Switching lenses

Episode 3: Analog revival, Disney, Universal Studios, Rayban Meta glasses.

• Mandy Wright and Esteban Gil • Season 1 • Episode 3

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The Rise of Analog and Disney Adventures


In the third episode of Switching Lenses, Mandy and Esteban celebrate surpassing their initial expectations and discuss their adventures at Universal Studios Orlando and Disney's Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom. They provide insights into the rise of analog photography and the resurgence of point-and-shoot cameras, discussing the emotional connection and nostalgic appeal of shooting on film. They also answer a listener's question about staying motivated during a busy wedding season, emphasizing the importance of taking breaks and finding inspiration through new equipment and personal time. Additionally, they share their experiences and highlights from their recent wedding photography shoot in Massachusetts. The episode concludes with tech recommendations: the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and an Anker battery pack, which have proven handy for both personal and professional use.


00:00 Welcome to Episode 3

00:24 Live from Universal Studios

01:09 Documenting Our Trip

01:24 The Rise of Analog Photography

02:46 Film Photography Insights

06:46 Point and Shoot Cameras

12:55 Staying Motivated During Wedding Season

20:21 Recent Wedding Adventures

27:54 First Look Challenges at the Wedding

29:08 Late Night Wedding Fun

29:48 Upcoming Wedding Shoots

30:03 Universal Studios Adventure

30:56 Favorite Rides and Food at Universal

34:44 Disney Park Experience

43:19 Halloween Horror Nights Anticipation

47:21 Tech Time: RayBan Meta Glasses

52:37 Tech Time: Anker Battery Pack

54:35 Wrapping Up and Future Plans

Follow us on instagram : https://www.instagram.com/switchinglensespodcast/

Esteban:

and welcome to our third episode of Switching Lenses.

Mandy:

Hi.

Esteban:

Three in.

Mandy:

Yes.

Esteban:

High five.

Mandy:

That's awesome. We're still here.

Esteban:

We're still here. Three in. I predicted two and, um, yeah.

Mandy:

We surpassed it. I just didn't

Esteban:

tell you that. I predicted two.

Mandy:

Wow. That kind of hurts a little bit.

Esteban:

That's okay. Things hurt.

Mandy:

Yeah.

Esteban:

Um. So here we are. Proud of us. We're actually in the middle of a really, uh, Interesting weather. It's very windy outside. We're in Orlando, Florida. We are at Universal Studios.

Mandy:

Yes. We're here for a couple of different events. The big one tonight.

Esteban:

Yes. Halloween Horror Nights. Which we'll talk about in a little bit. So. But I'm glad to have you all here on our third episode. And we have a lot of things to cover and we want to, we want to, We want to for tuning in to our third episode of Halloween Horror Nights. And we'll see you next time. Keep it under an hour. So we're gonna we're gonna try to be as quick as possible so we can go out and enjoy Universal Studios. Yeah Riding more coasters. Yes. Yes, which we have the last couple of days, which has been awesome. So if you're

Mandy:

following us at all, you may have seen what we've been doing the last few days.

Esteban:

Yes. Yeah. I made a really awesome post, uh, yesterday in our switching lenses, podcast, social media on Instagram. So,

Mandy:

and we've been documenting our entire trip on digital and film.

Esteban:

Yes. We have

Mandy:

lead us into our first hot topic here, which is the rise of analog.

Esteban:

Yes, The Rise of Analog. Which is, I mean, I've been on the analog train for a few years now. Are you going to take

Mandy:

credit for starting the trend?

Esteban:

Yes, I am. So, you're welcome, photography community. For starting the trend

Mandy:

of film. You are old enough to have.

Esteban:

Wow, okay. This always, I feel like everything just always turns into a, um,

Mandy:

Roast?

Esteban:

Yes.

Mandy:

I'm so sorry.

Esteban:

Anyway, but I do, I mean, so for, uh, uh, What's the, the conference that we did last year? Uh, Lens and Light? Lens and Light?

Mandy:

Oh, the one, yes. Yes. Lens and Light. Uh, which

Esteban:

is a really cool conference. I taught a film photography class, just like sort of basics of photography. how to get started into it, the differences between different, um, different cameras, different film. Um, but I mean, it's on the rise. It's really popular now. We, we love shooting film. We both do.

Esteban (2):

Yeah.

Esteban:

We both have several film cameras. Um, and I do think that it's a pretty awesome thing to see it come back up

Mandy:

in the

Esteban:

last few years.

Mandy:

Yeah. I think when you were reading earlier about it, lots of people crediting their more emotional, I guess, connection with film. Um, Yeah, yeah, I don't know how you feel about that

Esteban:

so I do enjoy so as somebody that I've been shooting like a for a very long time and I am whenever anybody asked me why I shoot like They always ask. Well, what's the point of spending so much money on a camera? What's the point of of? of shooting with such a I guess such a niche system and I I always give them sort of the same answer where it's, it's more about the experience and the overall process of creating an image. It sounds very like pompous and, and annoyingly like, like I'm such a hipster, but it's, it really is. I think that since I've been shooting with that system for a very long time, it's actually made me a better photographer because it has limited me in a way. And I think film does that. I think film does a really good job at really making you appreciate the overall process of creating an image. Because when you take an image, it actually costs you money. It's not like a memory card that you can just delete the image. So, especially when you're shooting with some of the bigger formats like 645, 6 7, like a lot of these larger formats. It's

Mandy:

a big price tag per exposure.

Esteban:

Yeah. Yeah. And even though it is very popular right now, uh, film prices are, are much higher than they used to be. So, um, I mean, you're looking at like, for like, Portray a hundred, you're looking at like 20,$22 for a roll of film. Yeah. Which is kind of crazy. Plus

Mandy:

developing and scanning

Esteban:

Yes. Which is another thing. I mean, when you develop and you scan, I like to scan myself, but it does take me a long time to scan.

Mandy:

Yeah.

Esteban:

Everything. Um, but yeah, no, I, I think that I, I love the idea of, of film coming back up. I love the idea of it slows you

Mandy:

down a little bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

Esteban:

yeah. What do, why do you like shooting film?

Mandy:

Um. Probably for just the overall look of it and I, I know you can emulate it with digital, but I'm very much, I like, I like things the way they are. So there's just something nicer about it actually having that look like from, from shooting. I do like the slowing down. I like the surprise also. I like, I like, although I am impatient about seeing the photos, which is kind of, it's a little bit. Contrary to what I said in the other episode about the camp snap, about not wanting to wait. And getting to like plug it in whenever and see the photos. There is that element that I like of the surprise of seeing what you get after, so.

Esteban:

Yeah. I like that. It does make you more methodical about, when you talk about like different types of films that you're using. I do think that whenever we're shooting film, like even for example yesterday. We're about to put a new film, uh, a new film into the X Pan. Mm hmm. And I thought, well, what is it like going to look like in the next couple hours? So instead of you just having the flexibility of like changing your ISO or doing anything, you really want to make sure that, um, That you're more methodical about the film that you're using based on what you're going to be shooting So for example, I love Sinistol and we love shooting Sinistol when we're when we have a lot of neon lights when we have darker environments So you have to be planned ahead a little bit more Yeah Rather than just like applying a filter or anything like that to us than

Mandy:

us being in that indoor location yesterday and you putting in Uh, 800?

