Lancaster New Era from Lancaster, Pennsylvania • 35

Photo stand at Hersheypark goes high-tech By Stephen Trapnell New Era Staff Writer EtUSIINT'JESS A el 1 1 111Sio; 4 i ANIL, 4 't -L ft 0 Photo stand at 'ft ITT 71 'r, 1 P- 4 I 'z e- 0 P. Hersheypark goes high-tech 'k t''''' 1' -c ,2 -If 1 By Stephen Trapnell i- 4 New Era Staff Writer ..,,,4 it e', if 7, t-- bt-s 4,. tt. 4- i 4- 4., 4.1''' 0,., ,,,,,7 i ew l''' 4 I LI 7 ''''4 'i, ,1 '''''S-. Ili, N' I a -'1- A 2 ,.4 i ..,1 i i 1 I 44 1.

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..4: 4 fN. ''c tOk 't i r'. .40, i Iii: i -) 1 lk -r- -7 4 it fi---- 'A it Ni 1- 1 ki.7',4 '1, 4 -''4 'tl--t- 3 t.S.'.;: ..,5.,1" 0,, C.7; i I -r4 k'', i 1--N ok -i'. 4 o', ,.4 HERSHEY The roller-coaster cars rocket past four white cameras in eight-tenths of a second. Its riders are screaming, grinning in excitement, wiping tears from their eyes.

Their expressions are priceless. In an instant, the camera array must snap 32 photos- one of each person on the new "Great Bear" ride at Hersheypark. No wonder the company operating the cameras is called Get the Picture Corp. Great Bear thrill-ride photos are the latest endeavor of Get the Picture, a partnership of three local men. The company also offers still photos and videos on four other rides in Hershey and the Dutch Wonderland flume.

"It's kept us from getting real jobs," joked partner Tony Sinkosky of Manheim. In setting up the Great Bear photo business, Sinkosky and his partners wanted to offer customers a new product: close-up photos showing each rider separately. "The tighter the shot is on the people, the more they like it," said Steve Ember of Lititz. With individual photos of each person and digital technology, Get the Picture can print a photo showing up to four people on the Great Bear, even if they weren't sitting together. The company's booth at the Great Bear is outfitted with TV monitors displaying the images and 12 photo printers under a counter with air-conditioning funneled through it to keep the equipment cool.

It's a high-tech sales operation, especially compared to Sinkosky and Ember's original Hersheypark stand, Surf City Photo, which opened 10 years ago. That business offered Polaroid novelty photos of customers "surfing," with a fake wave backdrop. The initial success of Surf City Photo launched a decade of growth, increasing complexity, and accompanying headaches for the company. Early on. Sinkosky and Ember created another souvenir photo operation at Chocolate World.

They obtained the top of a HERSHEY The roller- coaster cars rocket past four white cameras in eight tenths of a second. Its riders are screaming, grinning in excitement, wiping tears from their eyes. Their expressions are priceless. In an instant, the camera array must snap 32 photos-one of each person on the new "Great Bear" ride at Hersheypark. No wonder the company operating the cameras is called Get the Picture Corp.

Great Bear thrill ride photos Bustions Iticockw Photo by Obis Knight Owners Bob Hench (from left), Tory Sinkosky and Steve Ember and general manager Kyle Fnk stand under video saeens showing Great Bear Bt'SINEs, IVLNDAY Edited by Jim Burchik, 29143733 People In Business 2 said. They had installed four printers to spit out photos, but quickly realized they would need four more to keep up with demand. After sundown, they had to close their stand because the photos were too dark. "We had people literally banging on the door," Sinkosky recalled. The company illuminated the flume hill with 12,000 watts of light to get night photos.

When their equipment had glitches, Sinkosky and Ember had been relying on specialists from New Orleans and England. They needed someone closer. The pair called in Bob Bench More PHOTOS cc Page 4 dropped. Closer to home, an executive at Hersheypark pitched a new idea. He told them about a company offering a system to take photos of people on thrill rides.

Sinkosky and Ember thought of installing the system on the park's flume, a project that would cost $350,000 and require the partners to mortgage almost everything they had. -We talked to a whole lot of people about this, and then talked to our wives," said Sinkosky, who previously worked in radio and TV. When the flume photo concession opened, -we were absolutely swamped," Sinkosky trademark Hershey streetlight, complete with a Hershey's Kiss. Customers could pose sitting on the light, with a mural of the chocolate factory in the background. The pair, who had created a company called Animated Display Systems opened several "surfing" photo stands on boardwalks along the New Jersey shore.

However, although people could go to Hersheypark 12 hours a day, they usually visited boardwalks only in the evening and that reduced potential customers for the business. "We call that our stupid period," said the 46-year-old Sinkosky. The Jersey sites were 2 2 Articles of Incorporation Fictitious Names You and Your Money Calendar 3.