The Magic Kingdom

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

Finishing the Loop

Monorail Monday
Future World, Epcot, Walt Disney World

 

MLCreations Photography: Epcot &emdash; Finishing the Loop

Finishing the Loop
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/250s, 15mm, f/11, ISO 200

From the Gateway

International Gateway, Walt Disney World

 

MLCreations Photography: Epcot &emdash; From the Gateway

From the Gateway
Olympus OM-D E-M10, M. Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II R, 1/400s, 14mm, f/8, ISO 200

Across Crescent Lake

WDW in B&W – WBW03
Crescent Lake Area

 

MLCreations Photography: WDW in B&W &emdash; Across Crescent Lake

Across Crescent Lake
Nikon D7100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/200s, 24mm, f/11, ISO 200

Thunderstruck

Frontierland, Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World

My apologies to AC/DC up front. The title felt appropriate.  Here is an image of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad that I decided to play with a little.  The original image was not terrible but it was a bit lackluster.

I wanted more drama in the sky which gave me the idea of ‘tweaking’ it myself in Photoshop.  I placed the original sky on a separate layer, enlarged it a little and then applied a radial blur.  The origin of the blur is a third from the bottom in the center.  This location gave the sky a more natural movement and highlighted the silhouette of the ride the way I envisioned it.

 

MLCreations Photography: WDW in B&W &emdash; Thunderstruck

Thunderstruck
Nikon D7100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/400s, 17mm, f/8, ISO 200

Coming Into the Station

Monorail Monday
Epcot, Walt Disney World

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Coming Into the Station

Coming Into the Station
Nikon D7100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/500s, 70mm, f/8, ISO 400

Space Mountain

WDW in B&W – WBW02
Tomorrowland, Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World

Do you ever get a concept for an image in your head and then when you attempt to execute it just doesn’t look right? That was me yesterday morning. I had an idea for something I thought would look cool and the conditions appeared to be in my favor (at least at home). When I arrived at my locations the sky was clear with nothing to help add color and interest to my concept. I tried! I really did but it was just not working, so I bought some donut holes and went back home to drown my sorrows… LOL!

I’ll keep the concept in the back of my head for another day.

What you get instead is another look at my Walt Disney World in Black & White series. I’m including the original color version as well for this post as I think it works as an interesting image too. I like the starkness of the all white Space Mountain building against a cloud-filled sky with just a hint of additional color from the sign.  It might actually be a stronger image than my conversion to B&W.

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Space Mountain

Space Mountain
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8, 1/4000s, f/2.8, ISO 200

 

MLCreations Photography: WDW in B&W &emdash; Space Mountain - BW

Space Mountain
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8, 1/4000s, f/2.8, ISO 200

The Forbidden One

WDW in B&W – WBW01
Animal Kingdom, Walt Disney World

 

MLCreations Photography: WDW in B&W &emdash; The Forbidden One

The Forbidden One
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8, 1/250s, f/16, ISO 400