Esteban (2):

Yeah.

Mandy:

And, and being like, oh, well, uh, we have to take 20 shots here. Yeah. Yeah. Cause it's a bright sunny day and I,

Esteban:

Yeah.

Mandy:

I'd like to put in different film for outdoors.

Esteban:

Yeah, and I, I shot a lot of film yesterday. I think I shot like maybe five or six roles.

Mandy:

Oh, wow.

Esteban:

I

Mandy:

didn't even realize you shot that thing. Yeah, I did.

Esteban:

That's awesome. When we were outside, I, I shot an entire role, uh, at the Star Wars section because it was so sunny and it was, there's a lot of shadows, a lot of stuff happening. Obviously the, the whole scenery is awesome. So I shot, um, with, um, I think it was Gold 200. Uh, I shot a couple of those and then I ended up shooting Sinistil as well. Uh, but I was rating it at 400, which is something else that I like to do, but um, but yeah, no, film, film is definitely, I'm, I'm glad to have it back and I'm glad that it's so popular now. Um, but it, it can get very expensive.

Mandy:

Yeah, but it is also kind of brought on the rise of, um, point and shoot cameras like digital. Yes. So there is a way to still get a nostalgic look and feel or experience, but it's, it's But using point and shoot cameras instead of

Esteban:

That's the hot thing right now. Every time we go into a film like, uh, like a, um, camera, like, we, we love visiting, whenever we go to New York, we love visiting K& M, which is a film Well, I guess they sell digital too, but it's mostly known for like a film, their film selection.

Mandy:

Yeah, lots of secondhand stuff. Yeah, and whenever anybody were

Esteban:

in there and anybody walks in, they're always asking for hey, do you have any point and shoot cameras, whether it be digital or film. And the digital ones are actually really cool because, for example, I own a couple of different ones. Like I own a, uh, an old, very old, like, uh, like one of the first, uh,

Esteban (2):

Oh yeah, that old thing. digital, um, digital

Esteban:

cameras. point and shoots, which is actually pretty big and has a really good lens, and it gives off a really cool look. Not to get super technical, but the, the film, not the film, the digital point and shoots that I have that are older, I like to get them when they have a CCD sensor, which is a sensor that was developed by Kodak, and it just gives off a really special look, and I just love the overall look of it, which is, again, it has that very film feel to it.

Mandy:

Yeah,

Esteban:

um, and then obviously the film point and shoots are really fun, too.

Mandy:

Yeah. Sometimes this makes me wonder, like, how it's connected with style.

Esteban (2):

Like,

Mandy:

like, style like fashion, uh, hairstyle. Like, how, how there's like a coming back of like, we were just talking about hairstyles. Uh, hairstyles. Walkmans, clothing and stuff from a certain era and then it kind of seems like the photography trends are also kind of from that and it's just interesting I wonder what kind of connection there is between all of that kind of like coming back.

Esteban:

Yeah, I think that people do, or at least that one of the things that I like about these trends is that People are just tired of the perfection. And even though there's a lot of, I mean, I've seen a couple of threads on, on Facebook and a lot of groups. Even the Aftershoot community had a thread where like, what are some of the trends that you wish would go away? And a lot of people are like, well, I hate the blurry photos. I hate the, um, the, like those out of focus. And I ones

Mandy:

they're casually snapped. Yeah.

Esteban:

Yeah. Yeah. And I, I love that. Like, I love the direct flash. I love that stuff and

Mandy:

Mm-Hmm. that is

Esteban:

just kind of nostalgic and it, it does bring you back to another time, which

Mandy:

Yeah. Which

Esteban:

is a cool feel. And obviously you always have people that don't like'em, but I personally am a fan of them, so

Mandy:

Yeah. Yeah. I'm embracing it.

Esteban:

Yeah, you are, you're very good at, uh, at that direct flash look. It has a really cool feel, which, when you use the, um, well, we use the, um. Deluxe Master, the Kodak's Deluxe Master, which is like a vintage looking flash which gives us a really cool vignetting to the images. So, whenever we want to do a lot of dancing or any direct flash photos to give that nostalgic look, we use that flash. Definitely

Mandy:

our favorite flash.

Esteban:

Yeah. Yeah, we should do a

Mandy:

whole segment on that flash.

Esteban:

Yeah, that flash is pretty amazing and I love using it for pretty much every, every wedding, so. Um, but yeah, I think, I think the nostalgia thing. As of late with when it comes to film and the point and shoots Uh, even digital point and shoots is really cool And I don't think that the uh, the industry was really prepared for it, which is what the story said that uh That that we we read on I think it was on petapixel Uh, the industry wasn't ready for that Nostalgic comeback to a lot of stuff that that wasn't really popular a couple years ago

Esteban (2):

Yeah,

Esteban:

and to add to that You Pricing is something else too. I mean you look at like for example I have uh Holding for those listening, uh, a yoshika t4 super Which I mean a few years ago this camera would have been like 200 bucks, maybe 150, 300, um, we ended up buying this in, at a camera store, we got a pretty good deal. I think we, we bought it for like 400 and this camera, if you, in like pretty good condition, will now sell for like 800.

Mandy:

Which is just insane.

Esteban:

For a point and shoot film camera that doesn't have any sort of like manual settings or anything so.

Mandy:

It might not be that reliable.

Esteban:

Yeah, oh yeah. The thing is a little broken, so like right now it's not coming on. You just

Mandy:

have to turn it on and off like six times. Yeah, yeah. For it to actually work,

Esteban:

but. But it's cool. And then you have cameras like, like these, like the X Pan, which, uh, 10 years ago you could have bought it for 1, With like two lenses and, and pristine condition. And something like this, in pristine condition, you're paying like 000 for it, so.

Mandy:

And that camera gets a lot of attention. Yeah. Like, every time we go out, someone notices that camera.

Esteban:

Yeah.

Mandy:

Either they're curious about it because they don't know what it is, or they know exactly what it is and they just want to talk to you about it.

Esteban:

Yeah. Yeah. Even yesterday, some guy was like, what body was that? What body is that? And I was a Hasselblad X Men, and he was like, that's beautiful. And twice yesterday, there was a

Mandy:

random person and then the, the universal, the Disney photographer. Yeah. Oh, it was at Disney. Yeah. Disney photographer.

Esteban:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was, that was a. It does get more attention. I think we talked about this before that I, I told you that I get more attention when I'm using this camera than when I'm using a Leica.

Esteban (2):

Yeah.

Esteban:

Or even like the, the Hasselblad Digital. Um. For some reason it just gets a lot of attention. It could be because of the patina like the it's just very worn So it looks like it's been used a ton But yeah, it doesn't look

Mandy:

like the same old camera everyone else is carrying around. Yeah,

Esteban:

and it doesn't look expensive for somebody That doesn't really yeah, no, but if you know,

Mandy:

yeah, it is expensive.

