Trunk or Treat

When two leopards, a soldier and a Nun exchange sugary treats in a dark parking lot of an elementary school, you get a bad joke and my kid's annual Trunk or Treat days before Halloween.



Costumed "farces" unite to gather and consume sweets at an alarming rate before bedtime. The high fructose race against the clock is hindered by smothering parents capturing the precious moments.



Cute and adorable leopards on the prowl. While my almost 20 month old baby distracts curious onlookers with charming fuzzy wuzzies, my clever oldest makes her move to the candy bowl. Candy corn is pushed aside for peanut butter cups in this leopard den!



Let the Holiday Season begin! Any trip to the "Dollar" and "Crafts" store for seasonal decorations is justified from October to Easter for the "boss". Nothing says themed presentations like tacky and ornate plastic goods!



 A father and son sharing a defining moment with matching soldier costumes this Halloween season. "Moment" meaning my last minute scramble to Army Navy Surplus stores all over the county for proper garment sizes in digital camouflage. My son, like me, shares the same fascination with anything "military". From weapons of mass destruction to his all time favorite Call of Duty: MW3, my son is the "true" modern soldier.



You can view more pictures in my Trunk or Treat 2012 Gallery shot with the Canon Rebel T4i/650D paired with the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens.



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LEGOLAND Florida First Anniversary

Bright Lights, Brick City! The month of October marks the 1st Anniversary of LEGOLAND Florida and the family friendly Halloween festivities of Brick-or-Treat. Beautiful Fall weather this weekend contrasts with last year's rainy LEGOLAND Florida sneak preview weekend in 2011. Miniland USA is transformed into a Halloween Brick-or-Treat spooktacular. Ghostly goblins and scary LEGO creatures of the night haunt the LEGO grounds of Miniland USA. My young ones gobbled up all the free trick or treat candies of the Brick-or-Treat Trail and I clicked pictures a many of illuminated LEGO cities in Miniland USA. When it comes to sugared freebies, corporate endorsements are a blessing. Look who's big enough to ride with the family? My 19 month old baby daughter can finally join us in theme park rides. No more stroller duty for her! Look who's too cheap to buy the souvenir photo of this glorious event? My 18 megapixel Canon EOS Rebel T4i saved me at least twenty bucks! Nothing says togetherness better than social connectivity under the old Banyan Tree in Cypress Gardens at LEGOLAND Florida. The Apple iPhone is the glue that bonds long time family friends of Getawaymoments. At first glance, progress moving nowhere! Second glance, LEGOLAND Florida closes at 9pm on weekends in October. Miniland USA is illuminated like NYC's Time Square and the Las Vegas Strip but all in LEGO. Even the Tampa Bay skyline makes a night debut! Old City Hall, Tampa Theater and even the "beer" can building glimmers in the fake Hillsborough river moonlight. Miniland USA at night is quite remarkable... A year has gone by but Youtube makes video memories last forever. Just a quick montage of the rainy preview weekend at LEGOLAND Florida last year. Get a towel, you will definitely need it... Take one part baby stroller and one part GoPro Hero 2 to LEGOLAND Florida. You have yourself the ultimate mobile infant dolly to glide the crowded streets of Miniland USA. When the cinematic greats of Getawaymoments and ChadSorianoPhotoBlog converge, you also have vehicular verite at its best! Happy orange LEGO pumpkin Halloween from the Soriano family! May all your trick or treat bags be filled with less candy corn and more chocolate with a heavy emphasis on Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Who could say no to this adorable baby? I see chocolate and iPhone 6 in her future. You can see more cuteness in my LEGOLAND Florida First Anniversary and Brick-orTreat Gallery 2012 shot with the Canon EOS Rebel T4i/650D. Stay updated with the latest gear by Becoming a Fan on my Facebook Fan Page and following me on Twitter!.

Halloweekend Spooktacular

When is Halloween just Halloween? The glorious event of costumed juveniles roaming the streets in search of candy cornucopia are things of the past. Short attention spans of this Apple device generation desire constantly changing on demand content and a non stop supply of soda. Trunk or Treat, back to back birthdays, an unplanned trip to the office and ultimately, a Halloween evening of trick or treat filled this Halloweekend Spooktacular.



October brings changing weather of the Fall season and my kid's Trunk or Treat school event. An approaching cold front with torrential rain did not stop car trunks from being filled with sugary goodness. No candy corn here, just the good stuff.



You can view more of this rain filled event shot with the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV paired with the SIGMA 24-70mm f/2.8 IF EX DG HSM in my Trunk or Treat 2011 Gallery.



My nephew's birthday brought spooky serpents and a Halloween themed Harvest Festival at HorsePower for Kids in Oldsmar, Florida. My son and daughter had a blast with hay, horse and train rides followed by the farm atmosphere of roaming barnyard animals looking for a handout.



HorsePower for Kids is non stop fun. This not-for-profit organization benefits troubled kids through a farm based interactive environment. The only trouble I witnessed was the unending ear to ear smiles on every kid I photographed. Call it relentless smiley faces.



