Went up to Maui for a funeral on Tuesday. Afterwards, I had some time to roam the island and take some photos. I have a soft spot for small towns and historic places and many of these spots spark nostalgia in me...

I recently added a new member to my family of Canon lenses - the 35mm 1.4L. Simply put, this thing is amazing. 

I took it with me on my recent trip to Las Vegas and Disneyland (yes, again). The following photos are straight out of the camera (for the most part). I may have cropped them slightly and upped the fill light just a tiny bit, but for the most part, what you see is what you get. 

This past week, I had the opportunity to take my hungry eyes over to the Disneyland Resort in California. As a frequent visitor, rather than just leisurely enjoying myself, I went with a mission this time. I went with purpose - to capture as many characters as I could with my cameras.

I decided to travel light. Most of my photos would be shot in the generous light of the SoCal sun, so fast, heavy lenses and strobes stayed home and wept.

Camera and lenses:

• Canon 5D Mark II
• 24-105L f4 - good all around lens,
• 70-200 f4-5.6 - great for parade closeups
• 85mm 1.8 - I don't think I used this even once
• 50mm 1.8 - Ideally, I would have a 35mm 1.4 but this would have to do. Great for nighttime or in the rides shots.
• 15mm 2.8 fisheye - something different
• Canon s95 - brought along this point-n-shoot so that I could give it to other people to take pics of me. Lending people my SLR often led to blurry useless shots and me sobbing buckets (and I look really stupid doing that, so no more).

Now, Most people who's been to a Disney park will tell you that getting a photo of or with a character is no easy feat. You've gotta wait in line, the character could leave at any time, regardless of HOW LONG you waited, or they may not show up or be substituted by some other character right as you are about to step up to the plate. (I noticed that this happens especially if you want a photo with someone in particular. Grr...)

Related story. I was waiting for the Tomorrowland Monorail the other day and overheard a woman griping "I haven't seen one Disney character the entire week that we've been here. Are we even at Disneyland?" I sort of chuckled inside.

They're here, dear, but you have to be lucky, a fortunate victim of happenstance, or... put in the energy to study a particular cahracters schedules and hunt them down.

 Luck was on my side and all three things happened on this visit. Happy, happy! :)

I took a while bunch of shots, but most would be reduntant to the stuff I posted last year. Instead, I'm just putting up the with Disney face characters (no masks). 

You can view the complete set here on Facebook.

I have a soft spot for Polar Bears.

At home, the family and I make sure any unused electrical circuit is switched off "to save a Polar Bear."

It's my son's favorite animal.

I usually pay no attention to embedded advertisements, but one for Polar Bears International came up and I just had to click on it. They encourage you to adopt one the animals to support "Polar Bears International's research, stewardship, and education efforts." I'm quite inclined to do so. 

I'll talk to my son, but I'm wondering if my 7yo will even understand the symbolic adoption of a wild polar bear.

Here are a couple of pics I shot while at the San Diego Zoo this past October. Aren't these creatures beautiful?

Earlier this week, I received an email from a woman who works at Fishbowl Worldwide Media, LLC in Hollywood. I originally thought it was spam, but my senses told me otherwise. So I called.

Apparently, someone at Disney found some pictures I had taken of our family at our recent trip to Disneyland. Now, I love the Mouse (I actually love the princesses even more but the 'mouse' statement is more standard fare), so when they asked if I'd be interested in letting them use the photos for their "Let the Memories Begin" campaign for 2011, there was no hesitation. I'd fill out those 12 pages of forms - sure, no problem!

Yesterday, I learned that they had narrowed the pool down. The following photo is on their short list for use on their print collateral and advertisements for next year. Yay!

This has been more exciting for me as a parent than it has been as a photographer. As a photographer, I sometimes get too swept up in the technical aspect of things and I forgot the importance that sentiment and posterity play.  I mean, this isn't what I would consider my best photo at all, but the sincerity in my boy's expression is there and THAT is the selling point.

I uploaded the photos to their Dropbox, with the required caption on this photo being:

Andrew and Elton on Gadget's Go Coaster at Toontown

This was the the kids’ first ride on a roller-coaster of any kind. I remember being amazed at how fearless they felt and joyful they were. It was such a pure moment. Disneyland just has that effect on us.

I'm not sure what kind of compensation I'll receive, but I've been told that regardless of whether a photo of mine is chosen, I am guaranteed some limited edition Disney lithographs just for my time and trouble. 

Anyway, I shall keep you guys posted. I'll definitely post pics of the lithographs when they come in. 

See the full gallery of our trip to Disneyland by clicking over here!

Take a peek at Disney's "Let the Memories Begin" campaign. This makes me all mushy inside!

It's aviator Minnie!

I've been fortunate enough to visit both Disneyland AND Disneyworld in the last 4 months. At both parks, I'd made it a mission to photograph as many "face characters" (costumed Disney castmembers whose faces are not hidden by a mask or faux head) as possible. I'm aware that I've over-saturated these pics. Maybe too much. The reasoning behind that was that I wanted to make them look cartoonish. Hmm...anyway, this is what I have so far. I'm hoping to add to my collection in the future as the scavenger hunt continues! :) 

Stopped by Vermont on the second leg of my journey a couple of months back. Why, one might ask? My buddy Keith is up there with the awesome Debbie. I've known the guy since Intermediate school and just...wanted to check up on him. (Haha). He was cool enough to take me into the country for some photo ops. We happened across the Von Trapp family lodge (where they escaped to during the World War II. Go watch the Sound of Music), as well as the quaint little town of Stowe. The people were great, and the food was eclectic. I kind of wished I could have stayed a bit longer.