Esteban:

So Cool. Yeah, so that's the rise of analog and point and shoot cameras. So if you have any questions Point and shoots that you prefer, any film that you like shooting, or if you have any questions about us shooting film, then feel free to Drop us a comment. I would love to answer anything that you have so

Mandy:

So good thought provoking question.

Esteban:

Yes for our questions and answers

Mandy:

Q& A

Esteban:

Q& A

Mandy:

How do you find ways to stay motivated? During I'm gonna preface this by saying during a busy crazy wedding season. Where are you? You Could be overwhelmed and experiencing burnout and

Esteban:

Yes. How

Mandy:

do you keep going?

Esteban:

So this question comes from Noah, our friend Noah, right? Yeah. And then there was also a thread from our friend Nicole who posted some really beautiful photos and she asked, well, is anybody else feeling burnt out? So

Mandy:

we had both kind of things today and we're like, yeah, that's a great topic to talk about. Yeah, because we're in the middle

Esteban:

of wedding season, we're in the middle of traveling and there's a ton of stuff going on, so.

Mandy:

Mhm. Yeah, I would say nearing the end of wedding season, we can all kind of see the, the light at the end of the tunnel. But this is also the time where, at least for me, all of the editing is starting to pile up. So even if weddings are going to slow down soon, the editing load is in full force. Yes. Um. And yeah, so this is kind of the toughest time, I think. Even though we are kind of nearing the end, it's, everything is still piling up.

Esteban (2):

Yeah.

Mandy:

Worse than July for me. July, I'm like, yeah, whatever.

Esteban:

Yeah. It's also time to edit

Mandy:

those June weddings. And now I'm like, I better get a pass on those June weddings.

Esteban:

Yeah. Midsummer is tough. Um, but I think this is tougher. Yeah. Just because you are seeing the idea of like, hey, it's, it's almost over. Um, but at the same time, you do, you have a ton of weddings, a lot of back to back. We were doing some traveling too. So, and every family

Mandy:

wants their session in. So even if you're not doing family photos, I feel like you're doing family photos, right? We don't, we don't really do much for family photos, but we're still doing family photos in the fall.

Esteban:

Yeah. Yeah. Uh, so how do I stay motivated? Uh, I don't know. I don't just hide in a corner and cry. I'm not motivated actually. Don't ask me. I mean, as far as like, uh, from like an artistic point of view, I would probably say that I love getting, uh, like weird lenses, like incorporating a lot of new, uh, equipment into, into where, when like we're shooting weddings or anything like that. So I, uh, that's where I found like film photography. That's where I found different film that I could shoot. It's where I found tilt shift lenses, things that I could put in front of the camera to just kind of, um, Do more interesting shots that'll,

Esteban (2):

that'll,

Esteban:

um, that'll make me more excited about shooting and trying out new things. Um, I'm very much an equipment person. Like I love gear. I love buying new things and doesn't have to be a 7, 000 camera or a super expensive point and shoot. It can just be, I mean, how many times have we gone somewhere and. Bought like a 50 lens that we ended up using at a wedding. So

Esteban (2):

yeah

Esteban:

So just going out and using like vintage lenses and and doing all kinds of different Different techniques with with all their equipment I think is one of the biggest things that that I can do for staying motivated. So how about you? What do you what do you usually do? Also cry

Mandy:

Yeah, in the corner. Yeah, yeah. Um, I would say exactly what we're doing now. Um, also making sure that I still have a balance and a personal life and doing things for myself so that I'm not just focusing on work. So even though maybe this was like the worst time to take a vacation in terms of my workload, I also think that I need it the most and, and things can wait. And. And yeah, so it just feels really good to just like say, screw it, I'm going to just let this stuff sit for three days and I'll get back to it when I'm home. It's a good reset. Yeah.

Esteban:

Because I think when you get back and you're just back into the thick of things. Yeah,

Mandy:

I'll be extra motivated because I've lost three days of work. Yeah. But for real, like, I will feel more like, yeah, like reset.

Esteban:

Yeah, yeah, sometimes we need to reset. And I, I've said it before to others as, and that being a business owner, you never really forget, or you never really feel like you have everything done. Um, to just, just kind of separating yourself from, from your tasks as bad as it sounds and just say, you know what, I'm going to enjoy the next two days or even just taking a day off. Um, I guess it also depends on the kind of person you are, but sometimes I like to use. equipment or cheaper equipment to kind of get myself motivated. But sometimes I just need to just wake up and say, Hey, you know what? Things can wait. Like you just said, I'm just going to take today off. I'm going to watch a movie. I'm going to hang out with the kids. I'm just going to play video games and that stuff will mentally reset you a little bit more where you're more inclined to get things done. Because one of my biggest issues is that sometimes I have so many things that I have to do and it gets to a point where there are so many things in my brain that I don't get anything done. And I just spend all day trying to. I don't know where to start. Yeah.

Esteban (2):

So it

Esteban:

was analysis paralysis, right? So, and, and that's one of my, my biggest issues that I mean, in the 12 years that I've been doing this, I don't think I've ever gone to bed thinking,

Mandy:

Oh yeah, I

Esteban:

don't have anything else to do. And I don't think I ever will.

Mandy:

Yeah. Like when was the last time you were caught up on editing? Isn't there always something?

Esteban:

There's always something. Yeah. There's only whether it's editing, whether it's your website, whether it's social media. As

Mandy:

soon as editing's done, you've got all the backend work. So I mean, yeah. And that's the tough part about being, um, self employed or a business owner. Um, it's really hard to, to separate and to let go and to, to release the work day and have a personal life. Whereas people who go into an office or. Or have a more nine to five type job and probably like, okay, well, that's it for today. Tomorrow I start again, it's fine. Our brains never, yeah, our brains don't stop. Yeah, we always have a little bit of guilt for not pushing through. But we have to remember that we have lives outside of photography. Yeah,

Esteban:

and that guilt is, is tough because your success is, directly correlated with how much effort you're really putting into your business. So, sometimes you look at a day off as you not putting enough effort into your business.

Mandy:

Which is simply not true. Right, yeah. You need a day off to have, to be able to keep going for the next day. We need sleep, we need food, we need, yeah.

Esteban:

Yeah, so it's, it's, it's tough to balance out the idea of, hey, you know, sometimes I don't, I don't need to be in front of a computer for, um, for 10 hours editing, um, When in reality, like, you could just be enjoying your personal time at times, too, where it'll, it'll benefit you more than actually sitting down and being overly stressed about the things that you have to do, so. Definitely.

Mandy:

So, yeah, we also would, um, take any tips and tricks for staying motivated. If you have any, yeah, let us know what you do. For the love

Esteban:

of God. Or

Mandy:

how you stay on top of stuff.

Esteban:

How do you stay organized with your life and work? Yeah. Uh,

Esteban (2):

yeah.

Esteban:

Cool, yeah. So, um, that's that. What is that? What was that? Q& A. There was another question that somebody asked. Thanks, guys. What was the other question?

Mandy:

I don't know. That's all we wrote down, so that's all we're covering.

