Fastest Hunk o’ Junk in the Galaxy! Millennium Falcon for Star Wars IV – VI

16 Thursday Jan 2020

Posted by untouchedtcphotos in Millennium Falcon, Millennium Falcon Movie Model, Star Wars, The Tech Museum of Innovation

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Canon, Canon EOS 7D, Han Solo Quotes, Lando Calrissian Quote, Millennium Falcon, Millennium Falcon Movie Model, Millennium Falcon Movie Prop, Rey Quote, Star Wars, Star Wars A New Hope, Star Wars Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars Episode IV, Star Wars Episode V, Star Wars Episode VI, Star Wars Return of the Jedi, The Tech Museum of Innovation

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Here are more photographs from my visit to the San Jose Tech Innovation Museum during the Star Wars exhibition.

I love the Millennium Falcon ship. This was my favorite part of the exhibition. The actual size of the model was larger than I expected. There are several models of the ship. There were smaller models used for certain scenes. The display lighting for the Millennium Falcon was good for shooting these photographs. Unfortunately, there was a display case that creates unwanted reflections in the pictures. But of course, the case was there to protect the model. Everyone would want to touch the model which could cause damage.

It is interesting to note the Millennium Falcon, Rebel Blockage Runner, and the Imperial Star Destroyer were all displayed at different locations at the exhibit. Unfortunately, I could not take pictures of the models together. The models are roughly the same size as per the description in the above picture. They just filmed the models away at different distances to give the illusion of different sizes.

Do you remember Lando’s quote in reference to the Millennium Falcon?

“You know, that ship’s saved my life quite a few times? She’s the fastest hunk o’ junk in the galaxy!”

See above Hans Solo’s quote about the Millennium Falcon?

“She may not look like much, but she’s got it where it counts.”

Here’s another one of Hans’ quotes about this ship.

“You’ve never heard of the Millennium Falcon? It’s the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs!”

So even though, this ship may not have had a polished finish or maybe even the latest technology, it was able to perform quickly and efficiently. It still could race thru and get its crew to their destination and win the important battles.

Luke Skywalker’s initial reaction to seeing the ship was “What a piece of junk!”. Why was the Millennium Falcon able to perform? Well, thanks to the expertise of Lando Calrissian, Hans Solo, Chewbacca, and Rey’s special modifications to the ship, it was able to exceed expectations for speed and maneuverability.

Even in “The Force Awakens, Rey said “That one is garbage” when she first saw the Millennium Falcon. When the other ship they ran to blew up, she exclaims “The garbage will do”.

So appearances can be deceptive.

Be careful not to judge that all Junk is actually Junk!

Interiors can be better than the Exterior – Understand the inside and outside of people and objects

Photographs Teach Great Lessons! Keep photographs to teach!

Star Wars Tie Fighter at The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose

15 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by untouchedtcphotos in Star Wars, The Tech Museum of Innovation

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Star Wars, Star Wars A New Hope, Star Wars Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars Episode IV, Star Wars Exhibit, Star Wars Movie Model, Star Wars Movie Prop, Star Wars Return of the Jedi, the tech museum, The Tech Museum in San Jose, The Tech Museum of Innovation, Tie Fighter

: Actual Movie Filming Model

: Very Cool Insight

I love models! I especially love the models used in the Star Wars movies.

Here’s a photo of the original Imperial TIE fighter from Star Wars Episodes IV-VI. It was on display at “The Exhibition” Star Wars Where Science Meets Imagination at The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose. The Exhibition was from October 19, 2013 to February 23, 2014. I am hoping that there will be more Star Wars Exhibits of actual movie models and props in the future.

It is interesting to see the progression of technology for using the models with a blue background made it difficult to distinguish a blue TIE fighter. Thus the TIE fighter had to be grey to be seen with the blue backdrop. Fortunately, technology improved and the color of the TIE fighter became bluer.

Poe Dameron was excited to fly one of the new TIE fighters with Finn in the new episodes of Star Wars. He knew about this fighter’s reputation for being fast with great maneuverability. So he had been itching to try out this fighter. The Force perhaps influenced Finn to make the drastic decision to end his life as a Stormtrooper and get out with Poe. They were fortunate to come across a fighter at a convenient time during their escape from Kylo Ren who was seeking the map to find Luke Skywalker in The Force Awakens. They crash on Jakku and are thrown from the ship, before it is sucked under the sand.

I am reminded it is always a blessing to have someone to help pull you out of difficult situations. Having someone around to support you when you are down or facing a big problem is a wonderful thing. It would be pretty cool especially if they had a speedy TIE fighter to quickly fly you out.

When I was single, my good buddy was always around to go out to eat dinner with me on Valentine’s Day. He knew I would be blue about facing another Valentine’s Day as a single person. In fact a month after I met my “future” wife, I still went out on Valentine’s Day with my good buddy instead of my new girlfriend. I made the announcement I met someone. He was excited and perplexed why I was going out with him instead of her. I obviously was not thinking about my logic for this action either. I guess I am a creature of routine. Fortunately, I did make it up to my girlfriend later.

Learn to be a wingman to someone. Be consistent and faithful.

