Star Wars Weekends

Posted by Mike on May 17, 2013

Walt Disney World started hosting Star Wars Weekends at the Hollywood Studios park in 1997. Over the years this annual event has grown in size to now run for four consecutive weekends every spring. I made my first trip to this event last year.

Generally the very first SW weekend coincides with the last weekend of the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival so I was able to attend both events. I was hoping to pull off a repeat trip this year but work related issues prevented me from going. Seeing how today is the first day for this year’s events I thought I would post a few re-worked images from my trip last year.

Stormtrooper Entrance
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6, 1/320s, 62mm, f/8, ISO 100

Star Tours
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/10s, 62mm, f/5.6, ISO 3200

Jedi Mickey
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/400s, 46mm, f/5.6, ISO 100

Darth Vader
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/100s, 70mm, f/5.6, ISO 100

Flower and Garden Festival

Posted by Mike on March 13, 2013

Over the last 20 years the Epcot park in Walt Disney World has presented an International Flower & Garden Festival for 8 weeks in the spring. The entire park is budding with horticultural displays, events and activities. I was fortunate enough to spend a few days at last years festival with my new camera and was totally blown away with the whole presentation.

I had planned on attending again this year but my plans did not come to fruition. With the melting snow and hopefully emerging greenery here in Upstate NY I wanted to share some of the images from my trip. One of my favorite displays was the bonsai competition. A majority of the entries were on display in the Japan pavilion in World Showcase. Looking at the images last night I wish I had spent more time getting better compositions and watching my backgrounds. I’m sure I could do a better job now…

We Take a Break for a Quick Disney Moment…

Posted by Mike on January 17, 2013

I have not had time to go exploring with the camera the past few days and have been thinking it is time to plan the next trip to Disney. So, looking through the unprocessed images from my last trip I present Temple of Heaven, China Pavilion, Epcot…

Temple of Heaven
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/30s, 17mm, f/8, ISO 400

Icon and Details

Posted by Mike on October 21, 2012

Maybe I’m a little home sick for my second home or maybe it is the rainy, dreary weather here in Upstate NY that has me looking at my pictures from Walt Disney World but either way you are stuck seeing more of them. I didn’t capture as many pictures during my latest trip as I have in the past and but I feel the ones I have posted so far have been of a better quality.

The two images below are from the Animal Kingdom, specifically in the Asia section of the park. The first is from the walkway between Expedition Everest and the Finding Nemo show looking back at the Tree of Life, the seating area for the Flame Tree Barbecue and the Everest shrine. The second is a detail image of the temple near the Everest shrine. I think I capture this view on every visit.