Esteban (3):

There was another one that was so good, I forgot. Alright, whatever, we can cover it next week.

Mandy:

Yeah, okay. Cool.

Esteban:

So,

Mandy:

shoot with us.

Esteban:

Shoot with us. What have we been up to as far as work? Um, we've been up to Oh, actually the last shoot that we had. Yeah, last weekend. We had a wedding in

Mandy:

Where were we?

Esteban:

Where were

Mandy:

we? We were in

Esteban (3):

Go ahead. We were in London. What state were we in?

Mandy:

Not again. Mass.

Esteban (3):

We were

Mandy:

in Mass.

Esteban (3):

Not Massachusetts?

Mandy:

No, I don't know what that is. I think this has been brought up

Esteban (3):

before. That's okay, I'll bring

Mandy:

it up in the episode. Yeah. Okay. We were in Massachusetts. We were in Mass. And we

Esteban:

were photographing Trevor and Kayla, which is a beautiful wedding. Um, we actually, I know Trevor's mom. She's a photographer, and she hired me a while back. And we were with a capture firm, and it was pretty awesome.

Mandy:

Yeah. I really enjoyed

Esteban:

shooting. I was in Holyoke, Massachusetts. A

Mandy:

venue with the most beautiful view.

Esteban:

Yeah, it was cool. Cause a lot of the time when I'm, when I'm photographing, I'm sure you can also relate when you're photographing and there's a view to be sold on the venue. There's, there's gotta be some travel time. So I shoot at Stratton mountain in Vermont a couple of times a year. And that requires like a, for you to go up to the top of the mountain. Um, but this was like right there.

Mandy:

Yeah. It was very surprising. I think driving up to the venue, Like it was hard to tell that there were the, there was that view behind it. Um, so it was very surprising to, to walk into the reception space and then look at the windows and be like, oh wow. Okay. We're on the edge of a, of a Hill. And this brings up a good,

Esteban:

a good point, um, which I'm sure people have asked before in the group. Are you. Are you doing any sort of research on your venues beforehand? Are you somebody that just walks in and says, Oh, you know what? Yeah, I'll just do the best with whatever. I can tell you

Mandy:

exactly how much research does on the venue. He took us to the wrong hotel and the hotel is part of the venue, but he, um,

Esteban:

yeah, we were saying 10

Mandy:

different excuses for why we were not at the right place, but,

Esteban:

and it wasn't even like five minutes down the road, it was a half hour drive.

Mandy:

It's 7 o'clock at night.

Esteban:

Yeah.

Mandy:

And you had to text the groom and ask him, where am I staying tonight? So

Esteban:

that, so I would have known where we were staying. It's just that my phone has been pretty much out of space. As

Mandy:

we discussed last episode.

Esteban:

I still haven't opened up my new one, but, but it's been out of space. It's, when you run out of space, it tells you, it recommends that you delete a lot of your messages, so I deleted all my messages, so I, I didn't have any messages on my phone, I saved up some space, but one of those messages was a confirmation from the groom.

Mandy:

Where our hotel was. Where we were

Esteban:

staying. We tried to

Mandy:

check in the wrong hotel. So

Esteban:

we got to the hotel and we were like, hey, are we staying here? And they were like, no. And then I had to text the groom the night before the wedding, which is totally unprofessional. Um, but,

Mandy:

but we had to go to sleep. But it's okay, because his mom's a

Esteban:

photographer. Yeah, yeah. Um, but they were cool. They were, they were awesome. It was very chill. Really easy going. Uh, Bri was really chill. Trevor was also really cool. They were super open. I mean, I think one of the advantages of obviously working with people that are photographers is that they, they do tend to, well, there's some exceptions, some people that are a little bit harder to work with, but, um, but I think for the most part, when you're dealing with a, with a photographer, it's a lot easier and they were great. They just kind of let us do what we wanted. Um, they gave us a good amount of time, even though there was no first look. Um, yeah. In the first look with the groomsmen. Yeah, which is cool.

Mandy:

Well, I would say we didn't, I would say we didn't really have a lot of time. We just did really well with the time we had.

Esteban:

Yes. Yeah, which is important to note because. Yeah, because I actually

Mandy:

think that the amount of time we had may have stressed some people out.

Esteban:

Yeah, I mean we, so when there's no first look. Because there was a

Mandy:

big wedding party and, but we like, we got it all done and

Esteban:

Yeah, when there's no first look, you kind of have to, you just have the cocktail hour to do everything. So you have to do, uh, portraits of the bride and the groom. You have to do portraits of the families. You have to do portraits of the wedding party. Um, so there's a lot of stuff that needs to be done. Uh, which is why I like when there's, when there's a first look. There's a lot less pressure and stress, and we can form the day in a way that kind of works towards the photography. But, at the end of the day, if they don't want to do a first look, then that's perfectly fine, too. We can, which we did last week, and we worked with it, and we, I think we did a pretty good job.

Esteban (2):

Yeah, the photos are beautiful.

Esteban:

Yeah, yeah, they were awesome. We did a first, um, a same day edit. Oh, yeah, 70 something photos. Um, and then we display them before the end of the night. Everybody loved them. Um, and one of the cool things is that we were able to send them the photos the day after.

Esteban (2):

So that

Esteban:

they can post them online. And I know Julie posted them on Facebook and Instagram, so. So

Mandy:

they're floating around. Yeah.

Esteban:

Yeah.

Mandy:

Yeah,

Esteban:

they're, they're somewhere up there. I'm sure we'll have to post them. Yeah. On the Instagram account, so. It was a beautiful wedding.

Mandy:

But it was also really nice working with like a wedding photographer's son, because she was. On the ball about everything like anytime something had to be done. She was Wrangling people and helping direct and so it was really nice to have that extra set of hands Yeah of someone who knew everybody and you know, like yeah, we could have a third person doing it but It's different when it's the mom of the groom. Yeah. Yeah, he's like, okay, we're doing cigar pictures that I'm gonna go grab all the groomsmen and the dads. Oh

Esteban:

yeah, I want to edit that.

Mandy:

And they'll be right here waiting for you. And sure enough, they were all there ready to go. They had instructions.

Esteban:

Yeah, that's, yeah, I totally forgot that we did those cigar pictures. I feel like I now want to edit those. We did a composite.

Mandy:

Yeah. With

Esteban:

the Luxmaster.

Mandy:

Oh yeah, that's right. So that'll be

Esteban:

interesting to see how it came out. Oh, I think it'll be

Mandy:

great.

Esteban:

Yeah. Oh

Mandy:

yeah. Yeah,

Esteban:

but she was great. She was awesome to work with. I think that, um, obviously her being in the industry I think definitely helps out. Oh yeah. Especially to, to get everything organized. And the family was great. It was a, it was a good party. Um, so, yeah, no, no complaints at all. I think it was a really good day and, and the photos came out really nice, which will definitely Make sure to post in, in the group and in the Instagram, so. Shoot, wait, I feel like we, there's more to talk about that, about that wedding. Did we have something else that?

