My First Asian Lantern Festival: "Into The Wild"

Happy Friday, you ferocious firecracker! Have you smiled yet today?

If not, I got you:

Last weekend John and I visited our first ever Asian Lantern Festival at the Central Florida Zoo. These lighted festivals are apparently all the rage in zoos across the U.S. but I'm told ours is an especially snazzy example. Even better, this particular exhibit, "Into The Wild," travels! So some of you have seen these exact displays in your state, and some of you might see them soon. I love that, really spreads the joy around.

If you can't watch the video where you are right now, never fear; I also have photos, and there's so much more to see! I tried to video the ones with a lot of motion, but I took regular pics for the rest.

A line of giant candy-colored snails greeted us in the parking lot. Peep that reflection in the pond!

The entry is flanked by these froggy friends:

If you saw my video, you know they blink! ("JOHN, THEY BLINK!! YES I KNOW I'M BEING TOO LOUD.") Going in I only expected a few static displays, so this was my first inkling that we were in for something special.

These festivals are a DELIGHT to photograph, because by the time you lower the exposure enough to capture the colors, all the people in frame practically disappear.

("De-light"? See what I did there?)

The narrow entry path was flanked by lighted cacti, snakes, and even a giant scorpion and spider. This iguana was my favorite, though:

Let's Stop To Smell The Hogwarts Castle

I just had one of those "Wait, it's Thursday?" moments - but in a bad way. Anyone else?

This week feels like it's slipping away double-speed, and if you're feeling the same then I have a little reminder for all of us: 

Sometimes when you're feeling really behind the answer isn't to speed up, it's to slow down.

So c'mon, let's stop and smell these pretty Hogwarts pictures.

Mmmmm. Smells like a sense of wonder and Iocane powder.

Definitely getting some whiffs of cotton candy here.

Or, if you prefer your angles - and your intellects - more dizzying:

This one's Angry Cotton Candy

Lemon drops. With a touch of cedar.

Epcot's Flower & Garden Fest 2019: And Of Course, The FOOD!

Last week John and I got to visit Epcot's latest Festival (because there's always one going on these days, right?): Flower & Garden!

The topiaries are the big draw for this fest, plus the food, of course. As with all the big Epcot events, there are stands selling pretty drinks and special edibles throughout the park. There's also a butterfly tent, special music, and of course, MERCH.

The new Minnie art on this year's stuff is super cute! I'll show you a few more things as we go along.

Afternoon photos in the glaring Florida sun are a challenge; you pretty much have to point your phone and just start clicking blindly, ha.

Eat your heart out,  JJ Abrams.

(Lens flare joke. Heyooo.)

I took that with a cheap fish-eye lens on my phone. I've also applied so many filters that if you listen closely, you can actually hear the pixels screaming.

Bo Peep is new this year to advertise Toy Story 4, which will no doubt find new and exciting ways to grind our hearts into a sobby pulp. (Am I bitter, Pixar? Noooooo.)

My favorite is the 3-headed sheep! Although I wish it only had 2 heads, so I could name it W. 

(Give it a second.)

(Now say it out loud.)

("DOUBLE EWE.")

(Eh? EHHH?)

My face right now.

Believe it or not, this is the same photo taken at different heights:

TWIP: Magic Hour Mini Golf & Disney Style Shopping

This week had some especially photogenic highlights:

John and I went mini-golfing at Disney with our friends Tim & Bianca, and by pure happenstance we were halfway through the Fantasia Gardens course right at Golden Hour. 

AND LOOK HOW PRETTY.

A lot of folks don't know this, but WDW actually has two mini golf courses: this one and Winter Summerland, which is Christmas themed. Heck, I've lived in Orlando most of my life, and this was still my first trip to Fantasia Gardens.

The course could use a refresh and some repairs - and a major air freshener around the entry where it smells like sewage, yuck - but it's still a fun course, not too pricey, and we had a blast.

