7.20.2010

the wizarding world of harry potter part i

As previously mentioned, my boyfriend and I went to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal's Islands of Adventure while I visited him in Florida. I brought my Holga along but I was constantly worried that the pictures wouldn't turn out. As Holga users know, it's sometimes a hit or a miss as you only have two aperture settings: cloudy or sunny. It was very hot the day we went, but very overcast. So I was worried that all of my pictures would be a big flat grey mess, if you know what I mean.

But! They all turned out so awesome! So I will present them in several parts over the next few days.

This is part one: Hogsmeade. First up is Hogwarts Express...

...followed by the tiny village of Hogsmeade.

It was extremely crowded, but everything looked so authentic and the snow on the rooftops almost made the temperature feel cooler. Almost.

There weren't many shops you could actually go into, but there were a lot of really awesome "fake" storefronts with windows full of oil lamps, scribbling quills, moving photographs (like in the books), floating paper, silver musical instruments, cauldrons of every size, orreries, astrolabes, globes, and many other kinds of intricate scientific-looking devices that I don't know the names of. These windows were one of the best things, because nothing looked modern, everything looked as if it belonged in an old magical European world. Which was the point, obviously!

Below is the sign for Ollivander's Wand Shop. The wait just to enter the tiny store was probably over an hour. Though when you did enter, it looked so close to how it does in the movie: extremely high ceilings with boxes of wands towering all the way to the top. I actually really wanted to purchase a wand, but due to the overwhelming (and apparently unexpected) popularity of the theme park, they only had three left.

And, as you turn the corner, here is your first glimpse of the Hogwarts castle! (Actually, you can first see it towering beyond Hogsmeade in the fifth photograph, but it blends in with the roofs of Hogsmeade so it may be hard to see.)


Stay tuned for (a lot) of pictures of the castle!

Source: Andrea Despot

7 comments:

Nicola said...

These all look so brilliant. They look so good in black and white, I can't wait to see more. :)

Unknown said...

I love these Andrea! Mandy does too. Can't wait for more....

Anonymous said...

You are so lucky you got to go!!
I would love to see some color images from there too... Did you shoot color as well, or just B&W?

k said...

I am so jealous, that sounds so fun! That sucks that you couldn't get a wand!

Annalyn said...

Awesome!,

they all look like a still photos in a movie :)

Huong said...

ahh! I really want to go there! These photos turned out great...my absolute favorite is the fourth one down...it's as if it's from another world.

Brian Krummel said...

Super-cool work. Keep it up!