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Ft. Sam Cooper @mid.course.blues - Photographer and Creator of ParkDay Magazine
2 Playsin 6 minutes
Join us as we chat with Sam about all things creativity - including the development of ParkDay Magazine, his coffee table book Machines Above Us, creating physical media in a digital era, and an in-depth look at his photography styles and methods. We also go into what elements we most enjoy and why from our top coasters!
Check out ParkDay Magazine: https://www.parkdaymagazine.com/
Check out Machines Above Us: https://www.blurb.com/b/12321626-machines-above-us
Sam's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mid.course.blues/
ParkDay Magazine Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/parkdaymagazine/
A BIG shoutout to our Patreon subscribers! Much love to Chris, Jeff, Alexander, Chad, and Adam for the support! Check out https://www.patreon.com/c/InvertedCreative if you want to learn more!
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Beginnings
00:00:00
Speaker
You are listening to the Inverted Creative Podcast. I'm Allison. I'm Jen. I'm Brian. I'm Mikhail. And I'm Nate.
00:00:19
Speaker
so So all of our pre-show... talking that we do has genuinely only taught me one thing and that's in now 54 episodes i have no idea how to ever start these things and that one that one was perfect except i started on the word so like immediately we had no plan right there that right there makes it sound more genuine might be i think it is i think it's somewhat my fault though because i i did ask about it and then that made you actually think about it yeah
00:00:50
Speaker
And we could have been recording half an hour ago, probably. It's it's fun to to chat beforehand and just chill and get to know people.
Unique Podcast Intros and Guest Introduction
00:01:01
Speaker
Well, we have a special guest with us today who um his idea for the intro was to sit here in silence for two minutes and have people turn up their volume and see what was going on.
00:01:10
Speaker
But i don't want to lose listeners that quickly. i thought it sounded good. We love The Sound of Silence, but not on a podcast. That was a great song. It is a good song, actually.
00:01:21
Speaker
So is the cover by whoever did it. The Disturbed cover is better than the original. Yeah, agree. My dad would kill me if he knew I said that, though. But he doesn't listen to the podcast. Well, I mean, the original's good, but... Anyway.
00:01:34
Speaker
I like how we just tangented from introducing our our guest today. um Sam is... At MidCourseBlues, I believe.
00:01:45
Speaker
Yes. Okay. I feel like I should know these things before. MidCourseBlues on Instagram and i have a YouTube. I actually didn't know that. Yeah, I didn't know that either. i woke one morning and i it was just new this is news to me. I am i infrequently make videos I've been cutting together a King's Island cinematic for the past 10 months. I thought were about to say like 13 years. or No, no, no. Just 10 months. But is is it ever going to go up on the channel? No. no
00:02:24
Speaker
Maybe. it won't. It's my home park. I'll watch it. Whatever it is. Okay.
Creative Struggles and Theme Park Photography
00:02:32
Speaker
Okay. Maybe I'll finish it just for you. I've just been stuck color grading it because I'm using it as an excuse to like try out new things in DaVinci Resolve and Every time I learn something, it makes me realize, oh I've done it all wrong and I have start through. for like every single shot in the video.
00:02:50
Speaker
So it's taking a while. I i completely forgot that you have posted um like cinematic videos in um in the photography discord that we're both in.
00:03:04
Speaker
and Yeah. oh did I share it there? i i don't know about that I don't know about the Kings Island one specifically, but I i know you shared the Velocicoaster one you did.
00:03:16
Speaker
Ooh, okay, you have my opinion now. but watched that and was i were just like, okay, this is this is pretty much exactly how I would envision every video shot of Velocico to be taken.
00:03:32
Speaker
Yeah, I guess I did share. ah i don't remember doing that it was probably just to flex on zach because i think he is ceopro because we because we would we we will take any opportunity we get so yeah any any opportunity no i haven't i haven't taken any video footage uh since I was at King's Island. So i've I've really just stopped doing that and just kept on with still photography. It it feels like it feels like a lot of work to go and like actively video a park, like capture it on film. I don't know. It's...
00:04:12
Speaker
Sometimes I just want to enjoy my day. so Yeah, I run into that problem. Like trying to ride the coasters, but also film and take pictures and enjoy myself.
00:04:23
Speaker
Oh yeah, and I mean my own rule is like if I feel at any point like I'm stressed because I'm missing out on the park, then camera just goes away. yeah um I'm there for a reason.
00:04:35
Speaker
That's why I'm bad at content. I've had the same struggles though I know exactly what you're talking about yeah my vlog style is literally just film things that are happening as I see them every now and then and put it together in a video yeah but do you come out at the end of the day happier for it um yeah yeah probably i mean i I know I'd always leave happier if I got a few extra rides on something versus I'm usually happy either way like I have video to look back on and remember what I did but also
00:05:08
Speaker
If I just go enjoy myself, I will remember that too, even without a video. So yeah, it's kind of a win-win, but it can be stressful in the moment. but i'll see the the The five years that I've been doing photography for ah like has been just a constant search of the balance between um satisfaction I get from rides and re-rides and then satisfaction I get from taking photos as well.
00:05:36
Speaker
So i have to i have to I've gotten to the point where i have to include both. Otherwise, I'm just going to be like, need to go back. And the balance is always changing, isn't it?
00:05:47
Speaker
Always, always. Always, yeah. So you get into a new park or something and you want to go write everything, but then your photographer brain says, no, hold on. yeah You can't. You can't turn your photographer, like, I call it, I mean, I'm sure of most people in photography do, like, just the photographer's eye. You can't turn off.
00:06:08
Speaker
No, you can't turn off. Like, ever. Like, I remember the last time we were we're at King's Island um for for for your wedding, I was like, I didn't have my camera with me because I specifically just wanted to just enjoy the park ah like a bit more. And just every couple of minutes, I'm just like, ooh, that's a good shot.
00:06:29
Speaker
Ooh, that's a good shot. It's kind of maddening sometimes, isn't it? I was ah it was just an epic waiting in line the station for Stardust Racers and the most insane sunset was going on around me. It just like absolutely crazy colors. Everything was glowing orange. Um, then Stardust Racers went down and I was like stuck there in the line wondering like, okay, do I bail and go grab my camera? Or do I stay in this line in the hopes of getting the night ride that I actually want? Uh,
00:07:04
Speaker
And I stayed in the line um and it was not worth it because they just emptied the queue. No. Oh, no. no I have really bad luck when it comes to that ride. But I did finally get on it the other day. so What did you think of it?
00:07:26
Speaker
That I feel about it. No, no, no. It's a hot take, but that's how I feel about it. No, no, no. No, no, no, nothing more than you said. Just leave it at that.
00:07:38
Speaker
It's hard because I really like it, and I think it's probably in my top five. I don't i don't really rank coasters, but I have had more fun on Stardust Racers than any other coaster in like a long while.
00:07:54
Speaker
But ride force-wise, I feel like there's a lot to be desired. Yeah. Like if it wasn't a dueling coaster, I'm not sure it would be there for me. And the nighttime dueling aspect just really, really bumps it up. um Stupid fun coaster, which is why it's one of my favorites. But like by itself, if I'm just thinking about the ride by itself, I would probably rather ride something else.
00:08:21
Speaker
I agree with that. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. so I'm glad that I went back to Universal to to get on it, though. Because I went in February, and that was during one of its extended closures. and I had five whole days of Epic where I was just looking over the fence at it. Yeah, it was really painful.
00:08:43
Speaker
Yeah, no, I... would
00:08:49
Speaker
yeah no i um start Stardust is really confusing for
Photography Background and Inspirations
00:08:57
Speaker
me to like think about how I feel about it.
00:09:01
Speaker
like As an experience versus as you know just as objectively as I can think about a coaster. like The first half of it I do find really quite repetitive. And I'm always someone who's like, i've got be I've got to be feeling multiple things. Oh, okay. So i completely disagree with you there. Because I'm somebody who just really, really loves repetitive action.
00:09:22
Speaker
And the constant like repetitive airtime in the first half of Stardust Racers is what I'm there for. I just want to get someone over and over again. You don't disagree that it is repetitive. You just like that.
00:09:34
Speaker
Oh, I like it. Yeah, yeah it is repetitive. And I like it. Once I get into the second half where I'm like, okay, I could be to doing something else now. Oh, see, I love the second half. I mean, the second half is good. But after you get out of the Celestial Spin...
00:09:51
Speaker
i want to go back to just getting yoinked that's me but i will say the second half is better um at night because you've got the trains like actively crisscrossing each other and yeah yeah and that is a wild vision awesome yeah got write green at night i think yellow was during the day But yeah, it was much better at night.
00:10:18
Speaker
It is. Yeah. I do miss it a lot. Like, I i miss Stardust. The other the other day I was just thinking but about just, like I could very easily just fly over to Orlando and just ride Stardust right now. Or drive in my case. Or drive in my case, yeah.
00:10:36
Speaker
I think this is one of those rare rides for me where the atmosphere and like the vibe of the ride is potentially stronger than the ride experience itself. yeah Because the extension of like Celestial Parks, like Art Nouveau, Art Deco kind of thing, like goes into the Stardust Racer station, and it just looks like a train station kind of, and you get that whole like travel feeling like while you're queuing for it. And and then it's got like awesome music. and I don't know.
00:11:10
Speaker
It just gets me so hyped before I get on ride, which I feel is really important for a coaster. So first of all, try and guess who listened last week's episode real quick. Okay, okay. To be fair, before I ever listen to your architecture episode, I did architecture research.
00:11:34
Speaker
when I was writing about Epic universe. Nice. Okay. Because celestial park is like so distinct. Yes. Um, it is. And so jaw dropping. And was like, okay, I gotta, I gotta know more about this. Uh, so I, I did poke around.
00:11:49
Speaker
So yeah, second second thing was going to be like, we did as as as as much as last week's episode lasted two and a half hours, we did not spend enough time on Celestial Park and the architecture around Stardust races. Oh yeah, you really didn't.
00:12:10
Speaker
we We just need to have our not do that area just our epic dive part two. That's we need to do, honestly. That's something we do anymore. yeah Well, before we turn this into another epic universe episode. Yeah, right. ah um Sam, if you want to tell us about yourself, obviously you're very big into photography and we brought you on here mostly because of the magazine you started. So if you want to kind of tell us about, tell us your story.
00:12:37
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. I'm Sam. Um, I am a photographer, been doing about 18 years or something. Wow. Um, yeah, ever since I started going to amusement parks, I took a little Kodak point and shoot with me, uh, and was just always taking photos. Uh, so I've done a long time. It's only been recently in my adulthood where I really got back into it.
00:12:58
Speaker
Um, and realize that I have free will and I can't just jet off to go ride roller coasters if I want to. It's a great feeling, isn't it? It is such a great feeling. And like not even it doesn't even happen when you have the resources like the funds and time to do it. It's later when you're like, why am I so bored all the time?
00:13:18
Speaker
Oh, right. I can, I could go, uh, ride a rollercoaster. Um, no, ah so, so I really got into theme park photography, uh, recently and within the past couple of years. Um, I've been having such a good time doing it, you know, practicing photography and also just seeing what everyone else is making in the community.
00:13:39
Speaker
Um, but I just found myself like always wanting to make things like put things together, to show people, And a really big part of my childhood was printed materials on roller coasters. Like I had limited internet access back in the dial-up days. And so whatever I could get from the library, you know, was was my source of of theme parks outside of my little circle.
