Arrrrggghhhh.... New computer but still problems getting pages to load!
The parts about Disneyland not reallllllly looking like that made me laugh out loud! So true! "Mystical-looking cloud formations, tints and hues..." 
Oh, I'm glad to hear you got a new computer. Picasa has added more and more effects with each update. They have a feature called "1960s" that rounds the corners and adjusts the colors so they look (to me) like the Disneyland pictures my family has from the 1970s. You have to have the right kind of photo for that feature, though. It doesn't look right with just any old photo. I should try it with one of my current DLR photos that could have been taken back in the day and see how it looks.
All of those pictures are fantastic! I miss seeing your pictures! I miss your old thread. Was the little yellow flower from Critter Country or Frontierland, maybe? And my guess for the other one touch color photo is the mask with gold and purple, and the purple-ish, aqua-ish and red balls. I LOVE the one with the 21 Royal sign! Nice colors with a nostalgic mistiness to it. Was that editing effect called "Nostalgic Mistiness," by chance?
I especially love the black and white gas pumps. I think I got a picture of "a" gas pump, but I wish I would have gotten a picture of the gas pump cluster.
I hopped over and looked at Bret's tile photo. It looks familiar now. Where was that other tile picture taken? With the fruits? While we were riding the trolley I noticed some tile that I wanted to take a picture of and I forgot to go back. I just saw it from afar, but I wonder if that was it.
Speaking of right beneath our feet...I love the horseshoe imprints in the walkways in Frontierland, and the sea shell imprints in the walkways by Ariel.
I haven't posted over there in quite some time. Maybe I will have something from my new batch to share. I have to say it can be intimidating because there ARE so many great professional-looking photos over there, but I know we aren't the only ones that don't care if a DLR photo is of professional quality or not. There must be others that enjoy seeing whatever is posted.
What fun Springtime pictures! Even the ones that aren't technically springtime. I walked into Trolley Treats and bought some fudge. I didn't notice that garland at all! Very cute!
I believe I got a couple of Easter treat photos. Honestly, I haven't even looked at the pictures on my camera yet. I've repeatedly looked at the pictures on my phone since they are more accessible. I didn't see the Springtime-colored cotton candy. Did you post that picture somewhere?
Sounds like I have some catching up to do!
Where was that Donald one taken? Do you think you will ever do another TR thread?
I've been on plenty of rides by myself. Some lend themselves to that more than others. Something like POTC is totally fine to me. You are not interacting with your group for the most part. You are sitting back and enjoying the ride. GRR...now that is a different story. A lot of the fun comes from laughing and interacting with your group. We didn't do Single Rider a few weeks ago for that very reason. We used Single Rider plenty of other times on other rides, which sometimes ended up in an awkward moment when the person I was seated next to clearly wasn't expecting it! Picture climbing into an already-tight seating situation for Goofy's Sky School, and then realizing the guy next to you had his leg stretched out into your foot-room area so you kind of get tangled up and have this awkward untangling moment. I'm laughing now, just reliving the moment! Fortunately he was a very nice guy.
Amen, Sister!
Sadly, it would not have been a good time to get away. Mostly due to the financial side of things. Like I mentioned earlier, if I had to pay for my own flight a few weeks ago, instead of my sister using her points to get me a $10 flight...and if I didn't have that frustration-turned-blessing of a $200 Disney Gift Card, this trip wouldn't have worked out for me either, at this time. I appreciate the thought, for sure. It's nice to know I am viewed as "normal and not crazy." 
The fact that I don't post any "people pictures" could make one wonder if I'm really a 78 year old man just making all this stuff up.
Now, let's wrap up the October 2012 trip...
You could be a 78-year-old man, or a 58-year-old man, or whatever, but whoever you are you seem to be normal and not crazy!
I had a feeling it wouldn't have been good timing for you to go to Club 39. There were a few people I would have gladly invited to join the rest of us (I put a lot of thought into it) but I just didn't think those people would be able to make it.
By the way, my Club 39 photos were terrible. Really bad, blurry, dark, etc. It was my fault, as I didn't set the camera for low light (which I know to do, but forgot about
). Thankfully the other people in my group got good photos because I barely got any that are even salvageable -- and that is no exaggeration!
I know what you mean about some rides lending themselves more to riding solo while others are better with people. Haunted Mansion is like that as well -- it's okay solo.
I can't wait to hear more about the Goofy's Sky School awkward moment!
On certain other photo editing sites there are features/borders/effects similar to the Picasa "1960s" feature you explained, but of course they have different names. You're right -- that is one of those special borders or effects that doesn't look right with just any photo. It has to be the right photo that can fit with that vintage look. I think the same can be said for many features/effects/borders/enhancements -- some of them just work perfectly with certain photos and not with others.
Thank you for the kind words on the photos and former TR thread! I miss my old TR thread too, but sadly it is gone forever.
I have planned to start another TR at some point (hence, the teaser title in my signature), but just haven't done it yet. I'm either running low on time, or was having major computer issues and couldn't get anything done. So I have just randomly posted certain photos in other threads (I did not post the Springtime-colored cotton candy anywhere, though).
The 21 Royal photo enhancement was a happy, unexpected result! I had taken that photo back in 2010 and it was rather boring and forgettable. When I was looking for holiday season photos to repurpose for my Mardi Gras post in the Christmas/Holiday Season Superthread, I took a second look at the picture and thought, "I might be able to do something with that." So I played around with a few different effects until I achieved what I felt was the right combo to give the picture a Nostalgic Misty look!
I ended up liking it much better than I thought I would -- and 100 times more than I liked it when I first took the photo!
The Donald Duck photo was taken while on the egg hunt in DCA. It was located near some steps leading up to a ride platform in the Paradise Pier area, not far from TSMM.
The little yellow flower photo is from Cars Land!
You're correct about the other Color Splash/One Touch Color photo. That particular mask was part of the wreath that formerly hung over the entry to the alley in NOS -- the one with the creepy moon-headed dude.
The gas pump cluster is a photo I took in Cars Land back in 2012, I think. At the time I took it I remember thinking, "Hmmm...this would be a good black and white photo." However, back then I don't think I had any idea how to find the B&W feature in my camera (now I know how to find it!)!
So I took the color photo and left it at that. Just recently I was combing through photos, trying to assemble some that I thought might be good for a future photo calendar or book (I always get offers to make free books/calendars every year, but it takes
forever to round up the photos I want to use at the last minute and then artfully arrange them in time to claim the free item). I was making edits to a few "potential project photos" and I came across the gas pumps, remembering that I wanted to make it black and white. I went to Photobucket's editing features and found one of their "not just black and white" editing options and used that -- and I was pleased with the result so I saved it.
I cannot remember exactly where that other tile photo -- with the fruit and cups and animals -- is located. I didn't take a photo of it but I definitely remember seeing it as I walked past it. It's got to be somewhere around a corner on BVS or Hollywood Land.
The horseshoe imprints and the seashell designs are some of my favorite details at DLR. The seashells almost look like paint drippings, like someone just happened to spill some paint or ice cream and it landed in the shape of a shell or seahorse!
I definitely think there is a large intimidation factor involved in the POTD thread that prevents a lot of people with P&S cameras or camera phones from posting their photos. Most of the photos that people comment on in that thread are the DSLR photos, so I can see how other people might be afraid to jump in.
Here is how I feel about photos, and what I enjoy seeing in them:
Quite simply, I like looking at good pictures no matter what kind of device is used to take them. It's not much more complicated than that! I like looking at pretty pictures; interesting pictures; unusual pictures; creative pictures; new and fresh ideas, or unique takes on familiar subjects, etc. I like realistic photos -- photos that are accessible, that look like ideas anyone could execute and capture. I also like the mystical, surreal, dreamlike fantasy photos. I like color. I like B&W. I like photos that capture joy and fun. I like photos that tell some sort of story or evoke some sort of emotion.
And really, aren't those the things what we
all like to see in photos?
I appreciate originality -- even if the end result is not what the photographer intended or hoped for, I appreciate that he/she tried to capture something different from the norm instead of just copying what has been done by others. I appreciate the effort to be creative and imaginative -- and I don't mind if someone does something creative with the photos earlier in the process or after the fact.
One of my Springtime/Easter photos (you saw it earlier in one of my links) was of an egg at the Roundup, and the egg appeared to be coming out of the darkness or the shadows. (I posted it in the POTD thread and it was totally ignored!
) When I first took the egg photo at the Roundup, there was a very slight shadow on it due to the sun's positioning, and it struck me as interesting that the shadow made the egg look misshapen, or like it was wider than it actually was. I thought, "I think I can do something fun with that."
So I played with the egg/shadow picture at home to create a different effect -- instead of leaving the slight shadow on it or trying to get rid of the shadow I decided to really enhance the shadow and make it dark enough to cover half of the egg. Then I decided to black out the other stuff in the background (which was visible in the original photo).
This whole process took time, and the end result was that it looked like the egg was coming out of the shadows, or partially hidden in the shadows -- however one wants to see it. Even beyond that, I wanted to convey a certain "planetary effect." You know those satellite photos that NASA or JPL releases every so often, of the edge of Earth shrouded in the darkness of the sky? This egg/shadow photo (which already had blue tones and patterns on it) took on that same kind of look to me -- like the curve of the Earth against the vast, unknown, infinite black sky.
So that egg/shadow/planet photo may have been a clunker at the end of the day, but it was a high concept clunker because I tried to do something different and interesting with it!!
In my observation, most of today's P&S cameras and camera phones take pretty good pictures. It's not like we are back in 1975, using Kodak Instamatic cameras or whatever, or using the dreaded Kodak Disc cameras of the '80s. Today's cameras can take reasonably good photos, unless the person behind the lens just has no eye for photography whatsoever. These days, most people have some sort of camera phone. When I visited Catalina last July, I would say that almost everyone I saw was using a camera phone (except for yours truly!). And many camera phone photos are quite lovely. Many P&S photos are quite lovely. Whichever kind of camera one has, it is possible to come up with interesting ideas and good pictures and I enjoy seeing them!
About your most recent TR installment --
You mentioned Billy Hill. Another song they did for Halloween Time was "Devil Went Down to Georgia." Then they did a fun seasonal set for the holidays too. I really felt their absence at the Springtime Roundup.
That giant, fuzzy, faux spider is horrible!
I love Mickey and Minnie in their Halloween garb.
No sightings of the Halloween Lady in her jaunty hat and outfit on this trip, eh?
You are so lucky to have made it through the trip with that large a group of people and no disagreements or problems! Many people have annoyances or conflicts that come up with only a few people, so to finesse a trip with a big group is practically a miracle!
I look forward to the next TR installment!!
Yes, it is very tough watching anyone's health decline like that, but when it happens to a parent or family member it is extremely upsetting and jarring.
), it is quite good!
The picture from the plane is quite lovely. The turbulence would terrify me, as I hate heights and would automatically assume it meant something terrible was about to happen. I don't know if I would get sick but I'd probably freeze up in fear -- literally.