Mandy:

Um, I think, I think that that covered it.

Esteban:

Any challenges? Oh, I think one of the other things was that We

Mandy:

lost all those memory cards.

Esteban:

Yes, yeah. Yeah, now we have to, yes,

Mandy:

yes.

Esteban:

No, we did not lose memory card. No, I think it was the, um, uh, the transition from, from the hotel to the, uh, to the venue. The venue, um, they want, she wanted to do a first look with, with the, uh, her father. Mm hmm. And The groomsmen. With the groomsmen. But the venue didn't really I guess they just told her that it was fine to do it, but the venue didn't really, like, Didn't think about the

Mandy:

logistics of doing this when you're at a venue with four weddings happening at the same time.

Esteban:

Yeah.

Mandy:

And her bridal suite is at the entrance. The entrance where everybody's going in. The entrance to where her guests are coming in. And her guests are coming in, you know, they're not coming in at the ceremony time, they're coming in 30 minutes before. Right. Which is exactly when the first look with these people are going to be happening. So. There was nowhere for the bride to do the first look. To

Esteban:

not be seen by the guests. Which I think, when things are out of our control like that, it's kind of tough to deal with. So what we ended up doing is we just ended up doing the first looks.

Mandy:

In the bridal suite. In the bridal suite.

Esteban:

Which was, there was no windows. Um.

Mandy:

Pot lighting. Yeah. Low ceiling. Yeah,

Esteban:

it was, it was, it was a challenge to, to photograph in it. Um, but we made it work. But, it's definitely just a little frustrating when like, the venue tells

Mandy:

The bride. Yeah,

Esteban:

you can totally do whatever you want, but.

Mandy:

Yeah, cause they actually specifically had a spot picked out. Yeah. Um, to do this. But there was no way for her to get to that spot. Without

Esteban:

being seen. Without

Mandy:

being seen by all of the wedding cast. So, yeah, sort of an oversight on the venues part, um, but yeah, I mean it worked. The pictures are still beautiful, and the moment was beautiful, um, so it all, it all worked out well. But, um, yeah, just something we had to kind of work through.

Esteban:

Yeah, definitely a challenge, but we made it work, so it was good. Cool, but a great wedding overall.

Mandy:

Yeah, it was great. It was fun.

Esteban:

Yes, it was.

Mandy:

And we worked really late, which we like,

Esteban:

don't

Mandy:

ever do.

Esteban:

Oh, yeah, we were there till what? Midnight. Past midnight, yeah.

Mandy:

Midnight, yeah. Yeah, I

Esteban:

think the wedding ended at 1 a. m. Which is also not very. Not so common. Yeah. Around here. I mean there might be like, there might be, well it is in Canada, right? Oh, yeah.

Mandy:

Our weddings always go till 1.

Esteban:

Why is that?

Mandy:

Because we like to party.

Esteban:

Is that really the only reason?

Mandy:

Well, what would be the other reason?

Esteban:

I don't know. I just feel like, I don't know. Yeah, it just seems unlikely that Canadians like to party.

Mandy:

Oh No We like to party. It's

Esteban:

okay. I'll take your word for it Cool any other shoots that we have coming up

Mandy:

Just more weddings. Just more weddings. Yeah.

Esteban:

Weddings weekend in Connecticut. Um, so, that should be fun. I'm sure we'll talk about it in another episode. So, uh, let's go on an adventure where we are right now.

Mandy:

We are in the middle of our adventure.

Esteban:

Yeah. Not only a weather adventure, but also where we are staying. We're staying at Universal Studios and we've been here for the last two days, three days?

Mandy:

Three days? Yeah, three days. Three days, yeah. Um, A bunch of new experiences for us. Yes. So, when we first got here, we went to Volcano Bay for like an afternoon. Which

Esteban:

I've never been to.

Mandy:

Mm hmm. And it's been a long time since I was there. So, um, it was fun.

Esteban:

For those that don't know what Volcano Bay is, that's the, there's three parks at Universal Studios. Volcano Bay is the water park. The water park,

Mandy:

yeah. Then

Esteban:

you have the Island of Adventures, and then the actual park itself. Universal Studios Park.

Mandy:

So we went there and, and did some water slides and stuff and it was fun. We were just there for a few hours, but it was great. Yeah. Um, then we did our regular Universal Day, which we've, which we've done already together, but we have our favorite rides, our favorite food, our favorite drinks, and we, we went and did all of that.

Esteban:

Yeah, so favorite food. The first thing we did was we went to

Mandy:

Green Eggs and Ham.

Esteban:

Green Eggs and Ham.

Mandy:

Which, if you have not had, you need to have.

Esteban:

Yeah, if you're ever at Universal Studios and you want really good food, go to Green Eggs and Ham. And

Mandy:

by good food, we mean fried, gross, delicious, like, guilty pleasure food. Yeah. Not, not anything fancy. It's, it's just, yeah.

Esteban:

It's still pricey for like two, like, little tater tot things and sodas, which is like 50 something dollars, which is

Mandy:

Yeah, but yeah, but well worth it because I think I want to get it again today.

Esteban:

Yes, I do too. Yeah. Uh, so food was, was their favorite rides. Oh. We started off with Hagrid's. We went on Hagrid's first, right?

Mandy:

Uh, yeah,

Esteban:

but we love Hagrid's. Yeah,

Mandy:

I mean definitely the top two rides at Islands of Adventure. Hagrid's and Velocity Coaster. Hands down.

Esteban:

Yeah, so, what two is the one you prefer? Two.

Mandy:

Oh. Kind of what we talked about yesterday. It really depends what I'm in the mood for. Yes. Hagar's for sure for the overall experience. But yeah, if I want pure thrill, nothing beats Flo Coaster.

Esteban:

Yeah. Yeah. Alaska coaster. I just think has it all like anywhere.

Mandy:

Like, like that is for sure my top ride for like a thrill.

Esteban:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Was Coaster has the speed, it has the turns, the, the, the thrill, the the drops. Um, it's just an amazing, amazing rollercoaster. I don't think I've ever done a better rollercoaster than that. Um, we just did the giga coaster in New Jersey a couple of months ago and that was fun, but it just doesn't even have

Mandy:

a theme to it. It doesn't have the buildup, which is what is amazing about both these parks. They're not like, they're not amusement parks, they're theme parks and that, there's a huge difference. Right. Um, so yeah, that sells it for us. Yeah.

Esteban:

And Hagrid's is amazing. I mean, as far as like a fun ride. That was just, that's just like a really cool ride. The only downside is that it doesn't have the express lane and, um, the wait times are usually really long because of how popular it is. Um, but we, we managed to get in under an hour.

Mandy:

Yeah, it's also less busy right now than it is other times of the year. But, but also a lot of, planning your day properly goes a long way.

Esteban:

Yes, yeah, which is something I'm really good at.

Mandy:

Yeah, so, so he's so lucky he had me here. So, and what about your favorite beverage?

Esteban:

Uh, favorite beverage? Uh, from Universal? Yeah. Um, what's my favorite beverage? I mean, Coke is my favorite beverage. What is my favorite beverage? What is it? It starts with

Mandy:

a B.

