New 3D Amusement Park Pictures
May 12, 2008I added a handful of new 3D photos, so now would be a good time to revisit that area of the site if you haven’t lately. Just one of those silly little things I do probably more for myself than anyone else. I do believe I might be the only site on the internet trying 3D stuff.
I’ll have everything else rolling is as the week progresses - special feature galleries from Rock City and Ruby Falls in Chattanooga and the Lake Winnie gallery.
We stopped by Kings Island this weekend and it was the first amusement park visit I’ve made in 7 years and not taken my camera with me - we just rode rides and hung out…what a novel idea!
We’re keeping our eye on the weather for Erie this weekend. Right now it doesn’t look good, but I’m being assured by various folks that the Erie weather is quite fickle this time of year and can change on a moment’s notice. We’ll see. I’d rather have good photos than the first photos. Just another reason to keep checking back this week, I suppose.
That’s all for now. I’ll have more photos up in a day or two.
Quick Little Status Update
May 5, 2008Just wanted to check in and let you all know that I haven’t forgotten about you, the site or how roller coasters still rule. I’ve had a crazy April and finally things are getting back to a little bit of normality, I’ve also been completely obsessed with Mario Kart Wii - so excuse my general laziness.
I did return to doing the CoasterBuzz Podcast last week after a six week hiatus (due to aforementioned craziness), so be sure to head over there and give it a listen.
I also scored a new camera and a couple a nice lenses since I last updated the site and I’ve been playing with that too. Can’t wait to finally get to a park this year and try the new equipment out.
Speaking of which, it should only be another week or two before we start heading out on 2008 park visits. I know plenty of you have already started your 2008 season and I’m pretty jealous - we’ve just been hung up on those pesky ‘real life’ issues. This is the latest we’ve gotten the season off to a start…well…ever!
I do have just one last batch of 2007 photos to get online - Lake Winnie, a couple of features and a handful of 3D pics. Those will be up sooner than later. I appreciate everyone being so patient with me this offseason, I’ve never been forced to spend so little time with the site as I was these past few months.
But things look to be right back on track. We’re considering a stop off for the opening weekend at Waldameer to check out the new Ravine Flyer coaster, but I’ll be honest in saying that a lot of that depends on weather. I was blue skies and sunshine and anything less might set us back. We’ll probably fight the crowds on Memorial Day weekend to see Robbie Knievel jump 24 Coke trucks at Kings Island. We’re also keeping an eye on Steel Hawg at Indiana Beach - that’s another trip we’re ready to take on a moment’s notice.
June sees us heading east. We’ll be stopping by Hersheypark to see if Fahrenheit can live up to the hype. We’ll be dropping in on Dorney Park to do a little Voodoo as well. Then it’s off to Jersey and Six Flags Great Adventure where we’re hoping to check out the new Batman coaster and finally get some decent pictures of Kingda Ka and El Toro. We’ll end the trip with a tour of as many of the piers and parks along the shore as we can possibly fit in. A nice mix of updates and new material for the site.
In July we’ll be on the road again as we head south…to Myrtle Beach to be exact. I’m old-skool metal and there’s no way I’m missing the Hard Rock Park this year. Of course a drive that far leaves lots of opportunity to makes stops along the way and we’ll be making those stops. Carowinds, Ghost Town In The Sky, Camden Park and others are on the agenda.
Late Summer/Early Fall should find us making the usual stops at Holiday World and Cedar Point for the CoasterBuzz events.
Then in October we finally make the long awaited return to Disney World. We’ll be spending 8 days there finally updating our woefully outdated Walt Disney World photo galleries.
I’m sure there’ll be other stops to make inbetween, we’ll take them as they come. I’m hoping to be able to keep the updates much more timely this year because once winter hits the plan is a complete overhaul of the site - new design, new look, new site. I’m hoping to make it better for everyone visiting and easier for me to maintain behind the scenes. Coasterimage.com is way bigger than I ever imagined and I’m still a one-man operation. No staff, no contributors, no nothing except a guy with a love for the parks and a need to share it all visually with like-minded individuals.
I think that about covers it. I just wanted to let everyone know where things stand and where we’re headed in 2008. I do thank each and every one of you for supporting the site. It’s because you guys stop by and tell others about what I do here that I’m able to keep delivering the goods like nobody else - thousands of photos, the videos, the free DVDs…it’s all possible because you guys allow it to be.
As corny as it sounds, thank you all for letting me do this.
I’ll have the rest of those 2007 pics up soon and then we’ll get started on what looks to be a totally badass 2008. Have fun everyone and get out there and ride.
Sir Goonys Pictures
Apr 7, 2008
Just a small update this time. I have new Sir Goony’s pictures for you to check out. It’s a neat little entertainment center in Chattanooga - just a few miles from Lake Winnie. Speaking of Lake Winnie, that will be the next update, but it probably won’t happen until later this month. I’m going to be in and out of town taking care of things for the next couple of weeks. It kind of came as a surprise which is why I threw this small update together for y’all.
I also got the preliminary 2008 travel schedule online. It looks to be another great year of travel in 2008 with lots of new parks and coasters to visit. Good stuff.
That’s all I have for now, I got to head out of here in a little bit. Enjoy the new photos and check back in a week or two for Lake Winnie photos. After that a couple a little updates and then the 2008 season starts.
