Search This Blog

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Planet of Primes

Some rambling backstory first...

I read a post somewhere on the Internet about shooting a panorama or 360 degree photo, then using the Polar Coordinates filter to transform the stitched-together image into an awesome mini-planet, looking like something in Super Mario Galaxy. The examples I saw looked fantastic, but I wanted something to call my own. I tried a simple 360 degree shot in the entrance to California Adventure, but without any proper equipment, it did not turn out.

Yesterday, I finally took a lot of posed shots of my collection of Optimus Primes in a park, using a cake dolly to smoothly spin the camera to keep the shots lined up. The results are...okay. One example is posted below, and I'm working on a second, which will look about the same.

I'm going to attach screws to the cake dolly to mount my camera, and then try again, maybe in a large, empty parking lot. I'm shooting this on my Canon Powershot A570, so some options are limited. One goal I made for myself this coming year is to learn the camera inside-out, which will better justify the purchase of a entry-level DSLR before going back to WDW next Christmas.

See the attached examples for wonderment.

Square Planet of Primes

Planet of Prime

The New Year

This coming year I made a promise to myself, not to buy anything. Now to clear up what anything means. Quick definition is: whatever I do not need, such as more books, DVDs (any definition), Disney stuff off eBay, magazines, comics, toys, and so on. I buy a lot of stuff, not because I need to, but to feed an addiction. I enjoy the rush of a purchase. It gets me high, like drinking, drugs, or Jesus does to others.

I won an eBay auction for a 1961 Disneyland Fun Map. These maps are about 27" by 40", hyper-detailed drawings of the parks as they really are. This means, the map shows the Haunted Mansion, and then the huge warehouse directly behind it which houses the actual attraction. These maps, drawn mainly by the late Sam McKim, are some of my favorite Disneyland collectibles, because of the snapshots in history they offer. The map I won even has never built Lands, such as Edison Square.

I had been looking to aquire a map from the early 1960's, but the auctions usually went too high. Not this time, and I scored it by bidding at the very last possible moment. Winning felt tremendous, and then the rush subsided, and I wanted more.

This is my problem, and I am going to defeat it. In 2008, I can barter, trade, or sell to gain new items. In ways such as selling old books on Amazon, and then transfering the profits to an Amazon credit account. This way, I will not spend money I work hard to earn, and it will lead to negative growth in my collections.

This is going to be hard for me, and one plan of attack is to write anytime the urge to spend comes. This way, I can transfer the feelings to something productive.

This blog will be what comes from that writing: Some days it will be Nintendo DS reviews, others will be about photos I took, and whatever else. I need to kick this habit for me and my family.