Greetings, Y’all !
It’s time for a major change regarding this blog and others. “Magic And Memories” is not going away. But this blog is merging with a main site that will encompass this and 2-3 other businesses & blogs / sites. Please visit www.MikeThomasProductions.com for fine details. Thanks for all the visits here and support. It is not unnoticed and is much appreciated!!!
Thanks. Peace – Mike T
I finally made it up to St. Augustine, FL on Tuesday September 1st, 2015. I’d been trying to get up there for almost two month. But the weather just wouldn’t cooperate or guarantee me enough of a time window to go what I wanted to do. Finally, after a 6:00 AM departure from the central Florida area, I timed it right and got the ‘payoff’. Here’s a short video slide show of a few of the images I captured up there. At the end of the video (or HERE), click if you want to see the whole collection plus other works of mine.
Peace – Mike T.
It’s out! My new video is out today – Thursday – August 27th, 2015! WOO HOO! Click the PLAY button on the trailer video below for a 2 minute sample of what “The Real Florida Project” is all about.
To purchase the new full 10 track video, navigate to MikeThomasImagery.com and follow the prompts.
Thanks for stoppin’ by. Peace – Mike T.
Greetings all! This video I speak of has nothing to do with Disney. It’s a new project I’ve been working on for more than a year. Disney and all the major theme parks are great. I certainly make very frequent visits there (especially Disney <wink wink>). But I’ve always had an intense connection, respect and love for mother nature’s beauty along with history & heritage. The excerpt copy & paste below is from one of my other blogs / careers and is self explanatory. So rather than repeating myself here and potentially wasting your time, please read and check out this new soothing, relaxation video project. And as always, thanks for droppin’ by!
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So where do I begin. Well, at the very beginning I guess. I’ve been playing piano since age 4, guitar since age 14, singing (or trying to sing) since age 16 and performing / writing / recording / producing / touring for pretty much my entire adult life. Yes, I’ve also found time for a second career in there – that being photography coupled with multimedia production.
Skip ahead many years to present day – sorta. Several years back, I incorporated some multimedia into my live music performances – specifically, videos & still photos on a big screen – that scored with the live music I was playing on stage. This gave me the idea to create a DVD with similar music and my own pretty pictures I’d taken over the years. It was a hit and Mike was happy :).
Now here it is August 2015 and I’m real excited and proud to announce the next chapter in my endeavors – a brand new / all new video collection (10 tracks) of all my original photos coupled & scored to all my original music in video form. This project is slightly more themed than the first one I created (“Sanctuary”). It’s all about the natural beauty and heritage of Florida. The major theme parks are great in Florida. I’ve been known to visit very often <wink wink>. But Florida was here long before any theme park and still to this day manages to maintain it’s unique beauty and heritage. The name of this new video is, “The Real Florida.” That title is intentionally significant in other stuff that’s still forthcoming – 2 new shows to be exact: One with my live music stage performance and the other, well …. suffice it to say it’s kinda like a traveling art show combined with a live presentation consisting of storytelling, multimedia displays of my work. Additionally, some of my work will be available for sale – both this new video (“The Real Florida”) plus hard copy prints and perhaps a few “one-of-a-kind” photo art, all matted. But as I say, another blog post on that one a little closer to show time :).
The project will be offered as a digital download (best deal), on USB Flash Drives and last but not least (but bluntly put, not recommended just due to the difference in quality compared to the former) on DVD. Atop this page is a the video trailer for “The Real Florida.” Check it out and see if it doesn’t help put you in another state of mind. Hopefully it will – and then picture having 10 of these things to watch, listen and chill out to.
Thanks for stoppin’ in. Peace – Mike T.
Greetings All,
I’ll get right to it and not waste anyone’s time. Along with taking lots and LOTS of photos of Disney stuff, I take even more photos of other stuff. Go figure :). I’ve been a photographer for about 30 years. I am NOT saying I’m giving up taking Disney shots. However, what I am doing is making a little change where by this “Magic And Memories” Blog (and Twitter and Facebook – more on that in a second) is now going to come ‘under the umbrella’ (so to speak) of my main site, blog, Facebook page and business. Henceforth, all posts, pictures and other media will pretty much reside and post on my “Mike Thomas Imagery” site & blog. Below you’ll find 3 links: one for my main web site, one for my Mike Thomas Imagery Blog and one for my Mike Thomas Imager Twitter account. Any blog posts and/or photos that are of a Disney nature or connection will post at the aforementioned locations but with only an occasional hot link posted here in this “Magic And Memories” Blog.
So to sum up, if you’d like to continue to follow my photographic fine art endeavors, I’d really like it if you would do so by the following links (you can still follow here on THIS blog … but this will now be a secondary thing after my own Mike Thomas Imagery business / sites. And by the way, this announcement is only part of a bigger plan that will continue to unfold over the next few weeks / months. So please stay tuned / check back etc…
Here are the 3 links I mentioned above:
Mike Thomas Imagery Main Site: www.MikeThomasImagery.com
Mike Thomas Imagery Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/MikeThomasImagery
Mike Thomas Imagery Twitter: https://twitter.com/MThomasImagery
Hope this all isn’t too confusing. I’ve thought long and hard about making this change as well as the best, simplest way to explain it and execute it.
Talk to y’all soon. Peace – Mike T
Greetings Y’all 🙂
So there I was – “Cicely, 1922” – NO WAIT! That wasn’t me. That was some nice older lady with white hair from the old country ;). Anyhoo – I was in Epcot once again doing “something else” 😉 and I had a break in the action for quite a while. So I wandered around some classic gardens of the world in their respective country pavilions. I don’t know what it is but every time I take a shot in the Italy pavilion, it just screams to be a black & white shot. Don’t really know why. Perhaps it’s the old style architecture or something. This particular shot is also an HDR processed shot – something I haven’t done in quite a while. Old style architecture meets high tech photo processing – voila 🙂 (hold it – I don’t think “voila” is Italian … Ah well).
