Stuck In Customs » Travel

Another Sunday in Iceland

tratcliff — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 17:25:19 +0000

This is a really nice little church by a graveyard in the south of Iceland. It was pretty much out in the middle of nowhere, as you can tell. The gate with the cross on the top leads to a tiny and lonely graveyard.

Infinite Fence to the Mountains

tratcliff — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:33:47 +0000

These ranch fences went on and on… I probably could have stopped anywhere to take this shot — it looked equally long no matter where you stood!

By the way, it is impossible to get an extended tripod through those slats, so don’t even think about it.

The Towers of Angkor Thom

tratcliff — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 04:18:23 +0000

This is a temple not too far from the main one at Angkor Wat. I noticed it was about 95 degrees while at the first temple, and a very cool 94 degrees while here. Also, there was a wonderful 1 MPH breeze that I detected for a few seconds.

As I changed lenses, I think I lost about a liter of sweat down into the inner chamber… that couldn’t have been good for the old Nikon.

Turning a Blind Eye

tratcliff — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 04:35:00 +0000

I must have walked 10 miles in Jogjakarta that day. There were so many things to see… interesting people, clothes, etc etc. I saw this guy a few times, and I decided to take a shot on the third time. He regarded me with a cool one-eyed stare and didn’t give much reaction one way or the other. I’m pretty good at getting the vibe if someone does not want their photo taken… I got no vibe from him. Actually, I got no vibe at all.

The Dragon Gate in Malacca

tratcliff — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 05:21:57 +0000

The little streets of Malacca had all sorts of interesting temples and stores full of antiques and curios. I don’t normally talk about curios in such high regard. Curios in other countries always seem better than curios in your own country. And thus, we end this diatribe on curios.

To my friends in Iceland!

tratcliff — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:23:50 +0000

I’m sorry to hear about all the financial woes there… Maybe things will get better. I think they should get that economist from CCP (the ones that make Eve-Online… not the Chinese Communist Party, which might have questionable economists), to run the banking system for a while.

Here are a few of my lesser-known Icelandic pictures to remind them of all the pretty things there…that don’t cost any money to see.

The caged Buddhas look outward towards the sunrise

tratcliff — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 02:54:17 +0000

Each of these “bells” is really a stone cage that houses a seated Buddha statue, facing outwards. At this time in the morning, you can take little flashlights and peer inside the cages. It’s all very eerie and fun…

In the distance, you can see a few volcanoes poking through the mist.

The sun sets over the mountains

tratcliff — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:21:19 +0000

I checked the sweet internet earlier in the day to see exactly what time sunset was in Yellowstone. I have the sunrise/sunset website bookmarked, which is kinda strange, maybe… Anyway, It said 7:03 or something like that. I knew full well that it means the exact moment when the sun dips below the horizon, so the sun really “sets” about 30 minutes before that… but that didn’t help me get into the right position to see the sun right before it dipped below the mountains.

Luckily, there was a fine band of yellow sky lit up above the mountains, reflecting across the Madison River.

A Blindingly Beautful Sunrise

tratcliff — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 21:56:44 +0000

I could hardly figure out where to look first! I was happy to have a second pair of eyes there with my camera, so I could look at one thing while the lens and attached remote looked at something else! Every 10 minutes the clouds moved and the light changed, creating a different scene as I snapped away in bliss.

You can feel the morning humidity hanging on the air over the lagoon. It was a little after 5 in the morning at Angkor Wat, and a small Cambodian girl had brought me a little chair to sit down in by the water. She also brought coffee and condensed milk, refilling me every 20 minutes or so. I think the chair and the coffee was the the best $2 I ever spent!

The Private Entrance

tratcliff — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 03:32:09 +0000

This red-stoned temple had hundreds of tiny rooms scattered all over the grounds. The light streamed in from many angles to light up the walls and carved details. I only wish I was around 1000 years ago with my anachronistic digital camera… that would have been good, except for the no flickr part.

The Cubes of Mystery

tratcliff — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 04:44:29 +0000

They aren’t really cubes, and they are not really that mysterious, but the words taken together, especially in reference to something that is not cubic or mysterious, are tantalizingly mysterious.

Securing the Icelandic Chopper at Dusk

tratcliff — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 04:24:40 +0000

The night I first arrived into Reykjavik, I only had a few minutes of light before the darkness. I soon discovered that the final deep blue before dark lasts about an hour in Iceland. I am quite sure they take it for granted, because I saw it every night and everyone was going on about their business, not taking notice… Over by the docks, I found these four guys securing the blades on this helicopter for the evening.

The Lightning Temple

tratcliff — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 03:58:20 +0000

This was one scary place in a storm. I can’t overstate that. The whole place felt alien and ancient… there was hardly anyone at this remote temple, and then pretty much everyone left when the storm hit. Between squalls, I took some quick shots as the sun went down, using a rainsleeve over my camera to try to keep it as dry as possible.

