very important lesson in photography. I have shot far more frames that turned out to be junk than I have good ones because sometimes you just don't get "the shot". Sometimes its because of my lack of skill, sometimes the light isn't there and sometimes people who paid good money to get through the turnstiles want to get their "once in a lifetime" shot because they may never step foot in Epcot again.

As I was going through the shots later it dawned on me that the shot that I did get is Lotso, and angry, bitter old bear and Buzz Lightyear, the eternal optimist. Telling, dontcha think?

Butterfly on a Flower

Butterfly on a Flower, originally uploaded by Brian E Mitchell.

1/320 200mm f 4.0 0 EV

Most of the time you plan what you're going to shoot. You scout the location, figure out when the best light is and find the best angles to shoot from. Other times you just get lucky.

I was shooting the flowers when this butterfly made a surprise appearance. It sat there for only a few seconds and was gone. I fired off 9 frames and this one is I think the best of them.

This, to me, is proof that sometimes in life it's more about being in the right place at the right time. From the first frame I shot to the last was 9 seconds and then the butterfly was gone. If I had been looking the other way or had even sneezed I probably would have missed this.

The Castle From Tomorrowland

The Castle From Tomorrowland, originally uploaded by Brian E Mitchell.

1/100 23mm f 16 0 EV

The Sunny 16 rule is pretty straight forward. Set your aperture at f16 and your shutter speed to match your ISO (film speed) and you can be pretty certain that you'll get a good exposure even on the brightest of days.

I like the rule because even if you can't get the shot at sunrise (which is impossible at Magic Kingdom) you can still get a nice shot with lots of color and detail.

This view of Cinderella's Castle is one my favorites. I imagine that this is one of those views that Walt Disney envisioned as he was designing Magic Kingdom. And, even though so much has changed over the years, this view hasn't changed much at all since the park opened in 1971.