Be Speedy and Flexible to go with the flow. Life is unexpected, and we need to adapt to the changes. The TIE Fighter is known for being speedy and easily maneuverable. This is a good lesson for me since I love routine a little too much.

Stand out from the background colors – learn to distinguish yourself. I am trying to figure out how to do photography with my own style. I would like to distinguish myself as a photographer which is why I do not alter my photographs to make them brighter or colorize the images – etc.

Photos Inspire! Learn from photographs!

Luke Skywalker’s T-65 X-wing Starfighter

10 Friday Jan 2020

Posted by untouchedtcphotos in Star Wars

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Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, R2D2, Resistance X-Wing Fighter, San Jose Tech Museum, San Jose Tech Museum 2013, Star Wars, Star Wars A New Hope, Star Wars Episode 4, Star Wars Episode 4 A New Hope, Star Wars Movie Model, T-65 X-wing fighter, T-65 X-wing Starfighter, X-wing fighter

This is an actual movie model prop of Luke Skywalker’s Rebel Alliance T-65 X-wing Starfighter from Star Wars A New Hope. You can see R2-D2 mounted on top of the X-wing. The model was on display at the Star Wars The Exhibition at The Tech Museum in 2013 in San Jose, CA.

I had so much fun examining and photographing the many movie props on display at this exhibit. I spent the whole day shooting pictures while my friends were waiting for me.

Many of us have grown up watching the many episodes of Star Wars. Watching the new generation of characters in “The Rise of Skywalker” was enjoyable. We planned our outing to go on 12/26/2019 with our group of friends and bought our selected seats a couple of weeks in advance. I did not want to even read the movie reviews to tarnish my enjoyment or expectations for this anticipated event.

One unexpected event was my mother-in-law did not want to stay home alone. She wanted to go too, even though her English comprehension would not allow her to understand the movie. We have good friends who love my mother-in-law and welcomed bringing my wife’s 99 year old mother with us.

Our friend did the last minute arrangements, so my mother-in-law would sit with her a few rows lower to make it easier for accessibility. My wife sat with me, while our friend sat with my mother-in-law.

My mother-in-law watch movies at home with us and just takes a nap or watches quietly, even though she does not understand the English. This was our expectation for this movie. Well, unfortunately this was not the case. Since the movie was naturally loud and the screen was big, my mother-in-law was alarmed and uncomfortable. Plus my wife was not sitting with her. So, my mother-in-law did the unthinkable during the movie – she talked every 30 minutes or so asking for my wife. Fortunately, there were not many people around where she was sitting. Our apologies to our friend and anyone else who heard my mother-in-law who has a pretty loud voice.

Fortunately, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie thanks to a good friend watching my mother-in-law.

I look forward and hope for the opportunity to photograph the new models and memorabilia from this last Star Wars movie in the future.

What did I learn from this last movie that I will seek to achieve in 2020?

Learn to Forgive my past hurts to obtain victory for today
Strive to win no matter what are the adversary odds against you
Do not bring my mother-in-law to the movie theater

Photos inspire and remind us of important memories and lessons!

Display the photographs that matter!

Where to see the Tantive IV Glow

10 Thursday Jan 2019

Posted by untouchedtcphotos in Disneyland, Star Wars

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Resistance X-Wing Fighter, Star Wars, Star Wars A New Hope, Star Wars Episode VII, Star Wars Launch Bay, Star Wars Movie Model, Star Wars Movie Prop, Star Wars The Force Awakens, Tantive IV, Tantive IV Rebel Blockade Runner

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….at Star Wars Launch Bay – See the Tantive IV glow
Tantive IV Model

We went to see Star Wars Launch Bay at Disneyland in December 2018. I could have stayed here for a real long time and amused myself taking photographs of the Star Wars memorabilia with my new Pixel 3XL. If you have looked at my older posts, I have photographed other Star Wars exhibits, since I am mesmerized by all the props.

These are 2 glass exhibits cases. The front ship is the Resistance X-Wing Fighter featured in Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens. The back ship is the Tantive IV Rebel Blockade Runner seen in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

The effect of the glass cases gives an artistic look to this photograph. I was also impressed with the lighted back engines. The lights gave a nice glow to the photograph. Things do not have to be perfectly staged for a good photograph. Even though these ships were in 2 separate glass cases, the glass and lights in the display worked together to give a special effect to the photograph. So try to surmise your surroundings to see how you can optimize the light to take a good photo.

Here’s a clip from the Star Wars website where the Tantive IV is being chased by the huge Imperial Star Destroyer. Size does not matter as the Tantive IV survived the attack. In the movie, the Imperial Star Destroyer was protrayed to be much larger than the Tantive IV.

By the way – an interesting fact of reality – the models for the 2 ships were actually opposite in sizes. The Tantive IV model is a little larger than the Imperial Star Destroyer.

So even though I did not use my big and heavy Canon camera and lens, the Pixel 3XL still took a pretty decent photograph of these 2 ships. I’m hoping my new Pixel 3XL will provide good photographs, when I do not bring my heavy duty camera equipment…size does matter for convenience.

Tantive IV from Star Wars