Well, most of us did. ;) 

(Bianca makes every group photo memorable, ha. Rest assured no husbands were harmed in the making of this picture.) 

This elephant fountain was turned off, so Bree over on IG took my original photo and added bubbles!

So perfect! You're right, Bree, that's exactly what it needed.

Quick selfie break:

This Week In Pics: Singing Celestina, Failing Diets, & Buh-Bye, Gingerbread House

This year I thought I'd go back (way, way back) to posting some fun(?) life updates with all my favorite phone photos from the week. Mostly because I'm too disorganized to fit all this stuff in separate posts. ::shameless grin::

Starting with the highlight: I got to see my favorite show at Universal three more times!

 Celestina Warbeck and the Bashees put on "Nothing Like A Holiday Spell" for Christmas, and I am obnoxiously in love with it. (Here's my favorite song.)

The crowds were intense - even worse than the week between Christmas and New Year's! - but I gotta say, all the extra people made watching the show more fun. So much hooting and hollering and singing along - you could tell the performers were eating it up.

 

 Check out the "snow" in all these sunbeams, so pretty:

 And one more beauty shot from around Diagon Alley:

I've been playing with a new photo app called Pixaloop, check this out:

Magical Wizarding World Pics & A Little Life Rambling

Well helloooo, you. I have a pile of pretty Potter pictures here, plus a desire to sit and chat. Cool?

 

 Cool.

I should mention I've decided not to stress (or at least TRY not to) over the fact that Epbot is basically becoming a Harry Potter Christmas blog this month. This is brave, this is mildly obsessive...THIS IS ME.

 I promise after the Hufflepuff party and next month's fabulous Christmas con and then the Festival of Trees and everything I'll get back to other fandom things. Probably. [Cut to me running madly through twinkle lights yelling "I'M NEVER GOING BACK YOU CAN'T MAKE MEEEEE!!"]

Ahem.

Oh hey look, my favorite Alley:

I took this a few weeks ago before all the pretty garlands went up, so it's much sparklier now.

I love looking for new angles; pretty sure you could blindly point your camera in any direction in the Wizarding World and find something beautiful:

Look at that crest and plaster work. LOOK AT IT.

If you stand to the right side of the steps during Celestina's show, you can get some lovely crowd-free shots:

I can't wait to see her Holiday Spell show again. Eeeee!

Goblin armor is best armor.

(The tiny suit is the one that assembles itself when you wave your wand, so you have to time this shot just right.)

Ever notice the corbels inside the Forbidden Journey gift shop?

I need to find a place for one of these in our house. And then, you know, steal and/or make one. 

(Picturing myself standing guard while John goes at one of these with a chisel is brightening my afternoon. Just sayin'.)

I played with a lot of window reflections, with limited success:

Let's Have Lunch In Pandora!

Don't mind me, just sliding in here to share a few photos I took in Disney's Pandora last week.

 

 Fun Fact: Did you know you can use your phone's panorama feature vertically? 

Try it sometime, it's fun!

 

 Pandora is one of the trickiest areas in Disney to photograph, so keep in mind every decent photo you see of it - including mine - has been edited juuuuust about to death. You don't need a tripod and fancy DSLR, though; I shot and edited everything here on my iPhone.

I can't tell you how much of a difference editing makes... so let me show you!

Here's a photo directly off my phone:

 Looks like a lost cause, right?

But here's the same photo after (extensive) editing:

 Awwww yeeeeeah.

Most of the time my pics aren't QUITE that different, but I hope this shows you how editing can be an art form. It flexes all your creative muscles and lets you make something totally new, right on your phone! Plus it's easy and free, if you use an app like SnapSeed.

Ahh, I love Before & Afters. Let's do another one.

Before...

... and After!

Epcot Flower & Garden 2018: New Merch, Pretties, & FOOD

John and I just checked out the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot, so I thought you fellow Dizgeeks might like to see! I took way too many photos, so I'll show you a little of everything: the new merchandise, pretty topiaries, and of course, THE FOOD. (Which, let's be honest, is the real priority of any Festival goer.)

