Trip Report: Day 1 of 3

[ejud]

Hi Friends and fellow fans!

...Day 1; meeting with a few net friends, a bit about Arlo; same for pics... a couple of good shots of Illuminations.

This board limits me to 5000 char. so cut some...

:)

Jud
39 photos at <WDW 2008 05 1-3>
http://webshots.com/user/ejud2001

Drove down, keeping it to 55mph for best mileage, and arrived at motel about 3, pool, brief swim, laid down. Back up 4:15... meet at 4; headed over to Beaches and Cream...

Barb waved enthusiastically as she spotted me scooting toward the table on my ECV... Barb's DH Tony, Nikki of Spain, Traci of Kissimmee, Mendy, DH Ken and DS Payton were all there, yapping and eating their treats.

Tony cleared a chair out of the way and I pulled in; intros made; conversation resumed; I engaged young Payton with his tales of being a Jedi knight and taking on Darth Vader himself in a fabulous light saber battle!

...favorite rides, Nikki and Ken called PhilharMagic, which delighted me, given my own enthusiasm for that wonderful attraction. Good conversation with Tony... first time I actually had the chance to engage him in more than hello/goodbye.

Barb called for a group shot; I got a couple of Nikki- unique pin trading T-shirt- back had some neat stuff on it- I asked her to turn so I could shoot it- and, being topical, told her to look at the camera over her shoulder like a sultry 15 year-old... Tony didn't want to be left out so decided to show his stuff... Nikki presented me with a fridge magnet, an item I am known to collect, of her home island- beautiful!

Four of us headed over towards Epcot, Barb and Tony breaking off at the bridge to the Boardwalk, Nikki and I continuing through the International Gateway, and then split as I headed to America and she to England.

I called BarbB and Brenna- got an answering machine. Continued on to the America for the Arlo show; found a space for my ECV; was trying to work my cell phone again when the person sitting on the bench next to me was sticking her face in mine and saying hi... it was Brenna! BarbB was next to her: how amazing that I had totally randomly pulled in right next to them- and fortunate- it turned out that her phone was not receiving calls!

Arlo came on, voice sounding like it did when he first hit the radio way back... Arlo likes to tell stories and told a tale of a neighbor who had quite an adventure and segued into Motorcycle. Did about four songs...

We headed to a smoking area for the between-show time. Back in... Second set Arlo hit a few familiar notes and we knew we were about to hear Alice's Restaurant! He did a couple more songs; during one, he invited any of his other family members to come on out and join in... right down to a baby who really wanted the mike! Arlo is big into family it seems. His "regular" band features his son on keyboards, grandson on drums, daughter and son in law on guitar...

After the show, we headed over to the queue for the meet and greet. Arlo came out stage left- CM running us through the line- move on, get going- one of our party had brought her original Alice's Restaurant LP vinyl album, worn, but cover still clearly showing a very young Arlo...

When my turn came, I had nothing to sign and told Arlo that I had gotten his autograph back in '03 and this time simply wanted to thank him for the music.

I shot BarbB and Brenna with him and we 'moved along'... At the exit area, the girls got talking with a Canadian CM who had come over to see the show- BarbB and Brenna are from Manitoba...

From there we... were heading out, but as we passed Africa, I noticed one of the woodcarvers at work, and thought to ask him where he got the really neat adz he uses that I was interested in. He made it himself and we started getting into it; the girls said they were going to continue on out and I remained with Peter. I pulled out a photo of a relief carving I had done of fish, and he was quite interested in that and we got chatting for a good while. He suggested he would look around and see what he could do for me as far as the adz was concerned and I told him I would be back on the 16th. He said that sounded workable. I sure hope he remembers! I am very intrigued by this tool and its use, and anxious to give it a go! I told him I would bring a copy of my woodcarving book when I returned, which features David Masaku, his grandfather.

My only remaining interest was to view Illuminations, and... I started seeking out a good spot. I did find a most excellent spot... and set my ECV and tripod right up against the fence with a completely clear view and waited... chatting with a family next to me- again from Canada. Must be Canada day for me!

But these were newbies! First timers! They asked if this show was any good... This is my bestest thing at WDW! My church service! Ya, it is good. And we did have great viewing! I also tried a couple of new settings on my camera and was successful in getting some better shots.

[Whazzup]

Hi Jud,
Looks like you had a great time. You got some good shots of Arlo and Illuminations, too.

[kurtisnelson]

What is the trick to taking good fireworks and dark ride photos?

[DisneyMom]

Lots of Good Pics, Jud, more story! :)

[ejud]

What is the trick to taking good fireworks and dark ride photos?

Hi Kurt,

Practice?

hehehehee...

Obviously, a tripod. And then this time I tried a couple of more tricks having been frustrated in the past many many times.

I am using an Olympus Ultra Zoom digital camera, C 740. That is middle of the road camera- high end 'point and shoot'.

The best answer is a Digital SLR, in the $1000 plus range.

But I don't have a $1000 and I really like my Olympus. There are a lot of settings one can make and as the years go by, I learn more and more of the ones other than "auto". For these Illuminations photos, I decided to try a couple of things I had recently learned.

First, I learned that there is a manual focus on this thing! A bit tricky as they mention it in the manual, but never say how to do it! But in the on-line DL manual, they do! Only took me a couple of years and a lucky search result to discover that! So I went to manual focus, and set it to infinity: that is, anything over 8 meters (25 feet). As any user of a digital knows, the shutter lag is made up mostly of the time for auto-focus and auto-exposure. So that took auto-focus out of the equation.

Then I set for multiple shots- not sure what that is called, but you click once and it keeps going till you release. In a camera at this level, it tends to take the exposure on the first frame and stick with that for the rest, so they go off one after the other. This took out having to snap at a guessed moment a bit before the peak. I clicked when I knew something was coming, and kept it going until it was over or the buffer was filled. The shots you saw each have maybe 20 other shots between them that don't show so much. (But will work well in a "movie" of still shots, something I am into at the moment as can be seen in my Haltia video in my sig...)

This is a top-secret hard-won discovery, so please don't tell anyone!

:)

Jud

The Continuing Adventures of Jud at
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