Ciao! – Mike T 🙂
I don’t usually get into trends, gossip or anything negative about Disney. But I couldn’t resist this one. Besides, it’s not really bad or negative at all. Perhaps just a little bit of ‘bad show’ at worst or best :).
I’m sure a lot of you have heard that The Sorcerer’s Hat at the center of Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World is being removed from its current location at the end of Hollywood Blvd in front of The Chinese Theater. Whether it’s going to reappear somewhere else is anyone’s guess as rumors have flown about this. Regardless, I was over at DHS Saturday and grabbed this shot. As you can see, the top of the hat is laying on the ground (in the left of this picture) and you can see the infrastructure showing through where the top portion has been removed from the top of the icon. We’ll see what happens after the park icon is gone. I’m still wondering what the new icon will be for Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Soon as I know, I’ll let you know 🙂
Peace – Mike T
I know I’ve posted similar pictures like this I’ve shot the last few years at Christmas time. But these two trees (and The Gingerbread House) are my all time favoritesChristmas decor throughout the Walt Disney World Resort.
I walk into each respective resort and a wonderfully strange sense of serenity and peace take over this body. It somehow reminds me of old fashioned Christmas’s I had as a kid – even though I never visited Disney or any similar lavish resorts back then.
All I know is I love these and that’s all that matters! 🙂
Peace – Mike T
It never ceases to amaze me how Disney can take something like whiz-bang, glitzy, big-bang pyrotechnics – and turn them into beautiful Christmas themed fireworks. But here they are … at least one example anyway. There are lots more this stuff in and around the parks. But I think this shot I grabbed last night depicts what I’m referring to pretty well 🙂
Peace – Mike T
For me, I know it’s Christmas time when both The Thy Soldiers and The Dancing Reindeer march (or prance) by me on Main Street USA in The Magic Kingdom Park. These shots I grabbed at night during one of the Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Parties. But soon enough, this parade will make it’s afternoon debut for the Christmas Season at Walt Disney World.
Peace – Mike T.
I was on the way out of Disney World the other night. It was very late. I saw this enormous Christmas tree in front of Disney’s Contemporary Resort (one of my favorites in all of Walt Disney World). Being so late, I figured I could enter the parking lot and not impact any Guests or traffic etc… After several different shots, angles & special effects, I decided this was the best of the bunch :).
Peace – Mike T
I was out shooting a few nights ago at Epcot. Illuminations: Reflections Of Earth just never gets old to me. It’s still my all time night time spectacular at Walt Disney World. This shot (although not an “official Christmas shot”) with all its red & green pyrotechnics reminded me of the upcoming Holidays. But it also reminded me of a version of Illuminations from the past.
Some of you may or may not know that prior to “Illuminations: Reflections Of Earth” debuted for the Millennium Celebration back in late 1999, there was a Christmas replacement show for the original Illuminations show that ran for about 3 years. The entire show was Christmas based – different music, different sequences and imagery projected via lasers etc… Well, when the new Illuminations: Reflections Of earth debuted with all its new technology, the “Holiday Illuminations” show had to go by the wayside. However, back about 5-7 years ago (rough educated guess), the Disney Techs that run the show nightly put together a ‘tag’ to the current show. It’s about a 4 minute add-on that happens immediately after the (current) show ends each night. It’s all Christmas based with the late great Walter Cronkite doing the narration about Christmas Around The World. The Harlem Boys Choir sings “Let There Be Peace On Earth” accompanied by The Czeck Symphony Orchestra. If you’ve ever wondered if Christmas could be honored via fireworks, lasers and fire, wonder no more. This tag is one of thee best celebrations of Christmas I’ve ever seen. Hats off to Disney on this one – they did it right!
Happy Thanksgiving Everybody! Peace – Mike T
So on this rare cold, blustery day in Florida (high temp 57 / low 38 – I know, that’s nothing compared to the rest of The U.S. right now but hey), I made my way over to Epcot to drop off some ‘stuff’ I’d shot. While there, I decided I’d take a stroll around World Showcase and see how much of the Holiday decorations had been installed. I was so pleased (being such a lover of Christmas & other festive Holidays) to see that almost all the decorations were up :). Sooooo – here’s a small handful of pretty Christmas pics I shot.
HO HO HO – Mike T
(click on any image to enlarge in slide show)
So yah, Halloween and Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Parties finished their run for 2014 this past Friday night. Since then, The Magic Kingdom Park has more than begun the transformation into Christmas. But more significantly than that (in my humble opinion), Main Street USA has NEW Christmas decorations this year. For as far back as I can remember, there was always Holiday garland strung overhead across Main Street USA. Well, with the debut of the new 3:00 PM parade earlier this year, it was announced that because of the height of the new floats in that parade, the Holiday garland would not be put up this year because of the aforementioned height factor. When I heard this, I’ll admit I thought to myself, “No! I love that old traditional garland!” BUT – take a look at the new wreaths and bells and mounts in the pictures I shot at Magic Kingdom earlier today. I must say I kinda like like it all. In fact not kinda, I DO like it. Not saying it’s better than the good old Holiday garland. But I’ll hand it to Disney – they did it right in replacing the old with the new!
Peace – Mike T.
It’s about 10:25 PM, Halloween Night. I’m there – ready with camera in hand. And then – – – The Headless Horseman makes his last ride through The Magic Kingdom – – until next year!
Peace – Mike T.
Magic And Memories 