Storm Front

Posted by Mike on September 7, 2016

Melbourne Beach, FL

Yesterday I mentioned that I cut my visit to the Magic Kingdom short. The other compelling reason the decision was easy to make was the approaching storm and I wanted to get to a beach to capture the sunset. I drove straight to Melbourne Beach Park hoping I made the right choice. I think I did.

MLCreations Photography: Landscapes &emdash; Storm Front

Storm Front
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 2.5s, 19mm, f/16, ISO 400

The Magic Kingdom

Posted by Mike on September 6, 2016

Train Station, Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World

Last week I drove my mother-in-law back to Florida. It was an extended weekend for me as we left on Wednesday, arrived on Thursday and I flew back on Sunday. The tropical storm/hurricane/strong winds with rain that was/is Hermine had a minimal impact on central Florida which was lucky for us as there was some work to be done opening up her place. We did drive through some rain in Georgia ahead of the storm making landfall and each day I was in Florida there was some rain but to me that always happens. The rain never seems to last very long.

Even though the forecast was for thunder showers most of the day Saturday I took a chance and drove over to the Magic Kingdom. It had been almost a year since my last visit to the first Walt Disney World park and I wanted to spend a lazy day walking around the kingdom. The crowds were a little more than I had hoped for but not as bad as they could have been for a holiday weekend. We also got an early afternoon shower but I was prepared with my poncho and a little water never hurt me.

My original plan was to stay into the early evening since the park was open until 1am but the heat of the day and the prospect of driving back to the east coast only to drive back to the Orlando airport early the next day had me exiting the park unusually early. As luck would have it the area in front of the train station was completely empty as I worked my way to the exit so I naturally had to grab a few images.

MLCreations Photography: Magic Kingdom &emdash; The Magic Kingdom

The Magic Kingdom
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 17mm f/1.8, 1/200s, f/16, ISO 400

Living History

Posted by Mike on September 5, 2016

Lock E-13 Living History Rest Area

Traveling West along the NY State Thruway from Albany you can experience a new type of rest area. There is a Living History Rest Area at Lock E-13 along the NY State Barge Canal. It is not your typical rest area. There is no gas station or fast food restaurant available. It is a stop along a busy thruway where you can soak up some history of the growth of New York State. Inside the rest area building you can also experience Taste NY to sample local history and food.

Anyone who has followed my blog knows I am a fan of the barge canal system (for the plethora of photo opportunities). I have been watching this new area along the thruway being developed as I travel back and forth to the Albany area. I noticed last week as I went to drop my car off at the airport that the rest area was open. It was a little late at night for a stop but yesterday afternoon was the perfect opportunity.

I suppose it was a safe bet I would be stopping at this rest area with all my camera gear in the car as a made my way home from my latest excursion. Being such a sunny day I grabbed the Olympus E-M10 with the 17mm lens and went for a walk. There is plenty of open area to enjoy. You can not get as close to canal as I can at the sections close to home but the views from the fence are beautiful.

The first image is the canal side of the rest area building. Inside you can find the appropriate facilities for a rest stop along with a Taste NY marketplace full of local items. I was very tempted to purchase some of the cheese curds for the rest of the drive home but I knew I would not stop at a sampling. The whole container would have been gone by the time I arrived at home.

The second image is of the dam. I included the information sign so I would not have to remember exactly all the details (I know, a little lazy of me or was it smart?). The actual Lock E-13 is just to the right of the dam outside of this image. Although it was a bright sunny day this image felt better to me in monochrome. It probably was due to the sign, as it was also a monochrome image of the dam.

In the third image I wanted to capture both the lock and the dam structure. The image does not do the view any justice. The dam itself it quite large (well large for a canal). I loved having the white buildings contrasting with the brilliant blue sky. Maybe it is due to my Swedish background but there is also something about the blue and yellow paint scheme used for all the locks that also captures my eye. Maybe I’m biased, who knows. 😉

Standing in a corner of the fence at the point closest to the lock gave me an idea. The clear sky and calm day almost begged for me to due a panoramic view of this area. Starting with a shot looking West I captured 9 images, ending 180 degrees looking East. It was a simple process of combining all nine images using Photoshop. The beauty of the new Photoshop is the content aware fill option. This option allowed me to not have to crop out those blank areas of the pano after the program combined all nine images. Photoshop filled in the blanks based on what was in the vicinity. For this image this process worked really well as it was filling in sky and grass.

I think the next time I have to travel to Albany I will be making sure I have time to stop at this rest area again. It will be to enjoy the scenery I swear. It will have nothing to do with my desire to sample some of the food items in the Taste NY marketplace… 🙂