00:14:08
Speaker
And I just have... so yes Yeah, yeah. I liked coaster books. And so as an adult, I was like, well, i'd better I better make a coaster book.
00:14:18
Speaker
um So I did. I made a ah coffee table book called Machines Above Us, which is a really fun project. ah And I shared it with a few people. ah And when I was done, I felt kind of like hollow, like, okay, well, what am I going to do next? And I realized I just wanted to keep doing that, but put it in a little more accessible format. So more people could get into it. Because the coffee table book price point isn't super friendly.
00:14:53
Speaker
um But a magazine is so that is how a Park Day happens. Park Day is a theme park photography and arts magazine. So it's it's not really focused on reviews or industry news or anything like it is just about the visuals. And it is a way for people who make visual art to show off their work.
00:15:17
Speaker
So it's it's got like a gallery format. Each issue has and usually two to four. We've had two, we've had three. Oh, and we've had four different features, like little galleries within the magazine um from an individual creator.
00:15:33
Speaker
And it's just fun to look at. There's lots of full-color photographs. Lots of things to see. That's that's my story.
00:15:46
Speaker
I put roller coasters in print. And not a lot of people do that right now. No, it's really sad. now. It's really sad. um One, i know you mentioned you don't do anything like with news or anything. That feels like a very good fit for the podcast because neither do we.
00:16:05
Speaker
yeah yeah We don't do news. We don't do speculation and rumors. We just focus on parks and creativity yeah well i mean with it every now and then it's occasionally it's fun to like talk about news and whatnot but creating content around it is exhausting yeah because you yeah have to be first you've got to move fast um and that's not something i ever want to do yeah mean this is a hobby project for me um that i like to do and i want to keep it that way it's just like you know no major news happened today at all in the industry uh-huh
00:16:42
Speaker
We're recording this the day they announced Air air Force is closing. or personson pe Fun Spot Atlanta. Yeah, Fun Spot Atlanta America, whatever it is. But who knows what's going to happen to Air Force?
00:16:56
Speaker
We can talk about it creatively, but... Yeah, we're I'm not going to speculate. yeah Yeah, I did a little doodle at work of the ride being eaten by Kudzu Vines.
00:17:07
Speaker
okay That fits in with our theme, though. yeah's Yeah. Coaster doodles. used to do that on my math notes in high school. Oh, yeah. Submit them to the magazine. You'll have to find them.
00:17:22
Speaker
If they're good. I did a very intricate B&M track in the quarter of calculus notes at one point. Yes, oh wow I'm there for it. I will try to find that picture. Man, I did so many coaster drawings in my notebooks in school, but they're just all top-down, like bird's-eye views the layout, where I would just mark, like, add height markers to be like, okay, at this point, we're 215 feet. And then the straight line would continue, and another marker would like, okay, we're back down to 15 feet. We've had our mattress there.
00:17:59
Speaker
I don't know why I would do it like that. yeah I searched on my phone real quick. I don't think I have that picture on my phone. don't mind it though. Oh, well. Yeah. Follow up on that.
00:18:10
Speaker
Yeah. But ah no, that is that is My intro. I'm sure there's a lot more that will come up. um yeah I was going to ask my own question real quick. What's your ah camera brand of choice?
00:18:25
Speaker
It's a loaded question, it sounds like. Well, people are going to really hate me. It's okay, Mikhail and I have already had our scuffle about it. Yeah, I shoot on a Nikon and I like it.
00:18:38
Speaker
There it is. But, i use Sony and Canon, I don't like Canon. like I distinctly really dislike using Canon cameras. They just wow they just don't fit my hands well.
00:18:53
Speaker
Yeah. Same. i can same i I use Sony, so I'm like not offended by that. But like I always every time podcast weird every time I argue with a Nikon person like Mikhail, we're like, yeah, Canon's fine. It's in the middle.
00:19:08
Speaker
But I'm like, I just yeah and just it doesn't do anything for me. OK, fair enough. Yeah, I really like my Nikon, though. I think Nikon is a really, really underrated brand. I mean, my C63 can go out there and shoot like ProRes RAW 4K video at 60 frames per second.
00:19:28
Speaker
And you don't get that on a lot of consumer cameras. Yeah. I'm not like a pro photographer either. Like, i'm just I'm just doing it for fun and trying to make it as look as good as I can. So I'm just shooting with a Sony Alpha 6000. Like, it's nothing fancy. Yeah, that'd be good for you.
00:19:47
Speaker
Yeah. But... yeah I just wanted to ask that. that was I thought that would be a very funny, topical question. Yeah, it's it's a tough one. Mikon, which camera specifically do you have? So I was
00:20:03
Speaker
going to throw a photo of it in in the Theme Park Photography Discord. I just never around to it. But I just recently got the Z6 III as well. Nice.
00:20:15
Speaker
couple of weeks like two or three weeks ago yeah i'd been i'd upgraded from the original z6 um oh yeah like done a ton of research on because um i'm getting into ah like i guess more lucrative styles of photography um just in the uh vancouver southern british columbia area and determined that the the the like i mean like not to get too far in the weeds but like if you're looking at like upgraded autofocus and and and oh yeah you know just different very specific needs going from going from the z6 to the 3 was a game changer for you know like paid shoots for sure
00:21:00
Speaker
yeah Like, I'm not going to miss a shot due to focus. Exactly. exactlys It's going to nail it every time. Wildly better autofocus, better performance in low light, more more versatile like video capabilities as well. um it like it would And as soon as I identified that the Z6 III was an option, like as opposed to the Z8, which is like a grand and a half, like more expensive, I was just like, oh, this is a no-brainer.
00:21:26
Speaker
And as soon as as soon as I got it, i was just like, oh yeah, I made the right choice. love I love it. I love the Z6. It's so funny because in that photography discord, I think there's been a flood of people who like all bought Z6 threes. Oh yeah.
00:21:42
Speaker
Yeah, I know. 100%. then like a few weeks later, Zach messaged me and he was like, I got one too. And then my little buddy Ian said, Aw, Ian. he got one. He got one as well. Yeah, like, we're all we're all shooting with the Z6-3.
00:22:02
Speaker
That's awesome. I know i know the, like, the um the conversation has slowed down in there a little bit, but just, like, the back and forth between basically you three and then sometimes me and and and and a couple others as well was, like, some of my just some of my favorite, like, conversation yeah on Discord in general.
00:22:20
Speaker
I need to get back to that. See if we can breathe some life into it. It's so funny as well, because um but like while i while I was um just trying to weigh up like the the um like advantages and reasons to you know upgrade and everything,
00:22:38
Speaker
I had been doing that for a good while. And then I happened to, um because i I had known that that me and Zakaf had like a similar, like because he had the Z6, like the original Z6 when I got it as well. So I was like, oh, damn, we have we have the same camera. He might have had the same DSLR, but even before even before that, as I did as well. um And then, so I happened to check back on his Flickr account. Yeah. And seeing that he had upgraded to the Z6-3, and I was just like, oh, of course he has. Of course he has. Yeah. So I think I mistold it earlier. when After I upgraded, he upgraded to the Z6-2.
00:23:23
Speaker
And I was like, okay, nice job. And then I remember, because I had been creeping on his flicker. Oh, no. It feels like I'm confessing something. I've been looking on it and I saw that he had a C63 and I was like, okay, so you weren't going to tell me. exactly
00:23:46
Speaker
That's so funny. Because then, like, that's what, i don't know I don't know if you saw my message in the in the in the Discord. that's That's why I, like, tagged him tagged him in there and was just like, hey, Zach, um how do you how do you feel about the Z6-3 having just seen on his Flickr account that he upgraded? And I was just listing off, like, the reasons.
00:24:05
Speaker
i was thinking to upgrade and then and then you and then i think that's when you jumped in i was just like i love my z63 and i'm like he's got one too but of yeah i i got it i think i got it the week it came out actually because okay i've been shooting with the z6 and um i don't want to like get too far into it but Silver Dollar City had called me for like kind of a last minute job and i was planning a trip up to Cedar Point like right after that and i was looking at my Z6 and I was looking at the new release and I was like you know
00:24:47
Speaker
i just I'm going to justify this because I'm about to go get paid for photography. So yeah, that's how I upgraded. And there's ah there's ah there's a big enough gap, like there's a big enough gap performance-wise between oh yeah between the it it was were original it original and the Mark like...
00:25:04
Speaker
It's no-brainer. didn't really think there was much gap between the Mark 1 and Mark 2, but definitely between the 1 and 3. Yeah. That's definitely something I need. I'm not going to be able to go back to anything else.
00:25:19
Speaker
Okay, I'm sorry. Alicent, are you going to delete all of that? 20 minutes we just spent?
00:25:30
Speaker
Look what you did, Nate. Hey, you know, this is it's it's creative. It's photography. It's ah it's about our guests. So i think I think it aligns.
00:25:43
Speaker
I just interrupted Allison before she asked a question. oh yeah. What what question were you guys? was going to bring up John Mike's question to kind of get more into the magazine.
Print Media and Magazine Creation
00:25:53
Speaker
um I definitely ah vibe with the magazine more than photography, to be honest. But that's just me as a graphic designer. But he John Mike asks, what inspired you to create a new physical media magazine in an increasingly digital age? I think i think really just because...
00:26:13
Speaker
I'd like it. I mean, that's that kind of comes down to the reason why I make a lot of what I do. It's because I enjoy it. But partly because i think, especially over the past year, being online, having an online presence, when you're trying to share something you've made can be just so infinitely frustrating. Yeah.
00:26:36
Speaker
Like, especially on Instagram, because you know, you you have something that you just really, really like, but you know, once you click post, like the algorithm's not going to show it to people or the odds of it being seen for more than like 0.7 seconds are pretty, pretty low. um But you know, like if, if somebody were to hold it And there was nothing actively changing. Like they look at it for a second longer and maybe notice something more about it that you wanted them to see but that they weren't going to in the first place. So that's, that's kind of why i wanted to create something in print.
00:27:16
Speaker
Cause it's just a good feeling to hold something in your hand and be able to look at like little details and kind of explore an image or a visual um instead of rushing past it.
00:27:30
Speaker
And I think I wanted to give a place for the other people who are experiencing that same frustration a space to show off their own work, too. That's that's kind of the goal of Park Day Magazine. it's I like to think of it as just like a community scrapbook.
00:27:46
Speaker
I like that description, actually. Yep. Because each a h one has a theme, correct? um You know, each one doesn't have a theme. I think it's just been...
00:27:58
Speaker
ah this last issue that's been like specifically about Epic Universe. yeah So we have two, and the next issue is also going to be about Epic Universe. and then once out of the way Once that's out of the way, we'll get back to a wifer mix. But I i intentionally wanted it to feel pretty diverse in terms of like when you go from one collection to the next, like you're getting something totally different.
00:28:27
Speaker
so Which I really haven't had to hunt down. like People have supplied some pretty awesome stuff. It just naturally works together. Nice.
00:28:39
Speaker
So it's like a...
00:28:42
Speaker
more naturally free-flowing process to actually to the actual creation of each edition? Yes, would say so. Yeah. Well, and if I if i treat like a community scrapbook, like there's there's elements, of course, in the magazine that tie it all together.
00:29:01
Speaker
But essentially what I'm doing is like people submit work to it and I'm able to just pick up these beautiful pieces and then put them where I want it and be like, okay, well, that's the vibe. Um, and this one's going to have Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket and Velocicoaster and King to Ka and Storm Runner. Like that, they all work together.
00:29:25
Speaker
Um, probably wouldn't have, paired them together otherwise, because they don't really fit a theme. But yeah it's fun to go through all of them. I also, you know this is a very new project. I think if I were to put too many guidelines in place for people to submit, being like, oh, I really am only looking for x, y, c I think that just would turn people away. And that's not yeah what I would do.
00:29:57
Speaker
Does the choice of software you use to kind of the design ah do the design of each, I guess, each page throughout the entire, from like front to back, like does it um have much influence on how how you how you set out like, you know, your layout of of collection of photos and and all the rest of the text and the content in there?
00:30:25
Speaker
I wouldn't say so. um I think when it actually comes down to laying out the magazine, that feels like a very free-flowing organic process.
00:30:36
Speaker
um And I think it just kind of happens once I sit down to do it. But I always have a pretty good idea in my mind of how things are going to fit together in terms of the order of the collection.
00:30:53
Speaker
that Does that answer your question? Yeah, no, just ah with with my mind kind of just went to I don't know whether you use like Adobe Creative Cloud or if you or if you use um another set of um ah like software apps to create like the entire thing.
00:31:14
Speaker
Adobe InDesign. Right. Yeah. yeah Team Adobe. Love it. yeah they page Page layout. It's standard. yeah i was like um From a yeah the the the idea of just the decision making in the process of putting everything together being very free-flowing and not naturalistic, um i was I was wondering if...
00:31:39
Speaker
as ah so As someone who is not adept at, like I use Adobe Creative Cloud myself, um but not InDesign specifically, just thinking about um does it like Does it give you the the the freedom the as much creative freedom as you would like to put everything together?
00:31:58
Speaker
Oh, I definitely think it does. I mean, i that's something that works so well about the entire Adobe suite.
00:32:07
Speaker
You can just move between programs pretty seamlessly. Yeah. um so if i if i hit a wall in in design where i am you know designing for print so blend modes are different in cmyk than they are in like rgb yeah and i'm just really not able to achieve what i'm looking for i can always just go into photoshop and design a layout for sure um and then place that in indesign and retain that that specific image that i want so i don't i wouldn't say that my choice of software has ever like limited me and I think I have a lot to explore yeah honestly but the the magazine has a very very simple layout like it is pretty bare bones by design because I don't want to take any attention away from
00:32:56
Speaker
actual work that's being shown. So it's usually a pretty fast process laying it out. Putting all, gathering all the content is what takes the most time and preparing the content.
00:33:10
Speaker
Do you have a graphic design background or did you just kind of teach yourself when you decided that you wanted to do a magazine? um i I work for an advertising agency. oh So design is is part of my daily routine. I would not call myself a designer, though.
00:33:27
Speaker
I wouldn't call myself a graphic designer. i would call myself a photographer and a videographer and maybe a page layout artist. But I wouldn't go so far as to say i was a designer. ah Because the the majority of the design work I do at work is page layout.
00:33:46
Speaker
And I think I do have somewhat of a natural affinity for like things in print, books in general. I wrote books before i got into photography. I wrote books that don't have photographs. And I just like books, all forms of books.
00:34:02
Speaker
You are just completely speaking my language right now. This making me happy. Oh, yeah? I helped ah start an indie publishing company in 2020. Nice. And i've published a book um and always working on About 20 others at the same time. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. They're always throws back there. Man, I have not written like a book book in so long. I think since 2020. And I have been itching to just get back and like start drafting something. But a yeah something about having a magazine um is eating up all of my free time.
00:34:39
Speaker
so I understand that very much. Yeah. Yeah. I'll get back to it.
00:34:45
Speaker
It's eating up all my time. But I love it. Also, I did find that picture, the doodle from my calculus notes. Oh, yeah? Oh, wow. Nice.
00:34:58
Speaker
Literally from my ah twelfth grade calculus notes. Is that an original or is that a coaster you ah hey like try to draw off of Allison? um Probably was inspired by Georgia Scorcher.
00:35:12
Speaker
Ironically, that's like Georgia Scorcher's colors now and not what it was. Yeah, the color it became. that it was the color it became much later, yeah. It's almost like you foreshadowed it. Yeah, because that would have been, oh god I'm going to age myself, 2007-ish.
00:35:27
Speaker
ish When I drew that. So Goliath would have just opened. So maybe I was inspired by Goliath and then foreshadowed Georgia Scorcher's.
00:35:40
Speaker
I forgot that Goliath had a different paint scheme. And every time i see a picture every time I see a picture of it blue, I just go, did I miss a ride opening? like I honestly have the same thing with that. I keep forgetting that it's not orange anymore. yeah I'm like, it needed a repaint, but i don't know if it needed a color scheme. It needed a repaint, but that orange just felt so good for that ride.
00:36:04
Speaker
Anything for that chain not to repaint Nitro. That's terrible.
00:36:10
Speaker
Anytime I can roast Nitro, I will. For the paint job.
00:36:16
Speaker
Jen will be proud of you that you're roasting Nitro without her hair. Well, um I must do it. If if she's not here to do it, I gotta do it. Carrying on the legacy.
00:36:28
Speaker
Yeah. Well, if she ever stops traveling and comes back for an episode. but
00:36:36
Speaker
At one point I genuinely like had had the thought, should we be worried?
00:36:45
Speaker
I just didn't hear a single word from her for like days at a time. i was just like, she's okay, right? She's just living her best life.
00:36:56
Speaker
Living the dream of just doing remote work from Europa Park for two, three weeks at a time. Indeed. Yeah.
00:37:04
Speaker
Not that I'm jealous at all or anything. oh Remote work from Europa Park? Mm-hmm. That's what Jen does a lot. Yep. What? Yeah. Well, her boyfriend works at Europa Park. Specifically, he's a Voltron write-up.
00:37:22
Speaker
Oh, okay. So I scrolled down in your Instagram feed and saw the Europa Park deep dive. Like, something about Jen's... a Voltron write-off boyfriend. And I thought it was just like a joke. No, it's literally... It's a very real thing. um goals That's goals. i think So his name is Jelly, and I think he joined us for the first two Deep Dives? Two episodes, yeah. Yeah, because he was in America for like three months.
00:37:52
Speaker
yeah So we did a few ah Europa episodes while he was here, since you know we had the ah authentic source.
00:38:01
Speaker
They very much did a deep dive, too. yeah Goodness. He was also working from Working Remote. Yeah, operating Voltron from Philadelphia.
00:38:15
Speaker
I think I'm going to dispatch it. No. so
00:38:21
Speaker
Rolling Station. True. And Locker Strength.
00:38:28
Speaker
There was an app on your phone that could actually do that. that did i was about to that That'd be scary.
00:38:36
Speaker
oh
00:38:39
Speaker
I'm looking through questions and i there's there's a lot on here. yeah i'm trying to think of which one to ask. I think a good one would be the next one on the list here. be asking about but go out and ask it nate machines above us differs from the creation of a magazine.
00:38:57
Speaker
like the book versus the magazine kind of thing well i mean the book was a completely personal project uh and it definitely like it's it's kind of centered around some personal narrative as well so inherently it's a bit more of an emotional project um and created it took a lot more time because i uh just thought twice about like everything i wrote like every photo i placed and and whatnot. Whereas Park Day, like it's not, it's a project of mine, but like, it's not about me.
00:39:30
Speaker
Thank God. So when I'm creating it, I, it feels like I'm discovering something versus feels like something I'm trying to pull out of myself, if that makes sense. yeah And I really, i really enjoyed that process. And I, I like both kinds of creative workflows. But I think making Park Day is inherently less emotionally exhausting.
00:39:55
Speaker
I could see that. um And I think it's just a lot more freeing as well, because I designed Machines of Obvious to be a coffee table book. It's got some piece of writing there as well, but it's a simple coffee table book. And Park Day can look a little more visually complex.
00:40:15
Speaker
Plus with the inclusion of like other photography in Park Day, you know it's not all sourced from you. Yeah, no, it feels good. Yeah. Yeah, and that's the part of the fun of this project is just getting to see work from a lot of different photographers.
00:40:35
Speaker
A lot of people send stuff in. I've been really pleasantly surprised at how often i get submissions. And it's just so much fun to see what everyone's paid and what everyone's been working on. It's...
00:40:54
Speaker
I don't know, you can only... look at your own stuff for so long. Yeah, yeah. i mean you see something else Is there ah something you're most proud of with the creation of Park Day?
00:41:07
Speaker
um Yeah, I would say actually getting other people to be involved. um I, you know, I ah have had so many projects over the years that were meant to be more like public things. And you know You make something and it'll just never like take off, um which is you know what I fully expected Park Day magazine to be. But the fact that it's gotten out there and people who I don't know personally have contributed to it means a lot to me because that truly is the goal. like I want to meet more people and see more work and like give people a chance to just show off what they've made in a really nice periodical format.
00:41:56
Speaker
um So I think that's what I'm most proud of, like, getting it into the hands of people that I wouldn't have known otherwise. Yeah. it does show It does show, like, a resonance, like, um in the in the um in the platform and and just, like, like the the enjoyment of...
00:42:14
Speaker
theme parks and how we see them like on that platform when you see it amongst like people you don't know like like beyond you know your friends and like who who you give it to to just get like that initial idea of but when you see it um amongst people that you you know you might just come across on on social media or or wherever so it's like oh other people like yeah that's that's like the the evidence of the it's really hitting home for like a wider you know span of people in the community and everything yeah and i think it's it's also fun uh just from a standpoint of subject matter because you you have these things that you know the social media and algorithms like specific things uh they like a certain style of visual like they're they train themselves to like pick up a certain kind of video you know It's it's all based on trends. And obviously, like there's creative merit to all sorts of trends. um
00:43:21
Speaker
But I think something really fun about Park Day Project is people are submitting work on a subject that we've seen, you know, a million times just scrolling our Instagram feed, but they are definitely seeing it very differently. And that perspective may not have made it to you on the screen, but it's there in the magazine for you.
00:43:42
Speaker
So it's definitely changed the way I have looked at certain parks or attractions, just seeing it through someone else's lens.
00:43:56
Speaker
Let's see. So one question from someone who i I think I've confused with you in the past before. Midcourse discourse. Yeah, John and I are very different.
00:44:09
Speaker
I was first. a lot of mid I was first. You're first. um but he ask ah What non-coaster magazines have been most inspirational for you in the creation of Park? Non-Coaster Magazines? Or has it just solely been Coaster Magazine? It's pretty much been Coaster Magazines. In terms of publications in general, I know this is an incredibly cliche answer, but I just love National Geographic photo books so much. And I like National Geographic photographers a lot. Joel Sartori, sarour sar tori he's he's a National Geographic photographer, and he's got this book called Nebraska.
00:44:49
Speaker
and it's just this incredible photo essay of life in rural nebraska in the 90s has some of the best photos I've ever seen and it's like one of the simplest books you'll open like it's just photos and little columns of writing and I think that was the first thing I opened and just absolutely ate up and realized like oh like something really can be this simple and impactful um and that was a big non-coaster inspiration for me in
00:45:24
Speaker
kind of going down that photography printmaking route. It almost kind of does feel like National Geographic, but for roller coasters in a way. I would love...
00:45:35
Speaker
to market it that way, but I think that might give me a little trouble. I'm specifically calling it National Geographic. I also think that would lock some people out. There might be legal hoops to jump through. Yeah, I don't want anyone to be like, oh man, I wish there was a magazine I could submit to, and then they come across one that's like, we're the National Geographic of the magazine. You're like, oh, I can't do that. Okay, never mind. Yeah, so I don't want to make people feel like they can't. Send stuff in.
00:46:08
Speaker
So off off the off the back of,
00:46:12
Speaker
well, I guess i guess in in the case of non-Coaster magazines, non-Coaster photo books and photo taking and stuff, I was interested to just know more about like what different styles of
Photography's Influence on Theme Park Experiences
00:46:26
Speaker
photography you've taken. and you say Because you've but you've like you said, you've been doing photography for, what was it, close to like 15, 18 years? 18 yeah i've had a camera in my hands for like 18 years so i've done it seriously for probably about eight okay yeah so ah yeah i was and i was interested to hear about like what different styles of photography that you've um kind of you know practiced in or just like taking part in as a hobby or specialized in and yeah like what's your favorite style i really i think you know my answer about national geographic kind of
00:47:02
Speaker
It kind of reveals the fact that I like landscape a lot. okay I really like landscape photography. And i think i i like two styles the most and they're completely opposite because I really love landscape and I really love street photography. And one is just like a super static subject and it's very straightforward yeah and kind of feels easy sometimes because like when it when it happens, like it happens and it's there for you. And then street photography, like you got to go find a photo. Oh, yeah. Or be fast enough to get it.
00:47:35
Speaker
um And compositions are always chaotic. You don't know what what kind of motion is going to be in the frame. So street photography is is definitely, I would say, my primary passion, primary style photography that I I enjoy.
00:47:54
Speaker
um It's, i again, it just feels like discovering something whenever I go do it. Kind of just like investigating the world with my camera.
00:48:05
Speaker
And that's kind of the mindset I get in when i walk into a theme park haven't been to as well. Like, I'm just going to discover it through my camera. yeah And I think it makes it a lot more enjoyable for me than just walking in and by looking around. But I also like the chaos of street photography and not really knowing what you're going to get or end up with um and not necessarily setting out with a specific image or goal in mind um yeah landscape and street photography uh for work i do a lot of uh brand imagery um doesn't really feel like a style uh sometimes but i think there's definitely a style to it there's there's a style um
00:48:51
Speaker
And it's like definitely you can kind of get in machine mode about it. ah Machines above us mode? six Yeah. Bringing it back to that. She said the thing. said the thing. She said the thing. This is such good marketing for me. Nobody has ever said the name of that book more than once in an hour.
00:49:15
Speaker
we will mention it again. We're at least three or four. Yeah, you're three or four like this. It will the last time. And there's at least one other question about it too. Yeah. What was I saying?
00:49:26
Speaker
Oh yeah. brand Brand photography can be machine-like. Same with you know portrait photography. like Going to do headshots. My least favorite kind of photography on earth.
00:49:39
Speaker
But it does pay the bills. So. What about you, Mikal? So, um it's it's it's funny you mention lifestyle and brand and photography and and things. um um that That being um sort of area of commercial photography that I am actively trying to get myself into just because of its earning potential in in the city of Vancouver.
00:50:07
Speaker
um But yeah, know ah um ah honestly, I'm... kind of very much well very similar to you in the sense in the sense that i um i kind of discovered photography through theme parks and then like what and discovered um uh landscape and environment photography well yeah landscape and environment photography it allowed ah it allowed me to essentially just be practicing those same kind of things through the built environment of theme parks. Oh yeah. And then um also discovered how much I enjoy or like see similarities within like city life and street life photography as well. So like I kind of got introduced to one and then and then the other and then um kind of saw similarities and differences in both in how in in in in how you were saying, like with landscape photography, can you youke you can kind of just get lost in how
00:51:17
Speaker
comparatively speaking easy that is to be photographing still subjects not having to interact with people not having to have have to um sort of jump that mental hurdle of oh does this person like having a camera being shoved in the face because that's a very that's a very real thing but um and kind of like through, um introducing myself to street life photography and things of that nature, I've kind of, I'm, I have ah ah like a developing affinity for taking photos of, you know, that include people as well.
00:51:58
Speaker
And likening, and likening that back to, uh, theme park photography, um, yeah in the sense of, ah being able to photograph the human experience of yeah a theme park rather than well not not rather than but like as well as you know the theme itself yeah yeah for sure um i i think it is funny how how often like my work side of photography manifests in the theme park photography that i do i mean fundamentally i don't think they're any different like it's all
00:52:34
Speaker
Rob Frasca, Composing images and finding something compelling to look at. Rob Frasca, But I think the headspace i'm in when i'm doing both of them is is a little bit different, but I would say that.
00:52:47
Speaker
Frasca, it always kind of surprises me when I like take a photo out at a theme park and i'll be grading it later whatnot and just like oh. that's, that's like something I would shoot for, you know, such and such client. Yeah. Yeah. Lifestyle was and how like that eye that I've got for one part a photography, like it's still showing up here. And sometimes I'll be shooting lifestyle at work and be like, Oh, well I'm going to have to throw that one out because you know,
00:53:17
Speaker
We probably don't need an image where the stuff is supposed to post like on the very, very edge of the frame and there's 90%.
00:53:26
Speaker
I've been there. but yeah Yeah. Whoops. ah But yeah, they cross over a lot. And I think earlier i had said i had described landscape as easy and I don't want to.
00:53:41
Speaker
piss off any landscape photographers. I don't think that was really the word I was searching for. I think I was searching for... If that was hard to follow on my part as well. just like No, you you just echoed it back and I was like, oh man, I didn't mean to...
00:53:55
Speaker
to dunk on landscape photographers. I think I meant to say it's calmer than street photography. Yes. Yeah. Not like easy, but like it's, it's easier on your nervous system. For sure. yeah No, no, no. hundred percent. A hundred percent. Well, it doesn't, it doesn't take any less skill or whatnot. It, you're just not as like physically at active.
00:54:15
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:54:21
Speaker
like ah yeah the at the very least, there is, like, that, just that, that, um, the mental hurdle of, yeah, like, like I said, um, but and it which it is it, it is very much a mental hurdle just in itself, not necessarily a reflection of reality, um, in the sense of, uh, getting past the awkwardness of thinking, oh this person might not want their photo taken, like, at any, at any given point, but then also, like you said, um,
00:54:54
Speaker
the capturing the moments within, you know, not even just street life photography, but like events, um ah if you if like some like forms of like logistically speaking of branding photography as well, coming up with more wider branding and lifestyle shots in the sense that like to capture the moment, it's a much more fleet, a much more fleeting thing to try and grasp than in than in landscape photography where the vision that you're looking at is much less likely to be different from seconds a second to second.
00:55:30
Speaker
but um which makes Which makes it a whole different style as well. Not even to mention something like sports action photography as well. where oh yeah like yeah That can get really difficult in i have in that sense.
00:55:43
Speaker
I have crazy respect for anyone who's able to go to any kind of sporting event and like capture it well. Oh, yeah. That's just wild to me. That's what I like. yeah We were talking about the Discord earlier, mentioning Ian as well. The growth that he showed through through his hockey photos?
00:56:02
Speaker
Oh, my God. Absolutely insane. Insane. Some the photos he was. Yeah. Yeah, the stuff that he's doing... like you could just send him straight on to sports illustrated 100 yeah and he'd thrive he's on he's on his way like the the improvement he showed over such a really a small like period of time was seriously impressive seriously impressive and i don't think i've ever come across someone who's been more of an active listener in terms of oh yeah taking
00:56:39
Speaker
feedback and suggestions and ah immediately being able to turn that into a result with what he was doing. Like for someone his age to even be able to synthesize that information and then apply it directly. as it' i think seriously impressive. Yeah.
00:56:55
Speaker
Yeah, he's extremely talented, really. arms Yeah, so ah ah off off the back of that, not to to like hijack like this the conversation or anything, um we would we would talk we were talking about... um ah being able to capture the human experience at theme parks. And that is, that is an area of ah theme park photography that I really started to find really rapidly, actually like much more interesting than not, not to again, not to, um you know, disrespect, disrespect any form of like photos being taken in, in any sort of,
00:57:35
Speaker
scenario or anything, but I started to find it a lot more interesting personally than just taking coaster photos as great as they can look sometimes. And I started to get a lot more um people like focused on people existing within theme park environments.
00:57:56
Speaker
um And it's something that i honestly honestly, at the same time, I was finding very inspiring about the photos that you've posted as well. And I know, and i know like, we we love to make fun of Zach. Zach is amazing at that oh yeah as well. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. He's truly Yeah.
00:58:15
Speaker
So, then for sure. And um I wanted to... I had seen ah just... um I had seen that you had written about your intention to focus on the people in the in the Machines Above Us book. There you go. There's the fourth mention. There's and another mention.
00:58:35
Speaker
ah Yeah, your intention to focus on the people and sort of like showcasing their experience amongst theme park environments and amongst roller coasters as well. And yeah I would love to hear you talk like, like talk on that a little bit and how the process was.
00:58:51
Speaker
Well, I think it's a natural progression. Um, I think at some point all photographers who are constantly taking photos of roller coasters, like they will start to notice that there's other little stories happening around that um,
00:59:09
Speaker
rich in the scene. And I think there's like a natural curiosity to try and figure out how to work that into what they are experiencing. um But I think, I think for me, especially the reason why like including people in any given photograph I take is it's kind of a way to re experience something that I've already experienced. like it's It's somewhat of an emotional mirror. and i think a lot of that is specific to feeling of like childhood nostalgia. i yeah because i I know we all have i had that experience of walking up to a theme park like as a kid and just being absolutely terrified, but simultaneously awestruck at what we're seeing. And that's a feeling like we're not going feel that anymore, but you directly experience that when it's reflected off of someone else. yeah So that curiosity that I feel to know, like how everyone else is experiencing the same thing just leads me to go take photographs of them. And sometimes, sometimes I can catch that mirror moment where it's reflected right back, right back at me. I just,
01:00:25
Speaker
I think that's a really fascinating way to look back on your memories of a park as well, or like a trip where you can look back and you've got your own set of of memories that you have, but in the photos you take, like you can start to kind of feel out what everyone else's day looked like as well.
01:00:45
Speaker
And it just kind of makes it feel alive.
01:00:50
Speaker
Yeah, so ah I agree wholeheartedly with everything you said. It's just like like there's there's there's a certain there's a certain nostalgia to it in in seeing moments that you know you've felt and experienced through your time like growing up in theme parks and stuff.
01:01:13
Speaker
but seeing them playing out right in front of you and other people right in front of you yeah whether it be some kid or or you know like or a a group of a a group of adult friends coming off of a you know a really great big concert being like holy that was but yeah the group of 68 year old like retiree bingo players who are just like having a ball over at the teacups, right? Or so, yeah, just spinning themselves silly. Like that's, I don't know, there's so many things, so many different kind of feelings like happening all around. And I think it's just kind of fun to explore that.
01:01:51
Speaker
I definitely do a lot more videography than um photography, but like I've done a lot of, well, yeah, I know that. ah Yeah. I was just adding on. Videography for um Buzzbars Coaster Club. And that's kind of something that I gravitated towards a lot when I edited videos is filming just the people and their experiences at the parks and with each other as a community.
01:02:14
Speaker
i felt that a lot more.
01:02:17
Speaker
and don't know the right word, but I enjoyed doing that a lot more than just filming coasters. Yeah, just filming the film in the rides. filming the car Yeah, there's A-roll and there's B-roll. And once you start filming the B-roll, it kind of gets addicting. you You want to find more of it.
01:02:34
Speaker
Nicole, you're obviously a pretty prolific photographer, too. like have Have you made anything print-wise?
01:02:42
Speaker
so i'll put this So up to this point, no. um I have wanted to um start off by just doing prints of, um you know, going going back into like my like my favorite photos that I've taken over the years. Because I i still have i still have well Well, first of all, i have I have them all on my hard drive. But but like i I still have really vivid memory of the of just my personal favorite photos that I've taken you know all the way back to 2021. And i i have wanted to get um like just experiment with different styles of prints for those, including like canvas prints as well. um
01:03:27
Speaker
just haven't gone around to it yet, but it it is is actively on on my so on my like scope of things yeah to try to try and do.
01:03:39
Speaker
And you've never like put together a collection or anything, just just for yourself. um not not in physical form no i've i've done ah i've done a few of i've done a i've done a a few um very intentional sets but just keep but just kept it digital but um it's it's it's funny because uh like it like you said i i i grew up with um the the obsession of finding rollercoaster photos in like vacation brochures and stuff and like keeping keeping them and always just like flicking through to like I'd find like Florida brochures and find like Kumba at Bush Gardens and Dillon Dragons like in there and just like go back to those photos incessantly and That's so funny you said that because I have a really vivid childhood memory of like
01:04:38
Speaker
going on a trip to Branson or something. And in every travel stop we were in or something, I was just collecting brochures. And I had like the side door of our minivan, like stuff. Oh yeah. The side door was stuffed with brochures. And my mom was just like, what are you doing? And she made me throw them all away. It's we don't have room for at least like 27 brochures. What are you holding them for? Yeah.
01:05:03
Speaker
Oh, this is going to seem like such a humble brag. I'm so sorry. But when I was in Branson last, um, I picked up a Silver Dollar City brochure because there's some of my photography in it. oh that's awesome. Of course. And I was going to give it to my mom, but I don't think she remembers me hoarding that. It's just going to stay on my desk. Yeah. to put Yeah, just just slide it on her fridge one time and be like, wait, hold on, where did where did this appear from? You could just be like, you see that photo?
01:05:40
Speaker
That's mine, yeah. Your boy did that. In all the years I've been going to Silver Dollar City, ah like i keep ever since I moved out from my parents, I keep trying to, like year after year year, change the address on my season passport. um but it just never takes and so they keep mailing my parents house like ah all the special offers and you know mailers and whatnot um and usually my mom will text me and be like you got mail from silver dollar city and then she immediately throws it away um so even if i were to go put that on her fridge it it would get tossed yeah well
01:06:20
Speaker
That's unfortunate. Put it on your own fridge. Be proud of that.
01:06:29
Speaker
I mean, on the subject of Silver Dollar City, I was going to at some point at some point um go to the just go to the conversation point of um how your like love and development in photography has been influenced by your experiences at Silver Dollar City. Because it being one of my...
01:06:50
Speaker
favorite parks in the world. um I would be remiss if we did not talk about Silverdell City. yeah point yeah i think um I think my origin story kind of is Silverdell City.
01:07:01
Speaker
So it's definitely had an influence on my development as a photographer. um i I went through a really weird period of life where, you know, I've been taking photos, I've been enjoying roller coasters, and then I got into later high school and college and just kind of fell out of that.
01:07:20
Speaker
And was only using my camera for like street photography in urban areas or like going out hiking. um And there were just years and years where I wasn't visiting theme parks or doing anything. And so when I got back to that, It felt weird taking my camera into a park because I'd grown so much a photographer. I was operating like at a different level with different gear. And it felt weird to like carry in a whole backpack full of lenses and what. yeah
01:07:52
Speaker
Um, but silver dollar city was really the only place I felt comfortable doing that. Cause i already knew it. Like I knew people that worked there and they knew me and they weren't going to bat an eye if they saw, you know, someone running around with a giant camera, which now I think that's silly. Like there are people with cameras all over theme parks. Um, but it was kind of a mental block for me. Like, Oh no, I can't go and, you know, bring my camera into someone else's vacation. That's weird. so yeah,
01:08:20
Speaker
so So yeah, Silver Dollar City helped break the ice and give me the confidence to take what I like doing into other parks. And Silver Dollar City was the reason that I fell in love with roller coasters as well. So there's there's that.
01:08:40
Speaker
Awesome. Yeah, and you and you like you're bound to see so many different kinds of experiences at Silver Dollar City as well. Like, just the most you know like amongst the rides and then versus amongst all of the craftsmen's, um like,
01:08:59
Speaker
a work that they're doing and displays of different arts and crafts and stuff. like you can You can just take a you know like a really slow wander around like the main square and then all of the um like the blast the blacksmith's work and all of all of the rest of the craftsmen's and see not only um interactions and reactions between like the the people that work there and the guests, but also between the different craftspeople as well. It is one of those parks that I walk into and and like I've been hundreds of times. I know every inch of Silver Dollar City and I've seen it in a lot of iterations, but I don't ever feel bored when I'm taking photos there. Because there's just always something different happening.
01:09:45
Speaker
which I can't say about other parks. I've been to other parks multiple times and eventually I stopped feeling the need to bring my camera. Okay. Yeah. Shout out six flags over Texas.
01:10:01
Speaker
I'm You might as well bring your camera there with all the lines and closures they have. I have three visits there and all of them are a mess.
01:10:11
Speaker
Okay. I'm so sorry. i just came back from a truly awful visit to that park in which the power went out for the entire park. Oh my goodness. We sat in like 100 degree heat outside waiting for them to get the power back on.
01:10:32
Speaker
and When they did, it was eight p m Oh my gosh. Wow. Did you get to ride anything that day? Yeah. Texas Giant and Titan.
01:10:44
Speaker
That's about all. That's about all need there. That's kind of all I care about.
01:10:53
Speaker
Some could argue Mr. Freeze, but... yeah I am not a Mr. Freeze person. i It is just a little too short yeah for me. i I have a really hard time... I don't know what this is about me.
01:11:09
Speaker
I don't do shuttle coasters very well. Not like I can't handle them, like I get sick or anything. I just kind of hate them. and our I want to go a full lap. I like a full circuit coaster.
01:11:24
Speaker
I don't want to come back to where I started. And I don't know. they They never really do much for me, even to the point where i really really love pantheon at bush gardens williamsburg but because it has that swing launch into that backwards spike i can't i can't move it up in the rankings like i can't truly love it um because that's stupid swing launch that's so interesting interesting
01:11:55
Speaker
yeah I don't know what it is. I would say the one exception is Diamondback in Frontier City. The Aero Shuttle Loops. Stupid fun. and Oh, yeah.
01:12:06
Speaker
Yeah, I'll always love those. Yeah, those are great. Yeah, but other than that, no, I don't want to get on a shuttle. Have you written Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop? No, no, I'm not. The only one we've got here is Montezulian's, right?
01:12:19
Speaker
Yes, domestically. yeah i've i haven't ridden that yet, but the only one I have is ah formerly Psyche Underground, now Turbine, again, Wallaby Belgium. That one's fun. as a lot yeah hi Does it feel like a Schwarzkopf, though? I mean, it's it's a really simple it's got be a sequence of elements, and yeah in my mind, what makes Schwarzkopf worse schwartzop is...
01:12:44
Speaker
Like some of those really weird like turn transitions and the fluidness of the motion that's kind of atypical to that design period. I would say it still feels like you're riding a Schwarzkopf.
01:12:57
Speaker
The launch doesn't feel very Schwarzkopf-esque, but to be fair, I don't think I've ridden another Schwarzkopf with a launch. So the one that size that the one that you need the one that you need to go and ride is... The one in Japan?
01:13:11
Speaker
no No, no, no, not that one. Oh, okay. The bullet at Sina Magica in Mexico, unfortunately, whenever they, you know, wake up and decide, hey, yeah, let's let's operate this today, shall we?
01:13:26
Speaker
Yeah. Seems like they average on maybe like three times a year of waking up with that feeling. I would love to ride that ride, but I don't know if it'll ever happen.
01:13:36
Speaker
So I, um growing, growing up in Northern England in the nineties gave me the good fortune of having that ride an hour and like an hour ish drive away Flamingo land.
01:13:50
Speaker
And that's where I got that cred. Yeah. Nice. And that that one... that one i i i mean, I was a child. Like a literal child when I wrote it. But I remember...
01:14:03
Speaker
like I have not super vivid memories of it, but like remember how like like like just I got off it and was like, oh my god, that would that that was a ride. like oh that was a That was a huge thing I just did. That's how I feel when I get off Mr. Freeze. I just don't have it in a positive way.
01:14:24
Speaker
Yeah. okay That was one of the rides ever. right was one stephenize effort That was a thing. That was a ride that existed. Yeah, I'd love to get on one of the Schwarzkopf shuttle loops, though. Simply because it's... like I'm not going to not ride a roller coaster because it's a shuttle coaster. Right.
01:14:44
Speaker
But I just may be a little predisposed to disliking it. But I'm always going to ride a Schwarzkopf as well. Oh, yeah, yeah. So.
01:14:55
Speaker
You kind of sound like me with KingdaKa and Top Thrill Dragster slash Top Thrill 2. I just, I don't, it's the length of them. I like, they're just don't last very long and they're great, but yeah, exactly. Okay. I will say um've really, really liked top throw too.
01:15:12
Speaker
And that's the only shuttle coaster that is like thrilled me and felt like, Oh yeah, I'm riding a roller coaster. Um, it, That backwards spike is just stupid high and genuinely scared me. I mean, I love the ride. in say yeah I just... Well, no, that's grown-up one. Not the Swedish one!
01:15:36
Speaker
I had to get you at some point. um No, I love Tile Thrill 2. Like, I love it. I just i just will never like rank it that high. I won't have it over like that many.
01:15:48
Speaker
don't know. This is a personal thing. doubt was scar yeah i i it was It's really good or ranks really high for... me too but That ride is really good for reminding people that you can still be a little bit scared on a rollercoaster, but I don't think it's going to make it in anyone's top 10 list in the next 15 years or anything. right
01:16:13
Speaker
who do i have you don't you don't You don't think Thrill top 10? make it on anyone's top sun is that Is that what you just said? I don't think so. I think there are some people that have it at number one. But after people that have it at number one, then it drops off to 11+. That's what I'm saying. like ah There's going to be a big drop. Nothing nothing against the ride. We're in such a crazy era of coaster design. There's so much more tafo to offer out there.
01:16:46
Speaker
There's a lot more dynamic rides.
01:16:49
Speaker
It is my... And to be fair, like I did not see it like ranking so highly for me before I wrote it. I knew i and i had a feeling I would prefer it to Dragster, and I do prefer it to Dragster. I don't think I saw it getting up to number six for me, though.
01:17:09
Speaker
yeah That is incredibly high. get very in the about... very like i get very in the weeds analytically about about um like just coaster design and like the sensations that I expect to feel because of certain things like the height of the heart line on the seats of a train and things and okay yeah as like that. I do the same thing. I identified a lot of different sensations throughout the different parts of that. Admittedly, yes, very short layout that really like scratched multiple itches in my brain. And yeah I found myself correct on a lot of them. Yeah.
01:18:00
Speaker
I will say the the twisting drop on Top Throat Dragster is a moment that uh took me out of the world because i was not expecting the increased seat height to make that much of a difference and it really did yeah yeah and that was scary it is my it is my favorite it is my one singular favorite coaster moment in that entire park because oh okay in that entire park i was yeah That'd be one. i drove with so i' just like hot at seat up Of anything you can experience at Cedar Point, that twist thing dropped because of the higher heartline, because of the higher seats, is my favorite coaster mode. Yeah, know I feel that. What is the like singular...
01:18:50
Speaker
like what is your singular favorite coaster sensation though like on any ride and i want you to get like very very hyper specific because i've got i've got like a really specific one i have one that you'll probably like you go on maybe i i could probably rattle off like five or five uh row eight right it right side So you don't know the specifics.
01:19:19
Speaker
Row eight, right side, drop out of the station on a time traveler. Oh, yeah. um Yeah, that's pretty unbeatable. Just the the perfect spot to be. i don't know. And it's one of the few spots on the train that's almost the same every single time. Every single time. Because it is the last to rotate and you're dropping immediately. So it's...
01:19:41
Speaker
Almost the same angle every time. I actually prefer being on the left side because you still have that same motion, but instead of being closer to the ground, like you get to see Echo Hollow for just a little bit longer. Yeah. And that makes the drop feel longer to me because if I immediately look at the ground, drops over.
01:19:59
Speaker
doesn't matter where we are on it, but it's over. I think for me, I like the feeling like on the right side, you get a little bit more of you're going towards the ground than the train is pulling you. yeah So it's more like I'm out of the seat more. I'm getting thrown more. So kind of, sense you know, the difference between left and right there. But um anything in the back car of time traveler is phenomenal.
01:20:21
Speaker
But that's my specific favorite. Yeah. that's That's a good one. So I'll give... and So I think my... i don't I don't know if I can say this is my absolute like one singular favorite like sensation to feel, but my favorite style of airtime, I think, is like...
01:20:43
Speaker
and it could It could be anywhere within the realm of like, like, floater slash ejector or flojector to two like, just straight, like, strong as hell ejector, but combined with like, rotational lateral force as well, at the same time. So you're being ejected from the seat, but then also like, thrown to the left or thrown to the right. Um...
01:21:09
Speaker
the And there are that there are two moments. um Or just or just like like just like that kind of force combination. It could be strong positives and laterals, or strong negative strong negatives and laterals. So like another thing you can experience on time travel. Yeah. I was also going to mention right of happiness. more abruptly. Abruptly.
01:21:31
Speaker
much more like like much more abruptly Like in terms of just like the ro the rotation, artist which is why I love Intamin so much. like and So Skyrush. Intamin is my favorite manufacturer, like largely for that reason. So...
01:21:47
Speaker
an example of An example of that um on Velocicoaster being the entrance into the dive loop in the first half yeah where it ejects you and then slings you off to the left as it starts to twist. That was fun watching everybody do hand motions on the screen, by the way. Okay. So I would say that particular moment is one of my favorite coaster moments, even more so than the Mosasaurus roll.
01:22:18
Speaker
But what makes it my favorite is not the ejecting part. It is the fact that I am still out of the seat when it is dragging me and the pull sensation yeah is what makes it good for me. Same thing like Celestial Spin and Stardust Racers. When you're on the yellow side, you get whipped down.
01:22:38
Speaker
the other side and then you start spinning so like you're out of your seat and then you're upside down and just the constant pulling is yeah is and that's like that that's the distinction i make between intamin and mark like trying to go trying to trying to um implement the same kind of like combination of forces in one sensation i find a lot of times intamin just does it a lot more abruptly So yeah I like how Mark does it because there's one ah moment on Hyperia at Thorpe Park when you go up into the... Yeah, that one. Hi, Alison. Hi. In the front is where you experience it the most, where it like it it gives you the ejector and the laterals at the same time as you go up into the overbank. Yeah.
01:23:33
Speaker
the overbank into the roll, it's kind of a bit more, it's kind of like similar in sensation to the entrance to the dive loop on Velocicoaster, but a lot more seamless. On Velocicoaster, I always feel it in the in the front row, you get the ejector first,
01:23:54
Speaker
And like like the strong ejector first, and then like half a second later, you get the laterals. And that I did not see coming the first time, and it threw me all the way off.
01:24:07
Speaker
And I was like, oh, that is that's that's new. And I like it a lot. i just had a realization about so probably one of my favorite things on a coaster, because...
01:24:20
Speaker
based on this conversation, I love, and it's very specific, when um you you have the lap bar, usually i mean, it's always almost always a lap bar in this in these situations, and the coaster is so forceful, it's so strong, that you're feeling the lap bar and not the seat. Like, you're you're feeling so much more of the lap bar, and everything is throwing you against that. And I realized, I was about to name four coasters that did this,
01:24:47
Speaker
Voltron has multiple moments like that. Ride to Happiness with the like air roll into the dive loop. Velocicoaster in the Mosasaurus roll, mainly.
01:24:58
Speaker
um And Skyrush. And then I realized, oh my goodness, that's my top four. so ah So maybe maybe that's my thing, I'm realizing right now. Maybe that's my thing.
01:25:13
Speaker
a lot of yeah lot A lot of the coasters in my like top five, top ten, whatever, um all have moments like that that um either just throw you like upwards into the lap bar at the very least, or will just like throw you front to one side while also throwing you into the lap bar.
01:25:35
Speaker
Yeah. One I was going to mention as well, as like a juxtaposition to the negatives, but like the positives while also giving you the rotational, um the lateral sensation as well.
01:25:49
Speaker
i i don't I don't know if, Alison, I don't know how, you know, like in the weeds you've got on Taron's layout, but in the second half where it it throws the S hill at you before going straight down and into that like second half like one second long tunnel in the second half. So like you come out of the S Hill, you're banking left in the tunnel,
01:26:15
Speaker
it quickly snaps back to zero and then banks left again. It's insane. It's it's insane. The German one, not the Swedish one. The Swedish one does have a couple moments like that, I'll say.
01:26:30
Speaker
But it has the it has the shoulder thing, so it's as Yeah, yeah, yeah. Insane just a car crash. It's like... it so It scratches like an itch in my brain so, so well like like in that layout. And it's like it's it's the depiction of what, in my opinion, what makes Intamin, RMC, and Mok just the best at designing layouts. Yeah.
01:26:58
Speaker
So this is not off topic, but maybe a little bit off off topic. I'm such like a visually based person that I realized while you were talking about all those specific sensations on Velocicoaster that I view like Intamin and Mach totally different visually in like photo language. And I was earlier trying to come up with a way to say ah like, okay, Velocicoaster like Intamin's layouts feel like they have more clarity and like texture.
01:27:28
Speaker
if they were, like, an image, and Mach has more overall, like, contrast. So, like, the darks are deeper, and, like, the lights are higher, but there's a really soft gradient between them, and then Intamin is like, ah.
01:27:40
Speaker
just Yeah, very sharp. Yeah, very sharp, and, like, there's texture there. i actually agree. yeah Yeah. I see what you mean. Yeah, yeah. Mach uses noise reduction. Mach does use noise. Exactly. They use noise reduction, but sometimes, like,
01:27:57
Speaker
It gets really strong on both ends. Yeah. Muck spams D-Noise in Lightroom. Yeah. Not really. I would say Vekoma spams D-Noise. Oh, yes yeah. Yeah. yeah No, agreed. very much After Lightcoaster, at least.
01:28:17
Speaker
After, I think.
01:28:21
Speaker
As you guys were all talking about top moments, and I'm trying to think of mine and how they're all... So different from y'all's. What are they? um So there is a common trend between basically my top four.
01:28:33
Speaker
My top four is Velocicoaster, Voltron, Stardust, Terran. And they all do rolling launches. I am a sucker for a rolling launch. Specifically... That's really interesting. Yeah, i've um've i've wanted to i've I've always wanted to ask you why that is. That's that's really interesting.
01:28:51
Speaker
I don't know. It makes me happy. but Yeah, that's that's... It's like four coasters that have pretty immersive theming with rolling launches, Intamin and Mach.
01:29:05
Speaker
It makes me happy. But specifically, love... i love the rolling launch on Stardust where you hit the first one and you line up and then you're like, oh, that was a nice launch. And then you're like boost mode staring at the other train, seeing the reactions of the other people on the other train.
01:29:23
Speaker
And then yeah you just disappear together. i will say like Velocicoaster and Stardust do have particularly strong rolling launches. Yeah, they do. They do. Taron has the noise. Oh, Taron's noise is awesome.
01:29:36
Speaker
Makes me really want to ride Red Force at Ferrari World. like this i still i still have the I still have the video that I took in 2021 of basically no one in Klugheim at the time when I took this video. And just recording the the train just hit the second launch.
01:29:58
Speaker
And like no one's around me making any kind of noise. there's not there's like All you hear is the mut is that like soundtrack in the background of the area. and then just...
01:30:13
Speaker
It lines up perfectly because like there's there's a bit of a break in the music as well, and then you just hear the thing take off on the second launch, and it's like, oh, that does this just just inject it. Just inject it right here. Just in my veins. Just the LSM, like... like oh yeah yeah so That's how I feel, weirdly enough, about uh cheetah hunt like it's got the first launch particularly out of the station has such a weird toilet bowl sound to it and it's like like a sucking kind of sound and it's so weird but it scratches an itch i think i i can't i can't remember it like just like right now but i think i have noticed like that sound before like on the phone it's it's
01:31:04
Speaker
it's it's something a little different i'll have to go find a record or something it's fun but yeah yeah um it's so it's so funny comparing velocicos's second launch to taron's second launch because i think there are there i i can't place one over the other because there are Things about Velocicosis... They appear to me as different personalities, and which are of which I love both. Velocicosis seems a lot more flashy and braggadocious and like grandiose, whereas Taron's is just straight up angry. Like, Taron's second launch is just pissed off at the world. And at night, with the entire ah launch launch track lit up red, and then the smoke just dumped all into the into the trench as well, it just feels...
01:32:07
Speaker
it It feels like, I can't remember if I was told by someone that Taron at night is basically just an emo kid.
01:32:21
Speaker
Just angry at the world. I was like, or if i or if I had that thought myself, but I'm just like, yeah. Yeah, there it is. As an emo kid, I don't know if I take offense to this or not. but What, Taron? No.
01:32:35
Speaker
that You should love that someone called Taren that. and just thought it was kind of funny. but yeah think Wait a second. I am an emo kid. Maybe that's why i have Taren ranked so high. Maybe mean that's why you love it so much. Yeah, maybe.
01:32:50
Speaker
Mikhail, I can't get over the fact that you described Velocicoaster as braggadocious. that's ah that's That's, like, the second launch specifically. That's that's how it how it feels to me, because, um...
01:33:04
Speaker
Like the light, the the I don't know, it it just feels it just feels flashy to me. Like the lights are a bit more harsh in the sense of like like the when they change from blue to red and everything and they're just, in comparison to Taron's launch where it's like,
01:33:21
Speaker
the lighting is softer and it's more ambient. Whereas the light fixtures on Velocicos' launch tunnel are much more like there's there's no diffusion. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Much more, much more industrial. There's no like light diffusion or anything. It's just, um it's just like the bare bulbs, like the, ah that like, like have like the highlights and like the, just like the lighting is more, is more harsh. um there's note that There's no there's no there's no um ambient like mist or fog diffusing the light or anything. it just It just feels more flashy and like, hey, look at what I'm about to do.
01:34:03
Speaker
ah A little bit. yeah I don't think I've ever noticed the lighting in the launch tunnel. Oh, I have. I'm just so blown back.
01:34:14
Speaker
by the launch. I feel like I'm in and out so quickly, like I don't have time to see anything. Right, yeah. No, um um I mean, I have been to i've been i've been to Universal now every year, apart from one, apart from 2024, I think. Apart from 2024, every year since Velocicoaster opened, and being able to at some point, at some time, like during the trip, just marathon the thing. And and um I mean, Velocicoaster is the coaster that I, is the very first coaster that I followed in construction, like,
01:34:53
Speaker
pretty much every single little detail from start to finish is definitely the coaster that I have paid the most like granular attention to. There are... There's a lot that I could go into to an obnoxious level that will not do on a podcast. I was going to say, before you do that, we probably need to get back to listener questions that we have. Yeah. Yeah.
01:35:19
Speaker
yeah
01:35:22
Speaker
For sure. that was Yeah, that was that was that was quite the tangent. but It was sufficiently nerdy, though. ah hope it scratched some I hope it scratched the itch in somebody's brain.
01:35:35
Speaker
Yeah, we covered a lot of ground there. It was a pretty wet range. Of course, I got a phone call literally very right now. Sorry, Alex. like um I can read this one from Coaster Cuzzy's.
01:35:51
Speaker
He asked, have you been an enthusiast for a while? and if so, what were some of your early inspirations to create this style of print media? ah Enthusiast for a while, yes.
01:36:02
Speaker
Because I grew up going to Silver Dollar City. Was obsessed with Wildfire for a long time. Oh, hi, Alyssa. It's definitely a movie. I consider Wildfire my zero coaster, even though it's not the one that got me into coasters.
01:36:18
Speaker
my My actual zero coaster is Wildfire. I used to have it as my number one just for sentimental reasons, but whatever.
01:36:28
Speaker
But no, I have been an enthusiast and the things that inspired me specifically to create something like this in
Inspirations from Park Design and Effects of AI
01:36:39
Speaker
print.
01:36:39
Speaker
Um, cause when I think I started noticing the effort that went into park design and branding, um, and how important all of those details are in your experience, uh, with a ride or a park in general.
01:36:55
Speaker
Um, and the more and more i appreciated that, uh, the more and more I wanted to, make something that also took time and effort and was specific and like fun to look at.
01:37:08
Speaker
um And that could be a good home for like those smaller things that I was noticing. That makes sense. Yeah. I think it's, it was a way for me to just further appreciate my experiences in parks.
01:37:26
Speaker
Yeah, that's, We're awesome. Um, do we ask, do you count credits? Do we ask that? We did not. i'm just curious. I do count. Yeah. I think there's a few from like early life though, that have slipped through the cracks. Yeah. Um, a park, a kiddie park North of me that I know I've been to at least a few times in my life, but did I ride the dragon wagon?
01:37:51
Speaker
Who knows? I don't know. What is your count by the, if you don't mind sharing? Oh, I'm very low. Uh, I'm at 191 right now. Okay, that's not bad.
01:38:02
Speaker
yeah i I'm crazy with mine, so yes yeah yes you are don't compare to me. i I just recently started putting effort into my traveling and experiencing that sort of thing again. It wasn't until 2022, I think.
01:38:19
Speaker
twenty two i think yeah Yeah. So, yeah, I have I've gone way up from my coaster count of 70 in 2022, I think.
01:38:30
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. we're We're getting up there, but I'm slowly marking parks off my bucket list and trying to get through quite a few of the American ones before I head over to Europe or Japan.
01:38:41
Speaker
But one of those is going to happen pretty soon. Yeah, that's awesome. I think that's a lot of the trajectory of U.S. resident coaster enthusiasts where you get a lot here domestically and then start to go to either Europe or Japan are usually it's it's always usually the first two.
01:38:59
Speaker
um Not always. There are exceptions, but yeah a lot of times it's... There's just so much to do in Europe and Japan anyway that's yeah not coaster related. so Yeah.
01:39:10
Speaker
I'm sure. Yeah. Japan is awesome. Apparently I've not been there, but Japan seems awesome outside of yeah coasters just in general. And I know Europe is awesome. ah The countries I've been to. but Yeah. My, so my partner spent quite a bit of time in Japan and he's always telling me that we need to make it a priority to get back there.
01:39:29
Speaker
Uh, And I want to go for the parks and he wants to go back to the historic sites and andsh shrines and whatnot. And it just all looks incredible. And the trains.
01:39:40
Speaker
Oh yeah. Bullet trains. Yeah.
01:39:46
Speaker
So yeah, 191 credit count.
01:39:50
Speaker
Pretty solid though. It's pretty solid. What are you at right now, Mikhail? kurt tell ah oh Credit count? 468. Okay. 468. What are you at, said mine. that You have. We've said it a couple times. I don't need to. i don't need to When you get up to those numbers...
01:40:19
Speaker
Do you still have the ability to like look back and remember your ride on all of those? like Are you able to look back and remember, like oh yes, this crazy mouse at the fair, I remember my ride on that.
01:40:36
Speaker
There are some coasters on my list that I know I've been on, him but I have zero recollection. Yeah, because even same with me, like smaller ones at fairs and stuff. No, even like major ones, like Disaster Transport, I know I went on it.
01:40:49
Speaker
I remember Zero about it. ah Hydra is another one. i know I've been on it. I don't know if I'm different, but there are three that I can point out that I ah definitely do not remember. i know I went on them, but I don't remember them. Those are Roller Soaker, Super Duper Looper, and Comet at Hershey Park, because despite being back to Hershey since 2011, have not gotten back on Super Duper Looper or Comet since then.
01:41:14
Speaker
What? Super duper loopers. I know. it It just always slips through the cracks every time I'm there because I i have the credit and I'm like, I always run out of time. I need to get back on it. But beyond that, unless it's like ah like a specific like Wacky Worm or Dragon Wagon, Python Pit, unless it's one of those, I usually remember it pretty well. There are a few rides that I feel like either didn't get a great experience on or I just wasn't like super with it that day, but I was...
01:41:44
Speaker
I was updating my credit list after I got back from Epic, and i looked back and remembered that I rode Twisted Cyclone at Over Georgia, and I had just completely forgotten that I ever got on that ride, or that that ride even existed. and I like so was spending time trying to remember what it felt like. And the only thing I could come away was with was slow.
01:42:09
Speaker
And like that was the only thought. ah
01:42:15
Speaker
But I'm pretty good about remembering most of the most everything. I think for me, it's like clones that I forget usually. Yeah. Especially the small ones. Like I couldn't tell you every SPF figure eight I've been on. i don't know. Yeah.
01:42:31
Speaker
Yeah, i I definitely have rides that I either know I've been on, um but just remember nothing about them, or like can't fully remember if I actually got the cred or hu Just in my you know history of visiting of visiting that park, whatever that might be.
01:42:53
Speaker
um Orion was one of those until until like a month ago um where I knew I had the cred already but remembered nothing about the coaster at all.
01:43:07
Speaker
So when we got back to King's Island, um I telling everyone, was i was telling over just like, I want to ride Orion this day purely just to remind myself of what this thing actually does. Because I had had no recollection of how like of like what it focused on, how I felt about the ride at all, and it's it's a fun it's a fun one. so funny yeah I like Orion a lot.
01:43:33
Speaker
I do like it. um I think it's more than It's fun. It's a lot of fun. It's part of the Diamondback. I disagree. I am a notorious Diamondback hater, to be fair. I'm not even a Diamondback hater. I do agree that I like Orion more, but i also love Diamondback.
01:43:51
Speaker
I like repetitive airtime. Diamondbacks, I yelling. Yeah, Diamondback's great for that. You got any more questions? We have a few, yeah.
01:44:09
Speaker
Okay, we'll just go to read the scene. I thought Mikhail was about to read one. No, ah ah like i was just look I was just trying to choose one to read. um I guess, but ah did you... Have have you covered any that you... the No, they're all highlighted. Okay. No, we're good.
01:44:30
Speaker
I guess Brambo has a um ah a question that might spark off another 45-minute conversation. Mike just asked me how's the recording going. He said, has has the rise of AI changed the way that you approach your work at all? 100%. I don't know. We're such in an interesting time with AI.
01:44:57
Speaker
I'm not a big fan at all. um at all, at all, actually. I happily say neither are we. not Not just because of the environmental impacts, but I am actively seeing tools like that take away jobs in my industry. And it's it's very frightening.
01:45:18
Speaker
But from yeah cover relate from... From just a creative standpoint, um I think i don't I don't want to just copy and paste what someone else has said, but Kane Parsons, the guy behind the back rooms, said it really well recently when he was like, ah what would be the point anymore? if I'm just using AI to create my my work, um it really does kind of take the fun out of making something ah it does for me, at least. And so it is not changed how I approach like creating a project.
01:46:04
Speaker
um Because I'm not using generative AI tools. But it has changed the way I think about marketing a product to people.
01:46:15
Speaker
yeah Specifically in the fact that when, I mean, it feels like the ah online discourse around this topic has gotten so hot so recently.
01:46:27
Speaker
um and Maybe due to just the Utah data center proposition blew up so much, but I know in my circle, like is just exploded over the past month or so, but ah more and more, i feel like it's important to show people the way that you're making things. Yeah. um And perhaps that's also just because I work in marketing. And so I'm thinking from a promotional standpoint of, oh, I want my audience and the people who engage with us to know that this was a genuine effort for me. And I put you know myself into this versus just, this is content for you to consume. And I want you to quickly can buy something from me.
01:47:09
Speaker
Yeah. So so it's it's definitely changed the way that I want to present and market my own projects to other people because I do want them to know that they're a genuine effort.
01:47:22
Speaker
I think a great way to look at AI is like a pic. Well, the beauty of of images, of pictures of a camera is that you're capturing a moment in time in like one specific moment in time that was real and it happened and it was an experience.
01:47:38
Speaker
Why would I want a slop recreation of of that that doesn't it's there's no emotion to it. There's no connection to it. not real. Yeah, exactly. And as much too deep end, but no, I agree. I mean, and right now, obviously, generative AI is really good at creating visuals that look like something like they can have distinct styles, like sometimes it's hard to tell if they're real or not.
01:48:08
Speaker
um But they haven't mastered the imperfection. Yes. That just comes with human art. Yes. And you can always look at something that a human made and go,
01:48:23
Speaker
yeah, like, I wish they would have just like spot healed that or like maybe shifted the camera like another inch to the right or something. And like, there's always, there's always imperfection there. And it just adds so much that you didn't know you liked until you see something that AI generated and you're like, well, that is good. And I'm not interested anymore.
01:48:46
Speaker
Yeah. So,
01:48:50
Speaker
Yeah, I think there's photographers out there specifically that are very, very good at highlighting imperfections in their photography as the main feature, and it just becomes wildly interesting. Mike, the finder, a really good Disney World photographer just does this so expertly, like all of his photos, like technically, you know, they're imperfect, but the longer you look at them, the more it just pops out and becomes like an entire world.
