Night shooting and the View

Today I had more training, its like it never ends.  but it was fun.  I was first trained in the View which is where people can look at their pictures and decide if they want to buy any to print out.  I was a little nervous about learning the view position because this is where I send everyone when I don't know the answer to their questions. so that means that now I have to know the answer to all of those questions since I will be in the view now.  I did catch on really fast and feel rather comfortable with how everything works and I fell like I can do the job just fine and my trainer seems to feel the same cause she left me on my own after only a few minuets.  after that I learned to to some night shoots.  I like this because I am on a tripod and only have to take two shoots (more if needed of corse). but there was a few new settings I needed to know but easy enough to change. they also gave me a reference card to know all of the settings for the different times of day.  really over all I felt like it was a very slow day but still fun.
well thats all
have a magical night.

today

So today was a good day but an early day.  I had to be at work at 7 but that meant having to get up at 5 and be on the bus by 6 in order to get there by 7.  so needless to say I was rather tired today.  but one of my favorite sayings in life is "fake it till you make it" so I pretended that I was full of energy and I had a fun day.  I started in the fount of the park right in side the gate at a place called the dedication plaque.  it is a really slow spot to take photos at because everyone just wants to get to africa or asia to the rides or to go see the Tree and take a picture there.  but it is also a really fun spot because the music there is from the Lion King, and Jungle Book, and Tarzan so even though I didn't take to many pictures at least I got to listen to the good music.  something interesting that happened today was later on pretty close to when I was supposed to leave my equipment started acting weird and I had to try several different things to get it to work while I had two families waiting for me and watching everything I was doing.  Finally I just had to take out the batterie and restart everything again.  but I was really happy that I was able to fix it with out having to get help and that even with the pressure of guests watching me I was able to get it all fixed rather fast.  so that was my day.
have a magical night.

another day

another day, another picture. it was a fun day. I was taking pictures of the beautiful tree of life, today I was working with lots of big groups and break offs.  it was fun but interesting trying to keep everything organized.  big groups are fine but it takes a lot of time and people that are waiting tend to get impatient.  so it was fun trying to get through the big groups in a timely fashion and still get all the shots I need.  but over all people are all pretty happy I mean it is Disney World.  sorry I don't have much to write today. I have to get some sleep cause I have an early start tomorrow I will try and write more tomorrow night.
have a magical night.

Picture of the week!

Today I found out that I got picture of the week for one of my pictures last week. the picture was one that I took my second day of training and it was of three kids two girls and a boy the two girls were on the out side holding up their stuffed animals of simba and turk and the boy in the middle was acting like a lion and it turned out to be a really cute picture so I'm glad that I got picture of the week.  other than that my day was pretty much the same as it has been the last few days, today I was in Africa again and got to take some fun picture so families. I found that as the day goes on I am able to recognize those families when they walk by later or when they see me at a different location and I take their picture again.  Its so fun to talk to them about what they have done since the last time I had seen them.  one of my favorite thins to do as well is when I get an older couple and I make them do fun things either like a magic shot or have them act like a lion ect.  its so fun to see how they will do it and laugh so much afterwards. it really is true that everyone is young at heart and that always shows through at disney.  I am getting more comfortable with my camera now and how to set it up and to make sure that everything is working through out the day. I also am getting faster at getting all of the pictures.  I really want to go look at my picture again to make sure that they are still looking good and all up to snuff so I might do that on friday when I work again.  until then I'm going to take these next two days to relax and regain my strength.
Have a magical night!

Africa

today was another great day! today I was in Africa and took pictures in front of a big door that has lots of carvings in it of animals.  It was really fun to make people act like they were lions but because we were in africa I thought it was a good thing to do.  It was fun to see what families would do what I asked and be really excited about it and how great their pictures would turn out and how other families would be uncomfortable and it would show in the picture. It also surprised me to see how most of the time it was the adults that would go all out in the picture and the kids who would be more nervous about in.  one thing I really like about this job is that sometimes when the kids come up to me they look sad or upset but when I start talking to them and ask them to give me a really big smile they almost always would give me a great smile and the pictures would turn out great.  over all I love taking pictures for people and show them making memories.
have a magical night!

