Dragon Attack - © Copyright 2012 by William Beem

The Magic Arm Strikes Again

This is another one of those places where tripods are (technically) forbidden – the Conservatory at The Bellagio in Las Vegas.  It’s very popular with visitors, so I can understand the restriction.  Splaying out a tripod around people who aren’t looking where they’re walking is a good recipe for an accident.  Sure enough, I saw a young woman using her tripod at the other end and some other visitor walked right into it.  Fortunately, no major damage done to anyone.

There is a rail right where I’m standing for this photo.  I just pulled my Manfrotto Magic Arm with Camera Bracket and Super Clamp with Standard Stud out of my camera bag.  Within a moment, I had a stable platform to take my photos in low light. This beautiful little combo has saved me from pushing into high ISO plenty of times.  It’s one of the standard tools in my bag.

Year of the Dragon - © Copyright 2012 by William Beem

The Colorful Lanterns

I made it into Las Vegas shortly after the Palazzo unveiled this display for the Year of the Dragon. Although it isn’t very prominent in this shot (only the tail is showing), the dragon is enormous. What fascinated me were all of the lanterns hanging from the atrium. The colors and spacing really captured my attention After all, there are plenty of dragons around town (the Bellagio Conservatory has a spectacular display that I’ll share in the future), but an atrium full of lanterns is a bit unique.

Now if they ever celebrate something with an atrium full of piñatas, I’m bringing a really long stick to Las Vegas.

Nativity on Ice - © Copyright 2011 by William Beem

For those of you who celebrate, Merry Christmas.  To all of you, thank you very much for visiting the blog.  I appreciate the comments and interaction and will  have much more to share with you in the coming year as I expand into some new projects.

Mickey's Last Christmas - © Copyright 2011 by William Beem

Who would’ve guessed that last year would be Mickey Mouse’s last Christmas in his own house? In an ironic twist of fate, the Mayor of Toontown lost his home – and entire city – to eminent domain. It’s rumored that the city was caught up in the sub-prime mortgage collapse. Many of the properties were heavily leveraged and could not sustain the economic meltdown. Many residents were out of work.  Goofy couldn’t afford fuel for his crop-dusting business, farms dried up and collapse was inevitable.

As a result, homes were bought for pennies on the dollar and sold to a developer that bulldozed every residence and business in the area to make way for a new theme park.  I hear it’s even going to have a castle standing on the ashes of what was once the mayor’s home. Some folks accuse Goofy of collusion with the developer in exchange for a sweet deal in the new land, but those rumors are unconfirmed. Today, Mickey roams around Main Street and depends upon the kindness of strangers.

Christmas in Las Vegas - © Copyright 2011 by William Beem

Most years, I spend my Christmas holiday in Las Vegas. I’m going to miss it this year because it’s actually become a very comforting place for me.  I get to see some friends who live there, get some comfort food at Mr. Lucky’s in the Hard Rock Hotel, and enjoy some cool weather without getting into snow. It’s also typically one of the less crowded periods there, so I don’t have to fight through hordes of bodies to get from one place to another and rates are very low. It’s definitely my favorite time to visit Las Vegas.

Everything seems oversized and grand along the Las Vegas Strip, including these golden presents in the Bellagio. It’s such an ostentatious display that you have to wonder what it would be like to rip it open on Christmas morning, even though I don’t really do presents. Instead, I have a bit of a routine of favorite places that I like to visit on Christmas, some favorite restaurants for my meals that day, and a wish to hit a jackpot just once.  Still waiting on that last one.

The Christmas Lodge - © Copyright 2011 by William Beem

Something about the enormous Christmas trees at Disney resorts just attracts photographers like flies.  Look on the right side of the tree and you’ll see a camera bag, a standing tripod, and another tripod resting on the couch.  Whoever owns that gear is very trusting! I don’t think my gear is ever out of arm’s reach when I’m out and about.

This tree is the centerpiece at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge.  I decided to get up a bit higher to shoot this one, rather than work at floor level like I did for the Grand Floridian Christmas tree. Both of them have that red chair, though, making you think Santa could arrive at any moment.

Three Creepy Pigs & a Christmas Tree

Christmas Week continues on the blog with what must be one of the creepiest scenes I’ve ever photographed. These are more characters from Shrek carved in ice at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Orlando. Like most visual treats for tourists, it’s put behind a rope that reminds people that you can’t touch or lick the ice. Clearly, these folks are far more trusting than NASA, who is the undisputed champion of having visually cool stuff spoiled by unnecessary obstructions.

Ropes aside, I was absolutely fascinated by this scene.  Not only are the pigs standing up, but they’ve been shaved bald and are wearing caps. You have to be in awe of the twisted mind who created these characters for Shrek.

Reasons to be Thankful - © Copyright 2011 by William Beem

Another Thanksgiving holiday in America. Traditionally, we gather with family and feast on a turkey dinner. For many folks, it’s a four day weekend, if not a longer holiday. Sometimes I wonder how many of us really take the time to understand the reason for the holiday in the first place.

I’ve had a few knocks in recent weeks, but I think I can still find reasons to be thankful for what I have.

1. My teeth are clean.
2. The doctor passed me on my physical.
3. I’ll spend time with my family today stuffing myself silly.
4. I’ll have leftovers to bring home so I can do it all again.
5. My dogs love me.
6. I’m in a position to pursue the things that I enjoy doing.

That last one is the flip side of being suddenly unemployed. I’ve been plugging away on my own projects that, I hope, will bear fruit and sustain me.  Time will tell if I’m right or not, but for now, I have what I need to get by the next few weeks and I genuinely feel good about what I’m doing.  Even if it turns out to be a brief interlude, I think that’s a reason to be thankful.

Oh, as for that guy in the picture above – he also has a reason to be thankful.  He lives in the local zoo, so nobody is going to eat him today.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Shrek the Halls - © Copyright 2011 by William Beem

I went to the Gaylord Palms resort near Disney yesterday to check out ICE!  It’s an annual event with some amazing ice carving scenes. This year (and perhaps last year, too), they went with a Shrek theme. The place is pretty dark, and also cold.  They keep the temperature at 9 degrees.  It seems an odd change when you consider it was almost 90 degrees outside today.  I dressed warmly for ICE! and I was actually quite comfortable with the temp inside. That’s good, because this was another one of those places filled with visitors milling about and it required a lot of patience on my part to get a shot without a bunch of people in parkas taking snapshots in front of the various scenes.

They did a pretty good job on the Shrek scenes, but I kind of miss some of the previous show carving scenes – they were a bit more original. Gaylord Palms brings master artisans from Harbin, China to create these scenes each year. Their creativity and attention to detail is outstanding.

Illuminations - © Copyright 2011 by William Beem

To all my American friends, Happy Independence Day.  To everyone else, we’re closed today.  We celebrate by not working (except for restaurants, theme parks, gas stations and grocery stores), charring animal flesh, and blowing up stuff. Even as I write this the night before, I can here my neighbors outside blowing off fingers and toes right now.

I took this photo on Independence Day last year, where I learned something.  Shooting fireworks is a pain. Sure, there are plenty of people who give you advice on how to shoot – exposure settings and all that.  However, nothing really compares to real experience.

First, you need to get there very early to stake out your spot.  Fireworks on the 4th are always crowded and there are only so many spots where you can setup a tripod (necessary for long exposures). Even then, people will crowd all around you, so you don’t have room to move and you have to worry about running kids knocking over your gear. When I tried this at the Magic Kingdom, I thought I had a nice spot overlooking Cinderella’s Castle from the side where there’s an interesting reflection.  However, all of the fireworks were shot from behind the castle, so the best viewing angle was in front of it.  Things didn’t look quite spectacular as I had hoped.

Being there alone, I couldn’t leave my gear to get a drink or a bite to eat – that was torture. In this shot, I’m on the balcony of the Japanese restaurant in EPCOT and they had cocktail service.  I still didn’t get to eat, but after a few glasses of wine, I didn’t care.  Either way, it was still hot, muggy and crowded.

The conundrum of shooting fireworks is simple.  Fireworks cause smoke to linger in the air, which you don’t want to see.  Therefore, your best shots of fireworks will be very early in the show.  However, the spectacular stuff doesn’t happen until the end of the show when the sky is full of smoke.

You know those wonderful photos you see of a city skyline with perfect fireworks in the sky, and no smoke?  Well, it’s sort of done with smoke & mirrors. If you want a shot like that, you need to do some compositing.  Take a shot of the scene that you want with no fireworks.  Then, take photos of the perfect fireworks explosions in the sky.  When you get back to your post processing environment, extract the fireworks and add them to your scene on a different layer.  That’s how you get the shot. Like many things elsewhere, picture-perfect is often unrealistic.

That said, Happy Independence Day.