Happy 4th of July!

Today is America's birthday!  She is 236 years young by my calculations.  I wanted to write something to commemorate the day but feel a little overwhelmed with picking a topic.  I am going to fall back into my safety net and write about a ceremony at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World that feels right for today, the flag retreat ceremony.

Every day at 5pm, since the park opened in 1971, the Magic Kingdom has done a flag retreat ceremony at the flag pole on the end of Main Street near the train station.  I had learned about this event a few years ago but had never managed to attend.  This past May, during my solo visit, I made it a point to experience the ceremony.  I was a little shocked by the small size of the crowd that assembled but happy to be able to get a great vantage point to take pictures.  You can not help but get emotional experiencing this ceremony and it is one event at the Magic Kingdom I am going to tell everyone they should not miss.

I wish I could provide more details about the veteran who participated on May 17th, 2012 but I got so caught up in the moment I was barely able to get the pictures I wanted.  I also felt I should not be snapping away during the Pledge of Allegiance or the playing of the Star Spangled Banner while the flag was lowered.  Maybe the next time I'll pick a different vantage point so I won't feel weird taking pictures while these portions of the event are occurring.

The Dapper Dans before the ceremony

Playing America the Beautiful

Just as the flag was to be lowered

The presentation of the flag

I was very happy I finally attended the flag retreat ceremony.  I can see myself making this a must see event every visit to the Magic Kingdom.  Here are a few other resources/blogs on the flag retreat, they provide much better coverage and detail than I was able to get.

• Bob Elsie post on AllEars.Net
• Jack Spence post on AllEars.Net
• WDW Parkhoppers

Books and Their Creation

It sure has been a long time since I last put words to post on this blog.  I mentioned yesterday on my photography blog that I wished it was due to something cool or important but actually I just haven't been feeling the need to speak out.  Anyone who knows me understands that is a rare event when you get me talking about a favorite subject.  I'm hoping this will be the start of something more regular...

Yesterday I explored the new book creation module in Lightroom 4.  I have been getting requests from family to put something together to show off my pictures (family is always a nice ego boost).  I suppose I should have done a little more research but with the tool already available in a software I am familiar with I decided to jump in with both feet.  The service associated with the book module is blurb, so I created an account and starting working on putting a book together.

Front and back cover for first book.

I decided to start with an easy subject for me, Disney, specifically our last vacation to Walt Disney World.  I already had pictures processed and ready to use which was probably harder than the actual creation of the book.  The Lightroom module was easy and very intuitive.  Of course, it doesn't help with picture layout, order or the story I was trying to tell (which ended up being just a wandering of the parks).  I threw something together in a few hours and sent it off to blurb to be created.  The book should be here in a few weeks.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed...