Illuminations – Reflections of Earth
Epcot
Walt Disney World
Camera Info
Nikon D700
Lens – 24-70mm
24mm
f18
15 Seconds Exposure
Tiffen Variable ND Filter
This shot has a long story!
We arrived at Epcot at 7:00 am for the 100th Anniversary of the Girl Scout Celebration. By 8, we were all hot, tired, exhausted, and ready to leave. But then we were so close to Illuminations that we decided to stay. We made that decision at 8:30 pm! That gave me 30 minutes.
Did I mention the tripod was in the car?
Fortunately, since we were there so early, the car was close.
So I flew to the car, grabbed the tripod, and made it back to my group by 8:50.
As I’m coming past Spaceship Earth, I realized I made a big mistake! I left my tripod plate in the trunk!
I’m crushed! How did I forget that? No time to go back for it!
This wasn’t the first thing I had forgotten on the trip either! We made it an hour down the road to WDW when I remembered where the tickets were – not in the car!
So Illuminations is about to start and I have no way to mount my camera.
My friend Chip grabs all of the Girl Scout commemorative items off all our girl’s wrists. Disney had given everyone a Girl Scout fabric bracelet. We connected them, attached them to the tripod, and wrapped it around the lens. I held the end of that very tight and had the children press the shutter release cable! It told them when to press and release.
Of course, with all this chaos, I never noticed the very tall man standing right in front of me!
But thankfully with a team effort, we still got a few frames of Illuminations!