"Spaceship Earth"

2008.03.03

The only daytime shot I got that day.

Disney lighted up its famous landmark really well at night.

I think this shot has the "space" feel to it...may be it's the moon that does that :p

Love the moon in this shot as well.

Close-up of the glass panels that made up the geodesic sphere.

More close-up shot of the glass panels.

Somehow I like the composition of this shot.

I don't know either the little girl or her dad...but somehow them being there kinda got me this really nice shot.

I think "Spaceship Earth" looks so much prettier at night....too bad! about the left-behind drinking cup on the foreground though :p

I visited Disney World last month while attending a conference, so I had the opportunity to do a sideline visit to Epcot (one of Disney Theme Parks). The most interesting feature that attracted me to this park is probably this easily recognizable architecture of Epcot, "Spaceship Earth".

Being a fan of interesting architectural landmark, "Spaceship Earth" certainly attracted my attention. Spaceship Earth is a geodesic sphere supported on legs. Geometrically, Spaceship Earth is a pentakis dodecahedron, with each of the 60 isosceles triangle faces divided into 16 smaller equilateral triangles (with a bit of fudging to make it rounder). Each of those 960 flat panels is sub-divided into four triangles, each of which is divided into three isosceles triangles to form each point. In theory, there are 11,520 total isosceles triangles forming 3840 points. In reality, some of those triangles are partially or fully nonexistent due to supports and doors; there are actually only 11,324 of them, with 954 partial or full flat panels.

Inside "Spaceship Earth" houses a recently updated ride called "Project Tomorrow: Inventing the Wonders of the Future". The ride experience begins with the Omnimover vehicles ascending into a dark tunnel. A series of twinkling stars surround guests. Soon, guest's pictures are taken on a face-recognition program that is to be featured in the attraction's post-show. Guests then re-enter the starfield, and move through series of historical scenes of human society. The remainder of the ride is involved in seeing a depiction of Earth from space, traveling through an infinite amount of stars and into another star field where guests can then use the touch-screens in their Omnimover vehicle to create a possible depiction of their future.

I was there last month too, but I only took the typical tourist snapshots. Nothing at all like these and nothing anyone's gonna see here. I like your perspectives. Very nice and well done!!

coyoteself · 2008-02-24: 17:34

Amaze that S5 IS work good in all the night shots...

chanchiewsoo · 2008-02-26: 05:38

Actually I was not too impress with the S5 IS shot quality in low-light setting. I think my old A620 does better in low light. But i think the problem with S5 low-light shot can be fixed with the use of the external flash, which I unfortunately did not have while taking these shots. Nonetheless, I was quite happy with how these shots turn out :)

fishbud · 2008-02-26: 11:47

beautiful shots !!!

????? · 2008-03-04: 22:44