I was working on this photo this evening with a friend to show him some of the techniques that have evolved since HDR started getting popular. I find my methodology changes and evolves about every two months or so. I look back at my old stuff in horror!
Ah yes… the wet streets of Paris here… Seems like an idyllic place for this little store called Cartier, eh?
Because my photography is Creative Commons (no commercial use without permission), I open it up to be used by other artists to create derivative works. I get all kinds of emails from all over the world to see amazingly interesting and great things. One such email I got recently from Katey, whose cool website I invite you all to visit, who has taken my photograph of Valeria’s afghan and turned it into a painting.
I’ve put the these below, followed by to owner of the Afghan herself, Katerina of Siberia. Note she does not go by that name in public, but I think it would be cool if she did.
I did not fully realize I was entered into a competition and then I ended up winning! That was nice after I got past about 10 minutes of confusion about the contest… and then I think I remembered, but not as well as I did 10 years ago.
But I do remember this shot - it was a lone swan on a lake in the famous Stanley Park of Vancouver. I shot this when I went up there to speak at the Canadian Cato Institute to a bunch of Libertarians about online gaming economies being their last great hope.
You can get a link to the contest, the webpage, and find out more about the sponsoring website at this link.
I think about all the sunsets I miss. I always seem to be out and about somewhere, noticing a great sunset and noticing that I am not even close to my camera and tripod. It’s just unacceptable!
This day and evening I was in Yellowstone alone. I had just seen a grizzly bear and a black bear about 30 minutes before this shot, crossing the road in front of me. They went on their way and I was left in the middle of this area with just a few elk meandering a few hundred feet from me.
We found this inside a church in Dresden. Whenever I say "we", I am referring to my camera and I, who I tend to personify because I spend so much alone time with it. This is either a bad sign or a horrible sign, but it’s generally a good idea to get such signs while in a church.
The geysers themselves were interesting, but the ever-changing patterns in the runoff and the glowing extremophiles was really a treat. There were so many good compositional possibilities - I hardly knew where to point!
I’ve spent a massive amount of time at this airport. I almost considered having all my mail forwarded there so that I can combine activities. After you end up checking your email for the 6th time, you tend to get bored then walk around and take a few photos… and it happens to be a great place for that around sunset!
After leaving this last private conference in Yellowstone, I was thinking about an earlier conference where I met some of this cast of characters. It was the Reason conference in Amsterdam where I met Matt and Trey from Southpark (they were keynoting). I had some spare time to do some shooting, and I found some cool stuff.
This first shot is one of my favorites… every one of those rectangles on the ground is a grave that lines the floor of this old church.
Rajesh is currently working in downtown Delhi as a porter. I ask him what his dream job would be and he responded, “Why would anyone ask such a silly thing? I am a porter.”
If you like, you can see all my portraits from this series right here.
I remember how hot it was in Thailand… Things are nice and cool here in Montana - especially at night. I was going through a few old photos last night and wanted to put them up here…. not that I am in Thailand now, but these struck me, so I wanted to post them!
This was found in the countryside of Iceland, which roughly describes most of Iceland.
I have come back to Yellowstone for another week at this private scientific conference. I’m not allowed to take any photos that show the secret location of this place, but you have to ride horses for several hours to get there…. it’s way off into the deep! Anyway, it should be a fun week… here are a few of my favorites from the last trip!
I get a ton of emails and I am probably a horrible person because I only read a few of them. If I could clone myself, then maybe I could read them all… my apologies again to those that ask for a response but never get one… sorry I am just really backed up!
However, I did happen to read this one email - maybe the subject caught my eye (hint there!). But this gal, Nadia Sobehart from Washington University, wrote a 4000+ word paper which both analyzes my photograph of Times Square and me to a certain degree. This photograph is currently represented by Getty and it shows up all over the place in various ad campaigns, billboards, airport posters for cellphone service, Conan, taxicabs, etc.
It was very surreal for me to read about my work in this sort of a context. You can read the full article here, and I have placed a small excerpt below:
In “Times Square,” Ratcliff hints at a relationship between society and the media; this relationship questions the role of glamour in creating the Times Square image. Everything from the flashy advertisements to the eerie sky is in sync – picture perfect – except for the mass of people, who seem overwhelmed by the grandiosity of their surroundings. While the human eye normally fixates on the in-focus portions of a photograph, this is not true of “Times Square.” As a result of the bright distractions and movement, the eye instantaneously jumps to the billboards, the bright lights, and nearly avoids looking at the object in focus: the crowd of people. Complicating the suggestion that society has a relationship with the media, the article, “Recreating the City as Entertainment Center: The Media Industry’s Role in Transforming Potsdamer Platz and Times Square,” contrasts Ratcliff’s portrayal by indicating that it is not a negative relationship. Rebutting Ratcliff’s portrayal of the media as an encumbering force, Roost claims that there is a mutual relationship between the media industry and the Times Square community; in fact, the media industry is necessary and beneficial to the New York City community (Roost). Roost explains how the media is vital for the economic well-being of New York City, by providing jobs and a mass market, which is an idea that contradicts the photograph’s negative implications; it indicates that the media is actually helping society. Roost further establishes the media-Times Square connection acknowledged by Ratcliff by saying that the two complement each other for economic survival. While the media industry provides employment and economic progress, Times Square acts as the perfect center for the media industry, “[a] strategic [site] for these industries,” a place for it to truly prosper (Roost 3). He also introduces the role of society in this relationship: the community serves the media by acting as a consumer of its products (5). Roost’s article qualifies the relationship between Times Square and society, which is necessary to understand the photograph’s cultural context. This relationship between society and the media industry adds the modern premise for the Times Square-glamour relationship but says nothing of the historical context.
And here is the photo “Times Square”, itself:
I consider myself very lucky to have had the opportunity to shoot with some of the best photographers in the world! And these are not just the few people that are on the cutting edge of HDR… just generally good photographers and good thinkers. There are several people out there still on my list to hit! Some of you may know who you are… the others may not!
After just getting to shoot with Kris Kros in LA, I thought I would show off a few of my favorite shots from these amazing artists…
First, in no particular order, we have the great Asmundur from Iceland:
And here is Valpopando in Naples, Italy:
Here is Rebekka in Iceland:
Here is Kris Kros from LA:
And last, here is Helga, yet another from Iceland!
It was a cool night… much cooler than the 100 degree heat here in Austin this week! I stopped to take this picture on the way back to my hotel for the evening… people coming and going down by the pier.
My Tutorial is right here - I have over 16,500 unread emails - sorry but I am too swamped - but most of you ask for that tutorial, so there it is! 
