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Well,
I'm a long time Disneyland fan!
I'm a character hunter who likes to go to the park and snap photos of the characters. It's always fun to hang out with the characters
and watch them as they interact with the crowds. Photography wise, it's a challenge and a great skill to take really good character photos. With the crowds, intermittent character appearances, and difficult to
find locations, it can be quite a challenge getting really good character photos.
Odds are you've already seen
me in the park snapping photos.
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Why not? Without this site, all of
these photos would probably never make it online and end up collecting cyber-dust in the boundless space of DVDs and CDs. This
website allows me to showcase
the photos in one specific location for all Disneyland
cast members to enjoy. And more importantly, it's an easy way for
cast members to find photos of themselves. Mickey loves to see photos
of himself from time to time, but it could be difficult for him to take photos when he's climbing the Matterhorn!
After being questioned by a host
about how a character could go
about getting photos that I was
taking, I realized that I needed
to find an easy way for
characters to have access to the
photos that I enjoy taking so
much. This is my way to give back to the characters
and cast members for providing all Disneyland fans with great experiences
and being the real magic of
Disneyland. Of course, if Mickey is on dial-up, he'll probably want to switch to cable if not only to make his
myspace to load fast, but this site as well!
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Nope, not at all. So why should
I bother with this if I am not getting paid? And who's paying for the hosting of this site and domain? Well, at the moment,
I am
paying for the hosting/domain. I might add google ads to the site at some point for hosting costs, but
I'm not going to start charging people to view the photos. And
I'm never going to have pop-ups...
pop-ups are more annoying than being stuck in Small World for a week straight. Well... maybe not AS annoying. There's no hidden things here or membership required.
I'm just a friendly photographer who wants to
share the photos I take with the cast members and characters of Disneyland!
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No. Although,
I'm at the park so much, most of
my cast member friends say the only
thing
I'm
missing is a Disney paycheck! I do know a lot of cast members
(especially entertainment and
guest control) in all areas of both resorts and have
much of their full support of this site. While
I have heavily considered trying
for a photographer for
Disneyland, I prefer the more freelance way of
snapping photos rather than what the park offers.
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No.
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Not at
all, except for the fact that
I'm at the park quite often
during the week. But why not make full use of a pass that costs
quite a bit
each year? I also understand that it's a privilege to have a pass, not a luxury.
I appreciate the jobs every cast member has to do, and
I never take the pass for granted.
I don't own the park, nor pay
directly for the salaries of cast members.
I don't get special VIP benefits and
I certainly don't get to go wherever
I want in the park (ie
backstage). The day I would abuse
my AP is the day I don't deserve one.
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Well,
I'm not all that hard to spot.
You've probably seen me around
the park before... everyone
always says I'm easy to spot
once you've seen me for the
first time. I usually wear
a hat (which is a excellent
shade source for viewing LCD
screens when shooting photos),
have a big black flash battery
going from my belt to my
camera's flash, and
have a big black camera that
scares anyone who seems to look
at it. Or just ask other
cast members, they probably know
who I am.
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More than most people think.
I have been a member of Star Wars costume groups
for many years and have been around countless Star Wars characters at conventions and other special
events. Britt is the official photographer for the 501st Legion, a world-wide Star
Wars group that has a membership of hundreds of Star Wars characters. He travels to events and conventions all over, directly working with characters and playing host to many of them much like Disneyland's
character hosts. He's played
several Star Wars (Darth Vader,
Boba Fett, & Luke Skywalker)
characters at conventions and
local events.
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I HEAVILY respect privacy of
any cast member. There may be times when Ariel may not like certain make-up she had on that day or a certain pose.
I have no
problem pulling the photo off the site. The best way to do that is to
contact
me and give
me the name of the image and what day
it was on. As soon as I get the message,
I'll pull the image off. It may take a little time for
me to get to it, but I'll do the best we can.
Furthermore, know I will NEVER
use names in the park or on this
site. I have no need
for names unless you are
trying to get to know me or
trying to get me to know who you
are, so rest assured I will keep
your identity totally private if
you want.
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This site revolves around images that are 1000 pixels long.
My 'monster camera' outputs images at 7-14 megs in size and are so big right out of the camera that they can be made into 20x30s without any work. Because
of these sizes, and the fact that there's only 20 gigs currently on the server,
I can't offer full res images of every photo
I post. And while I'd love to send full res images to people, imagine if every
character and cast member in the park asked
me for a large photo! I have a
full-time job outside the park and
actually (surprise! Inside joke
for those who know) have a live
outside the park as well, so we can't honor all requests. You're more than welcome to try and
contact
me, but please keep in mind
I do have a very busy
schedule.
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Providing
I don't get too busy, it should be
several times a week. Obviously, visits are subject to weather, health, camera battery levels, and transportation
(among other things). Often times
I just pop into the park
after work. My work isn't
far from the park and is
actually on the way home.
Although, some cast members
would say Disneyland IS my
second home. But odds are
I'll be at the park on the
weekends almost all day, and on
the weekdays after 5pm.
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Well, I can't allow hotlinking.
I don't have unlimited bandwidth unfortunately, and even though
I have a terabyte of bandwidth,
I can't foresee what the future
requirements will be for this site if it really
gets larger. So I must ask that if you want to post the image somewhere, please save the image locally and then
upload to a free uploading service such as
http://imageshack.us/ or
http://photobucket.com/. If you want to link to the image and not repost the image, that should be fine as long as the image is
not loading
on the other site. It might be better to just link to the entire gallery for that day.
