Warp Speed

Yesterday evening, I made another trip to Downtown Disney to look for some good images. After walking around for a time, I passed by a Disney street vendor who was selling glowing sticks for the forthcoming night as well as a few character specific souvenirs. One that caught my eye was of “Stitch” the alien from Disney’s “Lilo and Stitch”. He was in his racing style space craft that featured three rubber strands of different lengths with lights at the end of them, serving as a sort of propeller. It was getting near dusk and I immediately thought of doing a slow exposure to capture a cool light blur.

At first, I walked on by, not wanting to draw attention to myself by photographing this toy that the vendor wanted to sell and that little children wanted their parents to buy them. But, I stopped in my tracks, thought for a moment, then turned around and walked up to the guy manning the cart and said, “I have to photograph this thing”. He very accommodatingly replied “Sure! Go right ahead!” So, I tried a few shots and as I began realizing that it was still too early to get the desired effect, the guy working the station said, “Are you gonna be here for a while? You can Come back later once it’s darker.” I thanked him and told him I’d be back.

So, I eventually returned and began shooting this little alien with spinning lights in front of his space ship. Once I thought I had captured what I needed, I thanked the vendor once again and went on my way, knowing I had probably gotten my “shot of the night”.