Esteban:

Buh Volcano Bay Slushie.

Mandy:

Butterbeer.

Esteban:

Oh, butterbeer. Yes, butterbeer. Yeah, that is actually my favorite beverage. I forget that. At Universal

Mandy:

Studios. I mean, I'm not saying in general. I was like, yeah, the park stuff, like we were, butterbeer.

Esteban:

Yeah, if you go to Universal Studios, you have to have butterbeer. I prefer the frozen one. You prefer it cold.

Mandy:

Yeah.

Esteban:

But we had frozen yesterday. And a hot. A hot is

Mandy:

also delicious in the winter, like at Christmas.

Esteban:

Hot sounds atrociously disgusting. I would never drink hot.

Mandy:

It's like drinking like a hot chocolate.

Esteban:

No, I can't imagine that.

Mandy:

Have you not had hot chocolate before? I have, but

Esteban:

I just don't think that would taste any good. Um, but no, yeah, Butterbeer is awesome. We have to always have Butterbeer.

Mandy:

Yeah, and hopefully another one today.

Esteban:

Yes.

Mandy:

Now on to what I really want to talk about. I finally managed to get your ass to a Disney park.

Esteban:

I'm a big fan of Universal. And for the last, I mean, every time we talk about the differences between Disney and Universal, I've always been a big proponent of Universal. I was like, Universal is cool. Cause it'd be like roller coasters, like doing all this fun stuff. Um, and you and you

Mandy:

don't know what you like until you've tried it. Exactly.

Esteban:

Yes.

Mandy:

Yeah. And let's say five years ago, you didn't even know you were a big Universal fan.

Esteban:

True. Yes. Yes.

Mandy:

And

Esteban:

I thought it was going to be really tough to beat. Um, yeah. But after going to Disney and

Mandy:

I would like you to recount what you said to me right after we finished the first ride we went on. So.

Esteban:

So.

Mandy:

Maybe we should start by saying, I planned the day as best as I could for yesterday. And so, we had one day to spend at Disney. And so I chose to do Hollywood Studios for the day and then at night they had a special event going on at Magic Kingdom Which was Mickey's not so scary Halloween party Yes So spend the entire day at Hollywood Studios and then an evening go to Magic Kingdom so that he could have the experience of two parks First thing in the morning we go to the most Desirable ride to get the line waiting out of the way hoping it would be less of a wait and that's rise of the resistance in Star Wars land and So we run into the park and we go there first and he has his first Disney ride experience.

Esteban:

So it was incredible and.

Mandy:

But what were the exact words you said when you got off the ride?

Esteban:

I think I said it was like a seven and a half out of ten.

Mandy:

Nope that's not what you said.

Esteban:

What did I

Mandy:

say? You said a ride has never given me goosebumps before. Yes. I just got goosebumps.

Esteban:

So and. That

Mandy:

is huge.

Esteban:

That is huge and I think that. I like the thrill of roller coasters. I like Just feeling like the free falling of like I just love the sensory that Universal gives me I love that that feeling but there's just something special about being completely immersed into a world and just being put into Like the ship and like I don't want to I don't want to if anybody hasn't been to it But there's just so it's so it's so immersive and you just feel like you're there and then every little nook and cranny is just down to like the little details of like the floors the trash cans the Everything is just the atm

Mandy:

machine or the payment machine.

Esteban:

Yeah, everything is just star wars and And the first ride that we, we did, I just remember, I'm getting goosebumps thinking about like just the whole experience and just you really feeling like you're part of the universe. And that's not, I've never had that from any other, any other park or any other theme park. And it really explains why people are so into, into Disney because they do an amazing job. At just really making everyone feel like they're part of, of the experience. Um, and that was just even the line, like just being in line and just seeing all the little things, which is incredible. And I'm not like, uh, I like Star Wars, but I'm not, uh, I'm not like obsessed with Star Wars.

Esteban (2):

Yeah.

Esteban:

Uh, and it was, it was incredible.

Esteban (2):

Yeah,

Esteban:

it was, it was awesome. I will say that that Star Wars land was just unbelievable. I could have probably spent. A whole two days there just exploring and just taking photos and The light was awesome. It was really hot which was Which is tough to deal with at times, but even like the coke. I'm a huge fan of coca cola

Mandy:

10 minutes ago

Esteban:

But like the coca cola themed. Yeah, they're like they look like a little bb 8s. Um And it's just it's so good. It's so good. The like nothing is overlooked. Yeah

Mandy:

Yeah,

Esteban:

it's just a whole experience.

Mandy:

We went to Olga's Cantina And had drinks in

Esteban:

there, which were great. The drinks were really good. I really love the drinks there We had a like a tequila drink with like some of the best salt that i've ever had.

Mandy:

Yeah, it's called the outpost I think

Esteban:

Yeah,

Mandy:

um, but yeah, it was um It was all around a really good experience and i'm very happy that you are a disney fan Um Well, I've always

Esteban:

been a Disney fan. I just never really Well, you've

Mandy:

never been a Disney Parks fan.

Esteban:

Right. Yeah. And, and I'm definitely, definitely am now, I think. Yeah.

Mandy:

So much so, he wore Mickey ears. I don't think I did. At his own free will.

Esteban:

I don't remember this. It might have been after the cantina. Yeah. But yeah, it was, it was an amazing experience. I thought it was amazing. I thought the, the, the Star Wars Land was great. We went to Toy Story Land, just kind of walked around there a little bit. We didn't get to go into the roller coaster. Yeah,

Mandy:

we didn't get to do Slinky Dog Dash. Like an 80

Esteban:

minute or 75 minute wait.

Mandy:

Yeah. We didn't have the patience for that. We wanted to hit all the other rides and then we still had to make it to Magic Kingdom for like five or so.

Esteban:

Which we did. We got there on, basically on time. We, we did, um. We went riding to Tron, right? Which was awesome.

Mandy:

Yeah, Tron was amazing. That was my first time riding Tron.

Esteban:

It was short. It was very short. I wish it was longer. I think, and I think one of the things

Mandy:

I said. A lot

Esteban:

of the Disney rides are kind of short. Actually, a lot of them were short. That's one thing I noticed. But I think everything makes up for it. The overall experience like leading up to the rides is what really is

Mandy:

part of it, right? Yeah, you're not just like you're not just waiting for a two and a half minute ride your experience kind of starts in the queue Which I think is a huge difference between Universal and Disney.

Esteban:

Yes. Yeah Like our friend Jeff says that it was or he said that it was like over Yeah,

Mandy:

and I'm so sorry Jeff if you didn't say that, but I think you did I was trying to remember yesterday, but I think you said that you thought Tron was overrated and You're dead wrong.

Esteban:

Yeah, I thought it was awesome I definitely wish it was a little bit longer But the overall experience was was so great and I compared it to Hagrid's as far as like a fun factor Because

Mandy:

it

Esteban:

has that like open air feel like the

Mandy:

surprises along the way. Yeah Yeah going in and out of the building and

Esteban:

yeah. Yeah, I was it was really cool. The whole building. It's just beautiful We spent like a half hour just photographing.