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Well,
I can't be everywhere at once! Often times
I'll hang out with a character for a while and might miss several characters in the park. Remember, mostly
I'm
just at the park to have fun
with cast members and characters and snap some photos. And although
I love characters, it’s not the only thing
I like to enjoy when I'm in the park! But don't worry, eventually
I'm bound to snap a photo
of you! There have been days
where I've been dragged by
characters to certain areas for
hours at a time, and because I
have many friends in the park, I
often will hang around with them
for a while to try and brighten
their day. I'm just one
person doing this and not
getting paid in the least, so
please be patient. I do my
very best.
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Lots of possible things could have happened. Camera movement, blurry photo, the flash didn't fire, it was too dark,
it was blown out, error when the
camera was taking the photo, etc. While
I'll try and put up as many photos
from the days I go as I can, it all depends on how things turned out. Often
I pick the bests of the batch to put online. However, you're welcome to
contact
me if you’re looking for something specific.
Unfortunately, I have high
standards for my photos
(perfectionist + photographer =
bad), so often I am very picky
of what goes online.
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I have to follow the park rules of course.
I don't want you nor myself to get into trouble.
I'm more than happy to snap photos of you for fun if
I know where
you are, but only as long as it doesn't violate any rules, disrupt traffic,
disrupt normal Disneyland Resort operations, jeopardize your job, or jeopardize
revoking my pass! Remember, the type of photos that
I showcase on
this site are characters and cast members doing what they do best!
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I'd love to make this a massive community of character photos, but
unfortunately I'm limited on space with only 20 gigs total. Things are going to add up quickly. However, depending on
how big this site gets, that is an option down the road. A very long road... that leads to chaos
for me... and my wallet.
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I
try and add a new
gallery at least 2-3 times a
week. It's generally on
weekdays when
I add new galleries, and usually between 4pm and 8pm. Keep
in mind I do everything myself,
and I'm just one person who has
a life and normal job outside of
Disneyland.
And being that it's just me,
it's possible there will be
times where I take long breaks
from updating the site just so I
don't burn out. The temp
folder is updated nearly 2-3
times a week however and will
continue to operate that way.
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I'd love to start shooting over there, but there's no real schedule of characters
when they come out and where they will be. There's a wide assortment of non-face characters that appear, and some famous ones... but it's just knowing when to be in
the park. It's not like Princesses at Disneyland when you know about when they will be out. During the summer things will expand a bit more to encompass DCA.
I shoot Electrical Parade now,
and often am requested to the
Hollywood Backlot area to take
photos... but that's about it
for DCA at the moment.
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Undecided...
I will probably make it a point to travel over to DCA to capture the
Block Party Bash parade rarely, but for the most part the most characters are at Disneyland. It's difficult for
me to park hop a ton of times throughout the day
(exhausting to say the least), so often it's just Disneyland for
me.
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As Push, the talking tomorrowland trashcan, put it... 'You must be a spy!' There are two types of lenses that I will use with the camera at the park. Often, I will
have the smaller lens, a Canon
28-135mm USM IS F4.5, that's
used for more close subject
photos. I bring the 'monster lens' (as it's now
called) to get really close and
get the best quality. The lens is a Canon 100-400mm USM IS F4.5 lens. What in the world does that mean? Well, it's the lens I use at Airshows to capture military aircraft in flight. It's got a
ultrasonic 9USM) autofocus motor system on it and a high tech image stabilizer
(IS) gyro built into it. It costs more than most people's really high end computer. What it allows me, especially during the day, is to really
capture the performers in the parade with a beautiful blurred background and to get very very close to the performers and park characters from very far distances. Remember, it's used to capture a high speed
military jet fighters that
might be several hundred feet away.
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I have the luxury of working just a few blocks from the park. Going to the park after work to catch the evening parade is just taking a few side streets for me. I try
and go every weekend I'm not at Airshows or Air Events. Some weeks I'm able to do 5-days in a row (which are killer), other weeks I can only fit one trip after work.
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It can take me several hours to do. It's a very long process, which starts at just picking out the best photos to put online. A good 20% or much more never make it
online. Doesn't mean they are bad photos... just if I shot 25 shots of Ariel at her stop, there doesn't really need to be 25 shots posted in the gallery. 5 will do just fine. If the gallery is
just about 60 images, it can take a few hours. If the gallery is 300 or more, it can take 3 days.
From there I tweak many of the
images and give them special
touches. From there, I
have to make the thumbnails and
images with the watermark, and
then finally upload them to the
site and make the gallery page.
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I do that every parade viewing now. It allows me, in often cases, to catch both sides of the parade so I don't miss the performers and characters on the other side.
Plus, often there's a difference in lighting, and I can catch a different unit stop. It's a lot of work
and usually requires walking fast and/or running to the third stop. There's certain
routes that
I can take that will get me there just as the third stop is moving.
Often times you can tell if it's a crowded day because once I reach the second stop I'll
be out of breath and looking very tired. If only
I really were cloned...
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It really depends on how many characters I see and where I am for the parade.
Usually, when I'm there from 10am till 12am... it'll be around
900 to 1,500 photos. I have 8 gb, 4 gb, 2gb, and 512 mb compact flash cards with me... so I could take much more.
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Just find me in the park!
If you talk to other cast
members, they can predict where
I'll be for the parades, which
is the best way to find me.
Come by and say hello, I don't
bite!
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Here's a photo from the
November 2006 Nellis AFB Airshow
with a F-22A Raptor:
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THE LEGAL STUFF
All photos are ©
their respective owners. Website Design. layout, & Graphics © Britt Dietz
Disneyland Cast member Magic is not affiliated nor a part of
Disneyland Resort or the Walt Disney company in any way.
Disney characters, fonts, and Disneyland Resort are © the Walt Disney
Company, Pixar, Touchstone, etc.
It takes a lot of
effort and time for us to keep this project going, so please respect
the photos on this site! If you wish to use them in some shape
or form, please contact the respective photographer for permission.
It's just a nice thing to do and we really do appreciate it! |
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