First day on my own

So today was the first day that I was completely alone on the job and I think I did pretty good. I hope I did any way.  so to start I went in to the photography base and picked up my camera and got it all set up then got my assignment to go to the Tree Plaza which means that I also got to get the frame and tripod to work with.  it was my second time ever shooting that spot but it was fun.  It was also freezing cold. it was about 34 degrees this morning when we opened so there was not many people in the park to start.  so I didn't take to many pictures, then I went into the View which is the place where people can come view their pictures and where we can print their pictures for them.  I how ever am no View trained so really I just stood there trying to get warm.  then I went back out to the Bridge which also takes pictures of the Tree and I was there for a few hours.  It was really fun to talk to the guests and to get the best smiles out of them.  I found that it gets really repetitive but I still had a lot of fun with every guest.  I love talking to the little kids.  talking to them about there favorite rides or their favorite characters.  Its fun to see their reactions and how some get shy and some get really excited.  after having my break I went back to the bridge and pretty much stayed there the rest of the day and had a ton of fun.  It was also fun to use the different Magic shoots where we add a character to the picture later on.  I made it seem like when I take the picture if they look at there had and look really excited then then someone really special we come to there hand then when the flash goes off I ask if they saw her when they say know I tell them that I saw her and that they will have to go look at the picture to see who it was.  then when the look at the picture they see tinker bell in their hand. It was really fun to see how they reacted to this and how excited they were to go see the picture.  so over all it was a great day and I had a lot of fun.
Have a magical night!

Magic Moments

So today was much like yesterday.  I went with my trainers around the park to the different locations for photopass and took pictures but today unlike yesterday I was only taking pictures of the guests. so I started at the entrance and took pictures for about 20 min and had a blast.  my trainers stood off in behind me so while I was going I didn't even really know that they were there.  I have learned a lot about what looks good and how to make the Icons that I'm shooting look really good as well as making the wonderful people in the shoot look good.  I did a lot of variety shoots today and worked a lot on my Magic Shoots.  which is were we take the picture and then there is something added to the picture when they go look at it.  I was really fun trying to get the guests to do what I needed them to do to get the right shot.  A lot of the time the guests didn't speak english so I would have to find ways to get them to understand what I was trying to do.  so really if anyone was watching me I probably looked ridicules.  making really exaggerated motions and big smiles and talking really loud and now I feel like I'm losing my voice but thats fun too.  my favorite part is talking to the little kids.  I love to talk to them for just a second before I even get them into position to take a shot just to break the ice an make them feel more comfortable.  after doing this my trainers talked to me to review my work and said that they had several people come up to them after I had taken their picture and say how I was the most energetic Person to take their picture.  so that made me feel great.  so all in all I am loving this job and having so much fun.
have a magical night!

Great day

Today was a great day! I went to my park which is Animal Kingdom and meet my trainers, Eric and Peggy.  they are awesome! they are both hilarious and have been with the company for some years.  to start we walked around the park and talked about the locations of photopass and what kind of shots I will need to do at each location.  we also went to all of the break rooms so that I knew where they all are.  then I got to go and get my camera all hooked up and went back out and got to take pictures at all of those locations. I didn't get to take pictures of guests but instead took pictures of my trainers.  it was fun, a little weird but then we went back to base and looked at the pictures, critiqued them and looked at what I need to do to improve and then we went back out to take more pictures.  while out this second time we went to one of the locations which has Mt. Everest in the background and when we got there one of the guests asked if I could take a picture and instead of Eric saying no she is still in training as I thought he said sure and turned to me and said I'll help you but you can do it. so he made sure I got them all in the right position and I took the pics and by the time I was done with that family there were others waiting for me to take their picture so this time I took more of the lead and set them up and took the shots and soon we moved to another location but from then on I was taking pictures of the guests and not my trainers.  It was a little intimidating at first but so much fun.  I had a lot of fun talking with the guests and getting to know them just a little. my favorite part tho is talking to the little kids and taking their pictures.  sometimes when the family comes up to take the pictures the kids are shy or upset because of this or that. but when you talk to them for just a minute the start to become more involved in the image and soon you are getting great smiles from them and can get a fun picture for the family.  I had one little girl who was so excited that she kept spinning and doing cartwheels and she was just so adorable I loved taking pictures of her and her parents.  so by the end of the day my trainers were quite aways off and I was running the show it was great and I loved the interactions I had with the guests.  tomorrow I will be even more on my own, my trainers will be there but not very close and I will just get to have fun working and taking pictures of all the wonderful people.
have a magical night!