You can view more in Noah's 5th Birthday at HorsePower for Kids Gallery shot with the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV paired with the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L and EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lenses.



All this fun cannot last forever. An unplanned stop at my work put a chink in my armor but did not make my smile turn upside down. My soon to be 8 month old daughter made her first visit to my office since her birth. She quickly grew accustom to the very dark studio environment filled with computer hardware. Just like home!



LaserTron phasers on stun! The weekend is not over yet and only bridged with another family birthday party. Laser tag was only the beginning to this madness.



Friends forever. Birthday cakes adorned with plentiful icing followed by cupcakes covered with more icing makes life's celebration go down a lot smoother. Combine that with pizza and soda, and you have a lifetime recipe for indigestion.



Freezing the action and maintaining focus at f/1.4 was quite the challenge. Wiping the waterfall of sweat from trampoline tribulations was only half the trouble in this ISO 3200 shooting fiasco. Practice makes perfect and plenty of fluids to rehydrate your jumping beans are essential.



You can view more in GiGi's 9th Birthday at Xtreme Adventures Gallery shot with the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV paired with the Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L lens.



Halloween is finally here. Costumes fixed and bags ready for pavement pounding to gather the goods from stranger's houses.



Fair weather with cool temperatures blessed this Halloween. No more sweaty costumes with that uncontrollable itch from petrol based synthetics. Our friends up north did not fair so well with a last minute northeast snow storm. Halloween in November?



Meet Commando Squad soldier, Judy Jetson in Pink and Serena, the baby Mermaid. They will be knocking on your door next year looking for sweet candy and the new Apple iPhone 5.



You can view more in my Halloween 2011 Gallery shot with the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV paired with the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM lens.



Victory! We made it through the infamous Halloweekend Spooktacular. Another unforgettable eventful 4 day weekend filled with priceless picture moments. The dreaded and welcome holiday season has officially started.



You probably noticed a new lens addition in my galleries. The SIGMA 24-70mm f/2.8 IF EX DG HSM Practical Lens Review is in the works and will be soon posted on my ChadSorianoPhotoBlog. Stay updated about this upcoming lens review by Becoming a Fan on my Facebook Fan Page and following me on Twitter!

A Pumpkin Patch of Plenty

Call it Thanksgiving in October. The early settlers of North America celebrated the final harvest of their crops with a feast. Harvest festivals around the world rejoice with merriment and song. The Soriano family gives humble thanks for the ultimate gift with pumpkin patch jubilation.



In preparation for Halloween, the family departed to the local pumpkin patch for some prime pickings of Jack O Lanterns and some adorable harvest time pics. Pumpkins of every size imaginable for the choosing but that special one catches my wife's eye for the carving.



A good rule of thumb is to wait until "Golden Hour" to shoot pumpkin patch photos for fabulous results. Another good rule of thumb is to purchase pumpkins you can easily lift and carry without angina. A pumpkin you cannot budge is a good pumpkin to sit on.



When big pumpkins are not your fancy, my daughter thinks small ones are cute. Easy to carry and very cute like her smile. We had to limit her purchase to three.



My almost 8 month old daughter Serena chose this pumpkin. After much debate and drool, she was convinced with one lick this larger than life gourd would make a good teether and a hollowed out playpen. Who does not love pumpkin pie?



We submitted to temptation. The gratuitous "Harvest Festival" staged family portrait flowed through my Canon EOS 1D Mark IV paired with the EF 35mm f/1.4L prime lens. Obviously, my unsmiling baby daughter Serena did not like the location either.



With every click I give thanks for the baby horn of plenty. Serena with her older siblings give me abundance and nourishment. The "Cornucopia" of family makes it all worthwhile in the pumpkin patch of plenty.



You can view more plentiful pick'ins in my A Pumpkin Patch of Plenty 2011 Gallery shot with the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV paired with the Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L lens.



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Trunk or Treat !

The parade of ghostly goblins and wicked witches danced around the candy filled trunks row after row like cemetery tombstones. Halloween started a week early for my kid's elementary school with the annual Trunk or Treat. Only foolish haunted spirits dare to spook our sweet filled trunk. The elixir of "Liver and Onions" for my wife's dinner cast a no trespass spell until the meat poison was all consumed.



Call my daughter the Filipina Helen Carter of Supergirl. My middle school days in 1984 were filled a many with the Superman series. My daughter feared the liver and onions more than Kryptonite.



My son came to the sad reality of the Jedi mind trick. Maybe next year he can be the Filipino Superman.



ChadSorianoPhotoBlog wishes everybody a Happy Halloween a week early.



You can view more in my Trunk or Treat 2010 Gallery shot with the Canon EOS 1D Mark III with the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS and the EF 70-200mm f/4L IS lenses.

***MAJOR UPDATE***

 I just posted a current Trunk or Treat 2012 on my blog. Check out new decorated trunks and cute costumes shot with the Canon Rebel T4i/650D.