Five Years Of Coasterimage
Feb 24, 2008I thought this deserved it’s own update entry. This week marks the 5th anniversary of Coasterimage.com going live.
I originally registered the domain in 2000 with a developing interest in both amusement parks and photography coming together. It seemed like a natural fit. I was just discovering both hobbies and at the time there were just a handful of photo sites on the internet. (since then the digital camera revolution has happened and coaster/park photo sites are a dime a dozen)
It was 7 years ago this month that I first visited an amusement park with intentions of photographing it as much as enjoying it - and to some extent part of the enjoyment comes from the photography. I spent the 2 years from 2001-2003 gathering material and putting a simple little site together and on February 24, 2003 Coasterimage.com went live. Since then the last Monday in February has traditionally been the anniversary mark for the site.
It’s been a crazy ride. I’ve traveled more than I’d ever imagined. I’ve met more people than I ever imagined. My photos have been seen by more people and in more places than I ever imagined. The whole thing has become so much more than I ever imagined and as corny as it is, I do thank every one of you who visit the site and support this whole thing for allowing me to waste so much time doing this.
The site has come a long way from that black and red design that debuted back in 2003. The site has grown with more and more features over the years, but the core will always be photography - everything else is just gravy. The design of the site has changed a couple of times in those five years and to be brutally honest it’s kind of a mess right now. But there are plans to fix it all up and do some different things in the future, but those changes probably won’t be ready until the 6th anniversary, so I’m just getting ahead of myself.
We have plans to hit a bunch of parks again this year, trying to make our way to the new coasters, new parks and interesting places and continue to bring you guys the best amusement park photography available on the internet. Lots to look forward to. After this season I’ll get the redesign done and we’ll see where it goes from there in 2009 and beyond.
As you know, I thought it’d be fun to do a little sumpin’ sumpin’ to give a little back. Since it’s the five-year anniversary, why not a celebration of “5″? Five days of new photos, five days of giveaways, five prizes each day - you get the idea.
The giveaway works like this:
1. You sign up for our mailing list. (we send these things out every blue moon - not like some sites that nail your inbox constantly)
2. We pick 5 people off of the mailing list at random and e-mail them telling them which daily prize they won. (prizes include: shirts and other merchandise, prints of coasterimage.com photos and copies of our DVDs)
3. You reply to our “congratulations!” e-mail with your mailing address.
4. We send you stuff.
And for the record - you can only win once. Also, you’re eligible once your name is on the list. So, for example, even if you don’t add yourself until Thursday night, you’re still in the game for the Friday prizes. I’m cool like that.
I know it’d be more exciting if we posted e-mails or names or something like that for you guys to check daily, but I’m concerned about privacy issues. I don’t wanna be posting your info on my website. Maybe if you win something and want to share, you can send me a pic of you with your prize and I’ll post it or something. But privacy is the main issue there.
So yeah, that pretty much covers it. Thanks to all of you guys (and ladies) for supporting the site, I really do appreciate it. If you like what we do around here, be sure to tell a friend (or twenty) and keep checking back all week. We’ll have new photos online each and every day - should be something like 300-400 new photos this week for 5 different parks…and if you want a hint the pics all come from Missouri and Alabama.
Keep cool. The first day’s photos will be online in a few minutes and I’ll be contacting the first prizewinners shortly.
Park & Ride Models, Anniversary Giveaway Update, More
Feb 15, 2008I’ll bet you’re wondering where the hell the new pictures I promised last week are. They’re not here…yet. What if I told you there’d be 5 new galleries in 5 days coming soon? Sounds good, huh? What about 5 days of giveaways? How about 5 prizes each day? Sounds like a real 5-star event, right?
Ok, enough with the corny “5″ thing. The last week of this month marks the 5th anniversary of coasterimage.com being online. After many ideas, we’re just going with an all out 5-day extravaganza. Each day of the week for five days starting on February 25th, we give be adding new photos to the site and giving away five prizes. We have shirts, general merchandise, DVDs and even 8×10 prints to give away. Want a chance at the goodies? Then be sure to sign up for our mailing list before the 25th. We’ll be picking subscribers off the list at random and emailing them to let them know they’ve won and work otu the details of getting their swag to them. Lots of good stuff that week, so be sure to come back daily starting on the 25th.
In the meantime, check this out. I recently got turned on to a new photo altering technique courtesy of this thread on the Coasterbuzz forums. Basically it’s a method for creating a faux tilt-shift lens look. What that does is fool the brain into thinking what it’s seeing is much smaller than it actually is. This in turn can make photos of amusement parks seem like photos of tiny amusement park models.
Confused? Then check these shots out:
Get the idea now? Those photos are actual photos from Kings Island, but with a simple photoshop technique, the brain is fooled and judges the scale of the photo wrong. The photos appear to be of small models. Just something I found interesting that I wanted to share. I encourage everyone to try the same thing with their amusement park photos, they’re good fun to look at. I hoping to find the time to try my hand at a few more.
Also, don’t forget to go vote in Mitch Hawker’s Annual Steel Coaster Poll. You only have until the 20th to make your voice heard in the most respected an accurate coaster poll going. Go vote now if you haven’t already!
I suppose that’s it for now. I’m plugging away behind the scenes to get things ready for the 25th. Make sure you stop by that week - lots of prizes for mailing list subscribers and 5 new photo galleries - hundreds of photos - coming your way. You don’t want to miss out.