another day

another day full of information and training, but a good day non the less.  today we did some review of what we learned yesterday, talked more about the composition factors of photography, including placement of the guests and making costume shots or fun shots for them and also about how to shot them with icons.  we were able to go out and to do some shots in the parks and practice how all of our equipment works with having to take the pictures and then scan them to the guests accounts so that they can get their pictures.  It was fun being out in the parks getting to interact with the guests a little. we didn't actually take pictures of the guests we just took pics of each other, but it was great to be able to talk to guests while the others were practicing. I have always known that this job and photography in general is going to be about talking to people getting to know them in a short time and be able to create great pictures for them to be able to remember their time and that moment.  So I am excited that I will get to work on the skill of being able to talk to people an help create the magic and capture that moment for them.
Have a magical night.

Photopass Photography

So for today I started my training. Yay! we didn't actually do much other than go over a lot of rules and basics. we did look at how our cameras work and what we will have to do to be a disney photopass photographer.  It was a lot of sitting and listening and taking in information.  Hopefully I will be able to remember half of it tomorrow.  I haven't yet been into my park (Animal Kingdom) but our facilitators were saying that tomorrow we will go out and do some shoots in one of the parks.  It was interesting to see how all of the photopass gear works, more than just the camera but also the magic bands and "My Disney Experience" app and websites where you can view pictures.  there really was a lot of information and I kind of feel like my brain is in overload right now and I just need to let all of the information sink in and stick but I guess I will really just learn as I do.  I have a feeling once I've worked for a few weeks I will feel completely comfortable with this whole process.  I am really excited for when I will be in the park and able to talk to the guests and really create the magic of disney for those families.
I will try to have more information tomorrow but I am still learning what all I am allowed to write about and what I should not.
till tomorrow
have a magical night!

Traditions

So for my first day of my internship we do what is called Traditions. this is where they sit you down in a class and talk to you all about the Disney company and what it means to work here.  through out my traditions I was thinking about if this is what I would like to do after I graduate? and it is a question that I am still pondering. It was great to hear from cast members (employees) who have been working here for some time and see how they began and what they are doing now and if that is something that I might like doing... we'll have to wait and see.  we also got to go on a fun little tour of Magic Kingdom and see all of the things that we talked about in motion.  so that is always fun, who wouldn't want to go into a theme park as part of there job.  so as of right now that is all I'm really doing, just orientations type things but I will post again tomorrow with anything fun and new in my Disney experience.
Have a Magical night :)

Starting my internship

Hello my name is Chantel and I'm am about to start my Disney Internship experience.  as part of my schools requirement for receiving credit for this internship I must keep a blog of my daily work experience, so here it is.  I must worn any reading this blog that I am in no way a writer so while I will try to keep this entertaining and upbeat please forgive me if it is not perfectly grammatically correct.  I tend to write how I think and that tends to come out in gibberish.
So far my internship has been rather slow as I have not actually started working yet.  all I have done is move into my apartment, meet my awesome roommates, and wait till the fun begins, which happens to be tomorrow. (can't wait) so tomorrow I have what is called "Traditions" I don't know how much I am supposed to tell but basically it is an introduction to the Disney company their standards and what working here at Disney World will be like.  I am very excited as I am a huge Disney fan.  so tomorrow I will have more news of what is going on with my internship till then, have a magical night.
P.S I will also try to post as many photos as I can.