One of the photographers for the Disney Theme Parks, Gene Duncan, has joined the writing staff of the Disney Parks Blog. ; He has already made his first post over there and provide a backstage photo that he likes. It sounds like he is still thinking about he plans on using his new voice on the web, but it might be fun to see what he comes up with. Here is a link to his first post: http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2 ... d-forever/
I think a little cross promotion didn't hurt anyone ; Sounds like the guy who runs the blog, Thomas Smith, is really accepting of the various other online fan presence. I will be happy the day I find out Tim has managed to network his way into getting to know someone who is actually an official Disney photographer. ; I'm not talking guest-facing photopass CMs, but the people who take the pictures that end up in their marketing material. ; I'm sure there is a lot someone can learn from them.
I left a comment and indirectly mentioned about a group of Disney fan photographers meeting at WDW in December. ; Wasn't sure if I said Pixelmania if it would be accepted.
Someone mentioned on Twitter, that the moderators of the comments are stripping out links to fan sites, so I would suspect that mentioning Pixelmania!, by name, would've gotten it stripped out
Forget networking with them, I'd like to have their job! Joe Penniston and I were just talking about this the other day. ; I imagine the Disney pros have a great deal of talent, but it stinks that we can't see them put some of this creative talent to work with their unique access to the parks. ; The shots we typically see from them are the typical stock shots in the WDW souvenir books. ; Those shots are okay, but they are a lot more conservative since the books are aimed at the casual guest, not photographers. Don't get me wrong, there are some moderately creative shots that we see released, but many of the shots are nothing more than average. I am very interested in this blog for that reason. ; Hopefully he takes this opportunity to show off some of those creative shots! ; What I would really love is for an 'artistic' coffee table book of creative WDW shots.
Tom, create your own book. ; Barrie, my blogmate at AllEars, just did. Or, edit one from all the talent on flickr like you did the gallery. ; A few Photopass people really go out of there way and you can tell they enjoy photography. ; Most use the tried and true shots. ; I even saw the 'forumla' (ie., exposure settings) attached to the Photopass person's tripod near the bridge in MK for those castle shots people love. Has anybody asked how one becomes a photographer for Disney? ; I bet it's like becoming an artist and, yes, you know they are much better than what Disney uses for there promotions. ; What I see on flickr and here is much more creative. To be honest, Gene put up a behind the scenes shot but it wasn't all that great except for the subject.
Creating my own book is cost-prohibitive unless I were to do it print on demand style, which would make it so expensive that I doubt anyone would purchase it (I had a passing curiosity once and already looked into it). I think PhotoPass uses the tried and true shots because that's what they MUST use. ; That's what people want. ; People don't want some low angle shot of them getting crazy near the trees in Tomorrowland. ; I think that's the same reason we don't see many cool shots in the souvenir books. ; I understand that's what the books need to appeal to the general public, but I still think they are a little too conservative (maybe Disney doesn't give the general public enough credit?). ; I'm not looking for 'edgy' shots or anything like that, just some shots that are a little more unique. ; Just about anyone who knows a bit about photography can get a properly exposed shot of the Castle or SSE. ; I want to see something more. ; Maybe that's just me. After the previous post, I started looking into how to get in touch with Yellow Shoes (Disney's creative group). ; I doubt I will hear back from anyone, but hey, it's worth a shot! By the way - Gene responded that he's heard about Pixelmania on the blog...
I guess that can be good or bad...I'm hoping good ; That means that our marketing has been good. ; Let us know if you hear anything back from Disney's Creative Arm (Yellow Shoes). ;
I went to the blog to look for the above mentioned reference that Tom mentioned. ; It was actually a bit more exciting. ; Here is his exact reply
That is exciting....hope Tim sees this down in WDW. Tom, I hope you hear from Disney and not get ignored. ; Good luck!
Re: Disney Photog, Gene Duncan, writes for Disney My wife and I ran into Gene in MK on Tuesday morning! We were walking in Frontierland and saw a guy wearing Disney credentials with a BIG lens (Nikon 500mm) on a tripod and we had to swing by and say hi. Gene was shooting taking some shots of the Prince and Princess on the new Princess and the Frog show on the Liberty Belle. We chatted for about 30 minutes about this that and everything else. He did mention the new blog and I bookmarked it as soon as we got home. The cool thing was he wasn't there on a particular assignment. He just had a big lens and wanted to go take some shots in the park. Of all the times we have been at Disney, Gene is the first photog we have ever seen. Very cool experience.