01:49:16
Speaker
It's incredible.
01:49:19
Speaker
What was the name you said? I want to look that up. ah Mike the Finder. Is it on Instagram?
01:49:28
Speaker
Yeah, he does he does other ah like Florida-based photography as well. He's got some stuff from Funspot Kissimmee that is just a lot of fun. don't know. I like his work.
01:49:42
Speaker
Of course, Jen and Laurel.
01:49:46
Speaker
yeah he ah He's been dabbling in film recently. that explains that. Yeah. Now it makes sense.
01:49:55
Speaker
Um...
01:49:59
Speaker
um Yeah, no, it's, uh, like, it it it really is the, um, the imperfections that I think separate, is the biggest separator between, um, something that has human input and human connection and human vulnerability, really, um,
01:50:24
Speaker
as opposed to input as ah as as opposed to fundamental mistakes like like in an image. once she once you see Once you see the the fundamental mistakes um and like positional mistakes in an image, is like it it like it it's such a telltale of something being created by AI that has no sort of Yeah, no sort of emotional touch to the actual imperfections, it's just...
01:51:00
Speaker
ah it's just a blanket mistake and it's and that that should not ever really be made by something that is made by humans that is and it it just it just feels like it is like the image instantly feels hollow at that point and and it and it and i think it's the the the uh the imperfections of like you said oh that that there's just one thing for example it's just like one thing in there that could be you know, spot removed or, ah you know, spot removed in Lightroom or something like that, that um that that that provide a lot of the substance um of like the human input and how somebody else saw that saw that frame, that it's that it's like, it injects so it injects so much
01:51:54
Speaker
character that you can't really describe like too well but like you know it's there when it's when it's there yeah and interestingly enough i think that hollowness um that we see in ai imagery like that perfection is also a driving factor in like younger artists uh and creatives looking at their own work and being afraid to share it because there's there's ah a system of second guessing that I think is happening in a lot of younger people's minds where they're looking at those perfect aiggen and immigrant AI generated images and looking at their own stuff, which is going to be filled with imperfections and they can't reconcile the difference between them. And it makes them more scared to show people what they've made um because they're seeing so much of what that has made. exactly
01:52:47
Speaker
And it's perfect. I think that's yeah and so say it's unfortunate. yeah Yeah. and i think there I think there are, um I guess, in the space of um commercial photography and and branding and lifestyle photography, I think i definitely think there are ah photographers that are really he well aware and well versed in exactly what can separate um great work from AI generated work that is that that is
01:53:26
Speaker
is is trying to look perfect and failing at it. um Especially in in being able, especially in capturing capturing humans and capturing like actual, like proper, ah fleeting sometimes human moments. um there's there's a there's a couple that i that I take inspiration from here based in Vancouver that um that focus on um like real real portraits showing like presence of moment and and character and um like ah like lifestyle photos that you can actually
01:54:10
Speaker
relate to as well and yeah and a real awareness of the fact that that can't be manufactured by some data center or by some machine or something yeah no i agree
01:54:26
Speaker
but yeah yeah no to i guess to yeah ah get through the get through the rest of these. ah what what What does that say? ah Oh, from Liam? Are you looking at Liam's? yeah yeah You can read that. i hope He probably wants me to read it. what he He said that I have to call you Sasa.
01:54:49
Speaker
That was a requirement. He said, what's your favorite coaster with an Emelman? Oh, easy wildfire. Makes sense? Yeah. yeah i those I can tell you a horrible coaster with an MMO.
01:55:04
Speaker
Cobra, Gizel, that's three episodes. Is this just your new goal to... I don't know. I didn't even mean to do that. i was just When I saw that question, i was like, that's a bad one. I don't even think about MMOs that much.
01:55:20
Speaker
I'm sure Liam will love to hear that.
01:55:24
Speaker
it's i got of work on yeah yeah How much do you think of images, though? wow lot in trouble yeah yeah i would say so Speaking of, we have one more of our own questions. Oh, was going to save it. I was going to save it. Oh, you were? Okay. Well, okay. Then we'll wait. We'll wait a minute. There's only one other question I want to ask. There is other. I feel like I'm kind of scared now.
01:55:52
Speaker
No, it's not a scary question. No, it's not. um So I guess a solar coaster then asks, um where can he or anybody else get the magazines?
01:56:07
Speaker
Oh, easy. You go to parkdaymagazine.com parkdaymagazine.com. It's a bit of a weird system. um Right now the magazine is available through blurb blurb is a print on demand service.
01:56:24
Speaker
One of the only print on demand services that puts out some like really high quality uh product um but it is their web store where park day is hosted so you'll go to our website which is branded as park day but to purchase it uh it'll just link you off to the blurb bookstore where you can order and they will print a copy on demand for you and ship it to your doorstep nice and you can also follow us on instagram and uh, I'll put out lots of posts telling you where to, uh, where to buy the magazine. Yeah.
01:57:00
Speaker
Yeah. Tagged and everything and all that. For the fifth mention, what about machines above us? Uh, that, that is also available on the blurred bookstore.
01:57:12
Speaker
Um, And I think there's there's definitely a link in my Midcourse Blues bio.
Where to Purchase Park Day Magazine
01:57:18
Speaker
That's my personal rollercoaster account. And I have a park day one of the magazine. But yeah, there's there's a there's a link. ah You can find it. yeah we'll We'll link all this in the ah episode. Okay, yeah. it's It's been a while since I've thought about that one specifically.
01:57:35
Speaker
So I want to say that there's a link in my Midcourse Blues bio, but I could be wrong. I did get like some random order from the UK the other day for Machines Above Us. And i was just... It would be funny if I still lived in the UK. I was just a little confused. I was like, I haven't been promoting this or anything.
01:58:00
Speaker
That book is $110 to print I'm happy that they did. I'm just like wondering why. Just the one order as well. of Just like, that's just the one that's really random. Oh, yeah. Okay,
01:58:19
Speaker
oh yeah so, um stay for last yeah. the um the last The last question I wanted to ask is one that I always like to ask photographers because because of the juxtaposition of having taken so many photos versus having such a strong connection to one maybe be well a couple of a couple of photos that you've taken or or just one the question being do you have a favorite photo you've ever taken that i've ever taken um
01:58:56
Speaker
well kind of like when people ask me if i have a favorite coaster i like to say no because ranking and evaluating things that I enjoy is just kind of stressful for me, but I would say, I would say there is a favorite photo that I've taken. I mean, it's my current favorite photo. Do you, do you want my favorite photo or my favorite photo that I've taken at the party?
01:59:19
Speaker
Cause they're different. Do we have time for both? Ellison yeah depends on how talkative you guys are. ah
01:59:31
Speaker
uh so i'll do i'll do the theme park one yeah there is a photo uh i was i was at silver dollar city of course it's gonna be a silver dollar city photo and on a very very rainy foggy day and out on wildfire's deck um the cobra roll is just like shrouded in fog everything's just like a blown out world of white and there's one little kid like standing at the corner of the deck looking up at the cobra roll as it's like rolling through so And I just... don't know. I like that photo.
02:00:04
Speaker
It's very simple to look at. It is not flashy at all. But it's it's probably my favorite. Now I must scroll the Instagram to find it. Oh, you're going to have to scroll a long time. I was going to say, please throw that in the Theme Park Photography Discord. I was noticing in the previews on Warb for your of your book that there are a couple of You on the foggy day with wildfires at the same day. Yeah, that was the same day. Same day.
02:00:34
Speaker
Mikhail Ian was there with me. Oh, really? Yeah, he took the photo of me that's in the book. Oh, yeah, the one with your eyes closed.
02:00:45
Speaker
Yeah, I always have my eyes closed. Does that bother you no no it's it's it's funny i showed my mom and she commented the same thing she was like why are your eyes closed why would she use that photo and i was like i don't know i just i just close my eyes when i smile say like i i'm seeing it in the blurb like the preview it it's good picture it's a great picture yeah so thanks yeah didn't even think about your eyes being closed honestly until you said something nothing
02:01:16
Speaker
what like i I kind of looked at it and was just like I liked the fact because I guess that is a ah ah reaction that like people usually have a if someone's eyes are closed in the photo it it's like, why are your eyes closed? Take another one! But then i like i liked the idea that you decided to include it anyway and it's like it's like i'm i'm I'm in my element yeah I do think it's a more ah more natural portrayal of myself.
02:01:48
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's probably how people see me. There's a lot of natural expression and in that. I also, I'm very, very uncomfortable being on the other side of the camera. same the fact that the Same. The fact that I let Ian point his camera at me and take that photo is...
02:02:08
Speaker
The fact that you went out kind of on a web and got pictures for the ah episode art for me. Oh, well, I mean, that's just part of my daily routine. Roll into the office, grab a co-worker.
02:02:19
Speaker
Hey, photograph me with my product. I was very impressed by this. It was like a weirdly, weirdly surreal morning when I had to do that. It was...
02:02:33
Speaker
foggy and strangely cold for Oklahoma in June. So I believe that brings us to the end of the episode.
02:02:46
Speaker
Thanks, Jen. I'm going to say that every single time you say that. It works out. This has been a lot of fun. Yeah. this this Thanks you for having me on. I'm glad I got to talk about What I do for fun. yeah Thanks for ah penciling us in very quickly because my other episode I was going to record this week fell through. so I it sounded like fun. I wasn't doing anything.
02:03:13
Speaker
yeah perfect Perfect fit for this podcast. kind of Everything I envision. yeah this everyone has seen so Everyone who's listening, go ah order a Park Day magazine.
02:03:23
Speaker
See if you like it and then send some of your own photos in. Yeah. um Well, am I might have to do that now. So I know I got to figure out something to ce submit to. I don't even take a lot of pictures, but yeah. Well, we have like a dual dual system right now. Like I have people submit for showcases and I have people submit for like reader snapshot gallery where it's just like a one off like, hey, I took this really cool photo. It's not part of the theme set or anything, but I still want it shown. And that gets a little section in the back of the magazine.
02:03:53
Speaker
um The full feature sections, though, you pay a share of the profits out to the creators. So there's a little more effort that goes into that. Yeah, when when um when Laurel told me about the magazine, ah i had a quick look through and I saw that the... ah the um the show yeah the showcase submissions, i was like i definitely I definitely have a few different um like sets of stuff that I could submit.
02:04:22
Speaker
Yeah, why don't you? yeah Do it. For sure. yeah Well, thank you again, Sam, for joining us, talking about everything. Thank you. This is only two hours.
02:04:36
Speaker
Yeah. This is good for us. That's a marathon podcast. There we go.
02:04:43
Speaker
Our episodes have been getting a lot longer. Yeah. but Thank you and thank you to all of our listeners who continue to support us and hopefully will continue to support Sam as well.
02:04:56
Speaker
um Special shout out to our ah Patreon members. Gotta give them a shout out. Thank you to Chris, Jeff, and Alexander for your ah support every month. I will have sticker packs out soon, I swear.
02:05:10
Speaker
um yeah hashtag keep thinking inverted and we will see y'all next time hashtag keep thinking inverted it's my really stupid hashtag that i can't think of anything it's really good i don't know why she doesn't like it's really hashtag see the world from a different perspective yeah anyway bye bye