Topiaries

OK. I have had enough of the winter weather. Here are some topiaries from the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival. Enjoy and think positive thoughts for Spring… 😉

Good Light

Prince Eric’s Castle, Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World

Good Light Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/2500s, 26mm, f/4, ISO 200

Good Light
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/2500s, 26mm, f/4, ISO 200

Orange Flower

Monorail Monday

Orange Flower Nikon D5100, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8, 1/500s, f/11, ISO 400

Orange Flower
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8, 1/500s, f/11, ISO 400

Wordless Wednesday: Pirate’s Hall

Pirate's Hall Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, {1/3, 1, 2, 5, 10 & 20s bracket}, 17mm, f/16, ISO 200

Pirate’s Hall
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, {1/3, 1, 2, 5, 10 & 20s bracket}, 17mm, f/16, ISO 200

Tomorrowland Spins

Tomorrowland Spins Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 8s, 17mm, f/11, ISO 100

Tomorrowland Spins
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 8s, 17mm, f/11, ISO 100

Yellow on Yellow

On a lot of sites in the Disney photography community Monday is considered Monorail Monday. As the name implies, everyone shares their latest image of one of Disney’s monorails. I truly caught the monorail bug during my October visit and thought I would continue the obsession during my latest trip. I was a little less single minded this trip, partly due to the windier weather late in the week when I was visiting Epcot and partly due to my goal of trying more of the food offerings at the outdoor kitchens for the Flower & Garden Festival. I did manage to capture Monorail Yellow trying to compete with this yellow flower (wish I had remembered to get its name…), or maybe it is the flower competing with the monorail. 🙂

Yellow on Yellow Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/500s, 70mm, f/18, ISO 400

Yellow on Yellow
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/500s, 70mm, f/18, ISO 400

Colors of Spring

Colors of Spring Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/640s, 21mm, f/8, ISO 400

Colors of Spring
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/640s, 21mm, f/8, ISO 400

Trees

I think my friends who am I doing the weekly photo challenge with took it easy on me the past week while I was in Disney. They selected trees as the theme knowing I would have a plethora of opportunities. They were not wrong! 😉

My first park is always the Magic Kingdom. Call me sentimental but I have to go to Walt Disney World’s first park at the start of every visit. It has a way of bringing me back home. It is where this obsession all began back in 1973. And I knew exactly what tree(s) I wanted from this park. The cool metallic trees in tomorrowland! The cool concept, the design and the lighting combine to produce some amazing details to that section of the park.

Tomorrow's Trees Nikon D5100, Rokinon 8mm f/3.5, {2.5, 10 & 30s bracket}, f/11, ISO 200

Tomorrow’s Trees
Nikon D5100, Rokinon 8mm f/3.5, {2.5, 10 & 30s bracket}, f/11, ISO 200

The next day was Hollywood Studios. Another park with plenty of choices for trees. I knew it had to be something with the palm trees that line Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards. Disney did a great job of lighting these trees at night but all my attempts seem to have fallen short now that I am reviewing them on the PC. Not to worry, I grabbed a few nice images during the day. The Legends tower in the background is from the Legends of Hollywood store on Sunset Boulevard.

Legends Nikon D5100, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6, 1/1000s, 55mm, f/5.6, ISO 200

Legends
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6, 1/1000s, 55mm, f/5.6, ISO 200

On Tuesday I went to Animal Kingdom. This would be the first visit where AK would be open after sundown. I was so excited. I have seen some images from Animal Kingdom at night and had a whole list of views I wanted to capture. One in particular would be the Tree of Life lit from below. What I found is I really liked this image captured from the bridge between Asia and Dinoland. The lights from Anandapur and the seating area near Flame Tree Barbecue reflected off the water are what caught my eye. And yes, that big bright green tree on the left is the Tree of Life.

Tree of Life Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, {5, 10, 20, 40, 80 & 160s bracket}, 24mm, f/16, ISO 100

Tree of Life
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, {5, 10, 20, 40, 80 & 160s bracket}, 24mm, f/16, ISO 100

Rather than just stick with the usual three images for our challenges I thought I might as well get one from each park. Wednesday I was on to Epcot and the International Flower & Garden Festival. I was hoping there would be another Bonsai competition like I was fortunate enough to view at the festival in 2012. I was not disappointed. The trees on display were as beautiful and amazingly intricate as I remembered. The difficulty came in maneuvering into position for a nicely composed image. This tree allowed me to include that giant golf ball at Epcot (words I heard too often during my visit). lol

Bonsai Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/320s, 42mm, f/8, ISO 200

Bonsai
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/320s, 42mm, f/8, ISO 200