Mandy:

Yeah, you can't ever just like enjoy an experience and leave we have to take that Pictures of it

Esteban:

Well, we're photographers. That's, that's why we, we post cool photos of the experiences and that's why people like it, yeah. And I love

Mandy:

that we do that. But, yeah, it was really cool. And what did you think of the, the fireworks show? Cause that's like one of my favorite parts of Magic Kingdom. I mean, I,

Esteban:

I hear people talk about it all the time and, It was like 30 seconds in and I already knew that it was going to be the best firework show I've ever seen in my entire life Uh, it was unbelievable not just the fireworks but the the projection on the on the the castle um It's it's mind boggling to me that Not this one specifically, but that these fireworks happen every single day Like and i'm always thinking like what's the cost for something like this? Like what is the process of actually putting all this together on a daily basis like you have You Towns that prepare for their July 4th

Mandy:

Yeah fireworks. Yeah, didn't we just like yeah But yeah for like

Esteban:

the entire year and you have Disney that's doing a day in and day out and they do just an incredible Job at it and it was it was amazing. We took some really cool photos

Mandy:

The Halloween ones are really like it was really fun and cool to watch I can't wait for you to see the like the night the regular nightly show. I mean, I think I hope I'm not wrong when I say this. I think it might be called Happily Ever After. They've like, they periodically change the show at night, but it stays for a long time. It's just so moving. Like, I cry like every time I watch it. It's so beautiful and so moving to see the regular. Yeah. Um, I actually think that you might even tear up if you watch it.

Esteban:

That's not happening. Maybe it is. I mean,

Mandy:

you're a movie crier, too, just like me. So I feel like there's a good chance that you also might tear up watching the regular. You know what I teared

Esteban:

up watching? Insidious 2, because it was so bad. But Insidious 1 was

Mandy:

great. Yeah, so I guess that can lead us into the main reason we came here and what we're doing tonight. It's going to Halloween Horror Nights and one of my The main houses is Insidious, so the first night we got here, we watched the original Insidious together.

Esteban:

Yeah.

Mandy:

And then the next night, we watched Insidious 2, which was an awful movie. It was so bad. We both fell asleep. Yeah. It was bad.

Esteban:

The first one was really good. I, well, I, I guess what I was explaining to you is that one of the reasons why I'm not, like, this huge Horror movie person is that a lot of horror movies to me seem sort of the same where it's like There's a really good lead up to it. There's a lot of suspense and I liked I enjoy the suspense when it comes to these movies, but what I don't enjoy is how they finish them off sort of like the Ending to them where it just becomes borderline silly and that's the feeling I got from that But but overall like 75 percent of the movie was awesome because there was a lot of jump scares. There was a lot of Uh, suspense and I, I really enjoy watching movies like that, so. Um, but yeah, yeah, that was, I'm looking forward to going tonight and seeing it, so. Uh, that should be, that should be a fun time. So, any other houses that you're looking forward to?

Esteban (2):

Um.

Esteban:

There's a, that's Quiet Place, right? There's a Quiet Place one.

Mandy:

Ghostbusters. Ghostbusters. And then just a bunch of their original, original concepts.

Esteban:

Yeah.

Mandy:

But, this should be good.

Esteban:

Yeah, yeah, I'm looking forward to it. So, um, I feel like we skipped over something about Disney. What else did we do at Disney? What else did we do at Disney?

Mandy:

I mean, we did so many things. I don't know.

Esteban:

We did Tron. We did the Space Mountain.

Mandy:

Yeah, I mean, yeah, we did. We did a bunch of the rides. Space Mountain. Yeah. The black, the all blacked out. Oh, wait, the one ride

Esteban:

you wanted me to go on that you didn't, you didn't. think that I was going to like that I actually really enjoyed, which is also kind of short. The house, the mansion one.

Mandy:

Oh, Haunted Mansion.

Esteban:

No, not Haunted Mansion. The other one, the, with the elevator.

Mandy:

Oh,

Esteban:

yes.

Mandy:

The, how, Hollywood Tower of Terror.

Esteban:

Hollywood Tower of Terror. Um, which I also heard really good things about, and it was really good. Well,

Mandy:

I told you you would like it, and you kept saying.

Esteban:

Well, I don't like the drop things. I don't like the, the, the tower things, where like it shoots you up, and it shoots you down, but it did that. But it was cool because again, it was an experience. Yeah, there's a story to it. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that was that I do

Mandy:

like it cuz that's like one of my favorites. Yeah. Yeah.

Esteban:

Yeah, that was that was awesome I think it was a really good day. It was a long day. We were

Mandy:

dead like 15 hours 15

Esteban:

hours of walking around and I'm I think we're still suffering from it.

Mandy:

Yeah, I was like tingly legs this morning. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's been rough I mean, it's just so hard on your body to be on the pavement all day long, moving, and like, what did we sit down for? Like, um, let's see here, maybe a lunch for 30 minutes, and then the chicken finger snack for 30 minutes, and otherwise, besides that, we were on our feet the entire time.

Esteban:

Yeah. Yeah, that was, that was, that was a rough, rough day on our bodies, but totally worth it because I think it was, we got a lot of stuff done.

Mandy:

Yeah, and the real nice thing about the Halloween party at Magic Kingdom is The wait times are really low for those events even though it was sold out the capacities Less and so especially after the fireworks show. There's no way. Yeah, everyone everybody but a good portion Yeah, like basically no wait for any ride. So whatever you can get in those next two hours

Esteban:

Yeah, it was good because we just pretty much walked into anything else that we went on So that was that was good.

Esteban (2):

Yeah.

Esteban:

All right. So that's that we'll get back to you and the next episode about what we enjoyed Tonight.

Esteban (2):

Yeah.

Esteban:

Yeah, so and then our last section here Is our tech time things that we recommend to people that we've been using and we've been using these things for for a while now, especially with work and And With, uh, play? With play. Yeah. So go ahead. What's your, what's your tech time?

Mandy:

Okay, so, I mean, I stole this product from you'cause you had it first, but

Esteban:

of course I have everything first and then everybody else gets it. That's, yeah, that's, that's a story of my life.

Mandy:

So the RayBan meta glasses.

Esteban:

Yep.

Mandy:

Which, if you don't know, are eyeglasses or sunglasses that have little cameras built into them, among some other features. But, um, the cameras for the most part. Um, so we've been using them on weddings to get like BTS and did we lose them? It's fine. Where were they? It's fine.

Esteban:

Yeah. So you have mine. Where did, did you take'em outta here?

Mandy:

It's fine.

Esteban:

Okay.

Mandy:

We can just show yours. Um, but yeah, we, uh, have been using them for weddings and then bringing them to theme parks and getting like POV on rides and experiences and stuff. So. Be really good to start featuring more of this stuff on Instagram and show you what's going on.