Right off the bat I'm loving the new guide map covers. Disney literally put an orange on a teal background, you guys. IT'S LIKE THEY KNOW ME.

Everyone's favorite Figment topiary is back a ways behind Spaceship Earth now:

I wish they'd added something more flower-y ON him - maybe had him holding a bouquet? Or flowers around his neck? - but really I'm just glad he's out again!

As always, the real WOW moment of Flower & Garden is when you get to this lake view on the way to World Showcase:

I had to edit my photos to death to compensate for the harsh sunlight, but the flowers really ARE this bright IRL. Hard to tell here, but there are patterns of giant butterflies and flowers in the beds.

Here's the other side, facing towards Test Track.

There's a new scavenger hunt - they seem to have one every Festival now - and the prizes are these cute little iron-on patches:

It costs about $5 for the scavenger hunt map (sorry I didn't take a pic of that!), and then you get your choice of one of these 4 packs as a prize.

And here's what you're scavenging for: Spike the bee!

There's one hidden in every country around the showcase - and they're not too hard to find.

I ended up using my phone's panorama feature a lot; all the flower beds are so BIG:

Taking My Cosplay Photos To The Dark Side

I've been photographing conventions for about seven years now, and while I still love everything about it, I've been itching to bump up my game. Every con I get home, download my pics, and grouse about how terrible they are. Blurry faces, bad lighting, photobombing Deadpools - there's always SOMETHING, and it takes a lot of work in Lightroom to salvage most of my shots.

I've known for some time that using flash was the answer, but figuring out HOW was another story. John and I've chatted with lots of pros over the years, but most have heavy equipment or tripods and umbrellas to lug around. We were especially awed by one guy who set up two big flash strips in the shape of an L, because his photos had a completely blacked-out background, without the use of a backdrop. He wasn't mobile, though; he had to set up the lights and then get cosplayers to come to him, which is definitely not my style. (I like the hunt, chasing 'em down.)

I follow a few convention photographers online (you can't beat David Ngo for sheer quantity, btw, if you're looking), and one of the greats, Tristan Dudine, also has blacked-out backgrounds, like this:

A post shared by Tristan (@tristan.dudine.photography) on Aug 7, 2017 at 11:06am PDT

Gorgeous, right?

I first thought he did these in a studio, so when a mutual friend told me nope, Tristan shoots AT the convention, it kind of blew my mind. Newly inspired, John and I began searching online for answers. We discovered there's a whole subset of photographers who do this, called "strobists." Again, though, most seem to use fairly cumbersome equipment, while we were determined to be completely mobile: no tripods, no umbrellas, no bulky or heavy gear.

Two days and dozens of photography boards, reviews, and tutorials later, John ordered these flashes from Amazon along with these diffusers. Next he moved to the garage to build some custom handles, and within three days we were taking practice shots of our Jawa. (Not the most cooperative model, but hey, she works for free.)

As luck would have it, MetroCon was happening that weekend in Tampa, so we packed up the crew, got a grip, came quick, grabbed the proton packs on our backs, and we split. (Bobby Brown is my jam. WHAT.)

John and I spent a deliriously wonderful day at MetroCon. We were running on about 3 hours sleep, but DANG was Metro a great con! I had no idea! There were Disney and Hamilton sing-alongs in the lobby, every other vendor had adorable plushies and chibi cuteness, and man oh man, sooo many great costumes! I could go on for pages about how MetroCon has single-handedly turned me on to anime conventions, but you're here for photography stuff, I know, so let's get back to that.

First, let me show you some of the successful shots we took that day, all on the vendor floor in the middle of the crowd:

[Rage Cosplay]

(I'm trying to play it cool, but this is like magic to me, you guys. I'M A LITTLE EXCITED.)

I like that we were able to light most - if not all - of the body sometimes. Most strobist photos are from the waist up, and with good reason, which I'll get to in a sec.