Going Up in the Orlando Eye

Which Way Is Up?

Here is the view from inside one of the Orlando Eye cabs. If you have ever wondered what the view looks like when you are going up in a giant Ferris wheel. Or observation wheel as they call it, kicking Mr. Ferris to the curb. Sorry, George. Personally, I like your name better than the generic name. Even if this wheel is several generations removed from your original design. After all, I prefer this site to be called Burnsland instead of Pictureland or something equally less catchy. Having a personal name attached to something makes it more, um, personal, I think. 

Actually, the view on the way down looks very much like the view on the way up. Except of course for the fact that the ground gets increasingly closer when you are on the way down. But in a still photo such as this, you can’t tell if the ground is getting closer or farther away, can you? This was indeed from when we were on the way up. Trust me. As if you had any reason to doubt. 

Up is down and down is up, or something like that. It all looks the same either way.

Getting Thirsty?

As you may remember from the previous Orlando Eye post, the official name of the contraption is the Coca-Cola Orlando Eye. And if you look at the next cab down at the loading area in the photo, you can see that it has the distinctive Coca-Cola stripe across the car. But no, they do not give you free Coca-Cola while you ride, so do not get your hopes up for that. However, they will be glad to sell you some. That’s the way capitalism works, after all.

And speaking of official names, that Coca-Cola stripe has an official name as well: the Dynamic Ribbon Device. Bet you didn’t know that, did you? Interestingly, the Dynamic Ribbon Device is starting to disappear from the latest Coca-Cola packaging. I don’t know why, because the stripe itself is almost as distinctive as the script Coca-Cola logo. But they didn’t ask my opinion before they made the change. And they probably won’t care about my opinion once they read it here, either.

As you can see, when we made our trip around the big wheel of the Orlando Eye, the sun had set and it was starting to get dark outside. Knowing of the photographic possibilities, I was slightly dismayed to see that the windows of the cabs were tinted. I know that is extremely helpful during the bright sunny days that Orlando is known for. Who wants to be trapped in a box in the subtropical Orlando sun, even if the box is air-conditioned? But I was hoping it would not greatly affect my photography at night. It didn’t, fortunately. I just had to adjust my camera settings slightly. By the time we got inside our cabin, I did not even notice the tinting.

But then I got to thinking. Instead of the standard gray tinting, wouldn’t it have been cool if Coca-Cola had paid for some brown tinting? You know, tint the windows the same color of brown as Coca-Cola? That way, it would look like little cabs of Coke going around and around. But then people might get the impression that they would be swimming in Coca-Cola as they rode, and that might turn people away. So the Coca-Cola people probably won’t care for that opinion if they read it here, either. Oh well.

See more from this trip to Orlando in the 2018 Band Trip to Orlando archive.

Bible Verse

Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but a good word cheers it up. - Proverbs 12:25

About the Photo

For this photo, I wanted to capture all of the supports that hold up the large wheel, and I also wanted to be sure to get one of the cabs in the photo as well. I like how the colorful lighting of the Orlando Eye is seen here as color shades on the supports, the ground, and whatever else, even if you do not see the actual lights themselves. 

As with the previous Orlando Eye photo, I used the railing around the edge of the cab to steady the camera. Because of the aforementioned window tinting, I had turned up the ISO a bit higher than usual. Because of the darkness, I kept the shutter speed as low as possible without setting it so low that it caused blur due to the motion of the cabs. It worked well here, I think.

Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Photoshop. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10
Lens: Olympus M.Zukio 25mm f1.8
Date: April 5, 2018
Location: Orlando Eye, Orlando, Florida