Esteban:

Yeah, they're really cool They're really good quality They're pretty affordable considering what you're getting

Mandy:

Yeah,

Esteban:

so if you buy Rayban glasses You're probably spending two to three hundred bucks on them or probably two hundred bucks on Rayban like sunglasses And these are three hundred dollars. They start at like 2. 99 or something and you can get the transition once for 3. 79 But I mean, they're really well integrated, which I think was one of the downsides of the first version is that it was a little clunky as far as like the connection to your phone, but it's just very seamless. So you're just pushing a button to record. You are holding a button down to record, right? Yeah.

Mandy:

And like pressing it once is for a photo.

Esteban:

Yeah.

Mandy:

Um, but so easy to use. Like you can. We have them set for three minutes of record time, but you can do less. That is the maximum.

Esteban:

You do 30 seconds, 60 seconds, and three minutes. But

Mandy:

it goes like straight to the app in our phone. The quality of the video is great. Low light, maybe not as good. You can use them to go live.

Esteban:

I mean, it's good enough. So when we were, when we were doing the, uh, Tyler's concert,

Mandy:

like some of that

Esteban:

footage, as long as you have like a little bit of ambient light, And you should be good. Oh, yeah, it records in 1080p quality.

Mandy:

Yeah, they even they shared one of the videos I took with the glasses So it's good enough for them to put on their Instagram. Yeah. Yeah

Esteban:

For example, like I'm recording now, I just hold down the little button and I'm just recording our setup here. And then you just hit the button to stop recording you you have meta AI in it, which We haven't really used but you can ask Different things like recommendations like where you should go to dinner music. Yeah. Yeah. It's integrated with your Spotify account But I mean for 300 bucks, you really can't can't beat him

Esteban (2):

For

Esteban:

fun stuff and even for work if you like doing BTS stuff.

Mandy:

Mm

Esteban:

hmm. That's just been amazing

Mandy:

Yeah, I feel like every time we were shooting something cool at a wedding like opposite classes on let's record it. Yeah Yeah, no, they're great Yeah, they're awesome. We've really got our money's worth already. Oh yeah, we've used them so much. Yeah.

Esteban:

We've, I mean you used them when you were doing like a, a battle with Noah's kids. Oh yeah, Nerf gun. Nerf gun battles. Yeah, I

Mandy:

surprised my nieces when I went to visit them and I put them on and recorded a video, um, of me just knocking on the door and saying hi. Oh yeah. to have these little like, these little things that normally you wouldn't have. And it's just with it being, um, a little bit more discreet. Like, especially in those situations, like, the kids weren't looking at me holding my phone in front of them, like, you know what I mean, they had no idea I was recording. It's

Esteban:

more immersive, so it just, you, you're, you're able to enjoy the moment more than, like, you actually holding up a phone. Yeah, exactly,

Mandy:

press record, didn't have to think about it.

Esteban:

Right, and even, like, when I did my cousin Vanessa's, uh, proposal, it was in Washington D. C. a couple weeks ago, and I, I was recording while I was shooting it and I was able to get like the after reactions from a point of view, uh, without having to like put up a phone or do anything like that. And then I got my other cousin, Dan, who like ran up to them and hugged them. And you're looking at the video and you're like, this is amazing. Like you can't get that. Cause like, I would have to be shooting. Yeah, you're supposed to be shooting them with the camera. So you can't, you can't do a cell phone video while you're shooting. So when you just hit a button, you just do a three minute video. And the, the best thing I think. You can have really good hardware, but the software is really what's important for some of these things. And it just works seamlessly. You just have the app, as soon as you have a good connection, it automatically transfers everything to your phone. Um, you can save it into your phone, you can edit it, you can share it, you can go live with the glasses. So if you have a good connection, you can go live with them. Um, yeah. So, it's, they're just amazing and super, super underrated, so.

Mandy:

Yep, all around been seamless so far.

Esteban:

Yeah, yeah, it's been great, so. What do you recommend? Mine's way more boring, but very practical. I have something that we've been using for a while now, yeah. Yeah, this thing here is, is pretty incredible and it's a, it's an Anker battery pack. It's a 10, 000 milliamp battery pack. that uses the wireless key charging. So if you have your phone, if you're running out of battery, just plop it right in here and it charges your phone. And it's really good because not only is it small and portable, um, it also has a USB so you can charge other things. It has a USB C, uh, and it, it's also a kickstand so you can, you can pop open the kickstand and you can watch videos on it and you can do all kinds of stuff in it. So this thing is, has just been a life saver. Saver for several situations, right? So I know when you were in like Mexico, you were used it a lot. Um, we needed it yesterday.

Mandy:

It didn't save us yesterday. Cause we forgot to bring in what we needed this.

Esteban:

But, but this thing has just been so good and it's very affordable. You can get a smaller version, like a 5, 000 milliamp one, um, for probably under like 30 bucks. This, these are maybe 50. When you

Mandy:

consider that the fuel cell that we, the only thing we could buy yesterday. At Disney to charge our phones was 48.

Esteban:

Yep for a little tiny like I think it was like a 5000 milliamp And it's 50 You plug it in it like charges your phone and then you have to return it to one of the sections one of the the The little whatever their sections are um, but I mean This is on Amazon for 50 bucks and Black Friday's coming up and you could probably get it for a much much better deal So

Esteban (2):

yeah,

Esteban:

I love using this thing. It's it's it's saved me a ton of frustration even at weddings when If you're flying a drone and your battery is running low, then you can always just do a quick charge And and get some juice in there. So

Esteban (2):

yeah,

Esteban:

okay. So cool. Look at that. We were under 55 minutes We did it. We finally did it.

Mandy:

I mean if we just

Esteban:

ramble for the next five minutes we could go over

Mandy:

We could. We tried so hard to stay under an hour.

Esteban:

Yeah, and we did it, so. But no, I

Mandy:

don't want to ramble. I want to get to the park.

Esteban:

Yes, we're going to get to the parks. We've got tater

Mandy:

tots to eat and roller coasters to ride.

Esteban:

Yes, and pants to shit on.

Mandy:

Oh my gosh.

Esteban:

Man, that should be interesting going to these

Mandy:

houses. You can do that. I will be the brave one and you can, I'll shield you from the monsters.

Esteban:

Thank you. Um, cool. Yeah. So that, that's it. We'll, we'll be back, uh,

Mandy:

next week,

Esteban:

next week with another episode.

Mandy:

Telling you all about this.

Esteban:

Yeah. And how everything went and some new, some new topics. So, um, please make sure you subscribe. Uh, we've gotten some really good feedback on everything. We have a ton of downloads so far. And, and we'd love to see. See you all come in and uh, give us some feedback. I actually added a uh, text us if you have any feedback on, I think from Spotify, you could text us and you could leave a comment if you want to leave a comment if you have any questions or any, any feedback. So cool. Yep. All right. All right. See you all next week on the fourth episode.

Mandy:

Mm hmm. I'm switching lenses.

Esteban:

Unless Hurricane Helen destroys the hotel.

Mandy:

Unless a monster gets you at Halloween Horror Nights tonight.

Esteban:

Yes. And then I'm just, I poop my pants. Okay.

Mandy:

Okay, bye.

Esteban:

Bye.