Guest Author Sunday-Lottie Ferguson

Guest Author Sunday

Lottie Ferguson

Meet this week's Guest Author-Lottie Ferguson. Lottie Ferguson is a baby wearing, breastfeeding & cloth diaper advocate that also happens to love all things Disney.  She and her husband are raising two little princesses to be earth friendly Disney lovers.

I'm no stranger to a camera.  In fact, I almost never leave the house without my Canon DSLR.  Photography at Disney can be an amazing thing if you remember to take photos of these overlooked things while on your Disney Vacation.

Food

I’m not just saying this because I’m a  self proclaimed Foodie.  Disney consistently delivers wonderfully excellent food presentations.   Many of my fond memories of Disney vacations are around an empty plate. What better way to remember a wonderful meal than to photograph it before it jumps into your belly? When I need inspiration in the kitchen, food pictures help out a ton.  Look at the steam rising off the noodles at Teppan Edo! Yummity, Yum Yum!  Just be sure to take pictures of you and your full stomach, struggling to leave the restaurant afterwards.

Family

Often, we get so caught up in taking pictures of things that we forget to take photos of the people we are there with.  Capturing little moments of magic is what will make you stand and stare fondly at your digital photo frame for months to come.  Don’t spend so much time in front of the camera that you don’t get in on the action, too.  Most cameras have self timers that give you enough time to put the camera safely on a table and jump into a photo.  You could even make a friend and hand them your camera.  Better still, PhotoPass Photographers are always willing to use your camera to take memorable photos in one of Disney World’s picturesque places.

Icons

Why would I mention Disney park icons in a post about "overlooked" things to photograph?  So many people take pictures of the icon and miss out on what's going on around them.  Even though we’ve been to Walt Disney World many times, we always take photos of the Disney park icons; Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom, Spaceship Earth at Epcot, Sorcerer Mickey’s Hat at Hollywood Studios and the perpetually photographed Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom. Instead of taking a photo of just the icon, make the shot your own by taking it from a different angle, focusing on something else and let the icon serve as a blurred background (bokeh for all you photographers) or include family & friends in unique ways.  If you go often, consider including them in a specific poses that you and your family can repeat in subsequent trips.  It’s fun to make a flipbook of the pictures and watch your children grow up in front of Cinderella Castle.

Details

 Disney is known for paying special attention to detail. Take a moment and look up.  Look down.  I’ve seen some pretty cool pictures of the repeating triangles that make up Spaceship Earth, cobweb covered books in the Haunted Mansion queue, the hilarious signs in and around Muppet Vision 3-D, iron containers near water fountains at Animal Kingdom, and the mosaic walls of Cinderella Castle.  You will almost certainly notice and appreciate the details when review photos after your trip.

Nature

There are some really cool plants and even cooler landscape artists at Disney.  My “Master Gardner” Mom was amazed at some of the plants, trees and flowers she saw on our last trip. Take pictures of them!  The meticulously manicured topiaries are great, but get lower and take a look at the extraordinary plants and flowers. You may even find a little critter or two willing to pose for you!

I happily share photos if given photo credit.  All of the photos on this post are mine, and have not been retouched with any photo editing software. In my very best Genie impersonation, "It's already a pretty picture! I don't like doing it!"