Jet Mariano

Tag: Dreams

  • MIT8 – “If You Can Dream It, You Can Do It”

    Sleeping Beauty Castle at Night — Reflections of Patience and Light

    Sleeping Beauty Castle, Disneyland — long exposure, reflection pond perfectly still under holiday lights.
    © Jet Mariano bottom right

    Excerpt
    Dreams are born in imagination, but they come to life through patience. This photo reminds me that what seems impossible is often just waiting for stillness — the moment when faith, timing, and light all come together.

    Intro
    At Disneyland, I stood before Sleeping Beauty’s Castle surrounded by soft laughter, bright music, and winter lights. I had dreamed of this shot for years — the castle glowing like ice, perfectly mirrored in the reflection pond.

    The challenge wasn’t the camera. It was patience. I waited for the crowd to thin and for the water to still. When the noise finally faded, I clicked the shutter. Thirty seconds of silence turned imagination into reality.

    Notes from the Scene
    📍 Disneyland, Anaheim, California
    Tripod. Manual mode. I pointed my camera using the LCD screen toward the brightest light on the castle to achieve perfect focus. Once the image looked sharp, I turned my Nikon 14-24mm 2.8G lens from AF to M and my camera to full manual. This prevents the lens from “hunting” in the dark — a trick learned through countless nights of trial.

    After years of practice, I trusted the settings: 30-second shutter, f/11, ISO 2400. The result was this reflection — not luck, but learning.

    Perspective
    Walt Disney once said, “If you can dream it, you can do it.”
    That line carries truth beyond photography. In every art, in every calling, we are dreamers learning to wait for our moment of light.

    The dreamer in us sees what could be. The doer in us practices until it becomes real. And sometimes, all we need is faith that stillness will come.

    Practice
    If you want to capture your dream, prepare your heart and your craft before the light arrives. Keep learning, keep refining, and when the world quiets — act.

    Final Reflection
    Dreams don’t come to the impatient. They come to those who wait, who watch, who trust their settings.
    The castle may belong to Disneyland, but the reflection — that belongs to every dreamer who believes.

    Pocket I’m Keeping
    Dreams start in the heart, but patience brings them into focus. ✨

    Photo Caption (BTS)
    📸 Sleeping Beauty Castle, Disneyland — long exposure, reflection pond perfectly still under holiday lights.
    © Jet Mariano bottom right

    © 2012–2025 Jet Mariano. All rights reserved.
    For usage terms, please see the Legal Disclaimer.

  • Dreams Come True (On Quiet Nights at the Castle)

    Sleeping Beauty Castle after closing, colors breathing against a quiet walkway. Handheld patience, not luck.

    Story
    I didn’t grow up thinking “bucket list.” I just liked being with my family and carrying a camera. During my consulting years we were blessed with no-blockout annual passes to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. I only share that to explain why we have so many pictures there—and so many good memories. The park was our long walk after a long week.

    I wasn’t chasing rides. Most nights I was chasing light. My kids and my wife did their favorites, and I did mine: “it’s a small world” for the melody I can’t shake and “Soarin’” for the way it makes your heart feel bigger than your chest. Between those two, I was usually off finding a quiet corner to photograph, waiting for the crowd to thin the way a tide pulls back.

    We spent more than a few Christmas Eves at the Disneyland Hotel and Christmas Day in the park—again, not to show off, just to be together somewhere that made us smile. In other seasons, when I worked with an aerospace team and later in perinatal healthcare, our groups sometimes held Christmas parties at Disneyland. I’d still slip away for a few minutes, because the castle looks different every night, and the fireworks give you one more excuse to try again.

    A lot of those photos are still on old memory cards from three cameras. I know—process them already. But there’s something honest about leaving a few dreams unwrapped. The parks taught me that: you don’t need a louder life; you need a longer patience.

    Walt said, “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” For me, courage looked like staying five minutes longer, carrying a tripod when my back complained, and coming back when the last shot failed. It’s a small practice, after all—but small things add up.

    If you see Disney or temple photos here, that’s what they’re made of: family time, a stubborn camera strap, and the quiet belief that good light rewards people who are kind and who stay.

    © 2012–2025 Jet Mariano. All rights reserved.
    For usage terms, please see the Legal Disclaimer.

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