The Majesty (my largest photo ever)

tratcliff — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 03:11:17 +0000

This is one of the largest pieces I have ever made; the giant TIFF is about 21,000 pixels across (this one I uploaded is only 15,000 pixels across and has been downgraded to JPEG to fit inside the draconian upload requirements). I shot it one cool and crisp morning at Glacier National Park in this crystal clear lake that is fed by glacial runoff. It is comprised of 90 different photos that took a small eternity to mix together into an epic HDR. I’ve been thinking about having a 10-foot mural printed at walk-up resolution… but I am not quite sure where I would put it!

If you click on the shot, you can go to the Flickr site. From there, you can click on ALL SIZES to get to the largest size to see the detail, should you be so inclined!

Also, for those of you that are interested in learning more about HDR and this kind of photography, I have a tutorial up in this area of my blog, which you might enjoy.

As the light changes in Indonesia

tratcliff — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 04:48:13 +0000

I have been working on a new batch of shots from Indonesia which will be coming up soon, but in the meantime I was looking at how dramatically the light changed on one day I was there in particular. These two shots below are from different parts of the country… One was taken around 3 PM and the second was taken around 7 PM.

On the Road to Somewhere

tratcliff — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:19:23 +0000

After an accident on an ATV, I was stuck on this road for a long time while waiting to for rescue. Luckily, the camera and tripod were uninjured and the time I was waiting for happened to be sunset. There are worse things in life than this!

A Delicate Morning

tratcliff — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 04:34:55 +0000

The morning in Indonesia seemed to change every 5 minutes from blue to pink to purple then back to blue again. I could hardly figure out where to point… Framing these Buddhas in the bells at Borobudur was a fun exercise in composition and patterns.

The Lonely Cabin

tratcliff — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 05:07:55 +0000

In the middle of a hot summer day, a lonely cabin by a fence sits quietly in the sun. I hiked near and far to find nice little places like this scattered all around.

Saturday

tratcliff — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 04:44:44 +0000

My son Ethan hits the soccer field every Saturday morning. Yesterday I grabbed this one of him sitting with his friend Zach, who I coached last year. He’s a good player that responds well to a bit of good coaching… like most kids, methinks… However, this year I am happy to be behind the lens rather than behind the lines.

The Shrine of Offering

tratcliff — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 02:11:07 +0000

This was found on Lamma Island, just a short ferry ride from Hong Kong. I wanted to get out of the hustle and bustle of the city for a while, and this quiet little island had some very quaint little shrines like this.

The Red Palacial Tower

tratcliff — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 05:18:29 +0000

Here within the sprawling palace of Akbar, just outside of Agra, is another intricately designed tower. The redness of everything was even hotter in the Indian sun, and the deep textures bled through.

A solitary walk to Angkor in the thick morning fog and moisture

tratcliff — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 03:09:13 +0000

I arrived about 4:30 AM and was alone except for a few monks that were moving about, preparing for their morning offerings. The mist and humidity hung thick in the air, and you can really feel it in this shot. The whole scene was 200% dreamy, and the thick layer of fog made it impossible for my eyes or camera to focus on anything except for the impressionist vision itself.

Hollywood and the El Capitan Theater

tratcliff — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:38:36 +0000

This is a cool part of Hollywood with a lot of activity and interesting people-watching. I do very much enjoy sitting stil with my camera and watching hundreds of interesting-people walk by, and it’s even better when there is a surreal background. In the distance there is the famous El Capitan Theater. You might have to click on ALL SIZES to get to the larger size to see it in detail.

The Overgrowth in the Cambodian Ruins

tratcliff — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 04:18:07 +0000

This was one of my favorite temples in Cambodia. The various restoration foundations left this temple largely untouched, and they allowed the jungle growth to continue winding its way into the ancient stones. I also liked that there was hardly anyone around, leaving me to explore it in relative peace.

Boston on the Fringe of Sunset

tratcliff — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 05:13:52 +0000

Boston is a great place. It was a hot day, but things cooled down a little as the sun dropped down behind downtown for sunset.

After the Opera

tratcliff — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 04:40:54 +0000

It was a perfect, although slightly cool, evening as everyone was streaming out of the theater. It seemed like the sort of thing that someone should be taking a picture of… so I am glad I was there to do it!

Hindu Daily Offerings

tratcliff — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 01:43:28 +0000

I was at a small temple between Agra and Delhi, and spent some time there, walking around and enjoying the sights and the people. Soon, some of these elders came along to make their daily offerings. I nodded to them with the camera, and I got a happy bobble back, so I followed them around a bit with the camera as they glided around the temple.

Indonesian Girl with Hat

tratcliff — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 04:16:31 +0000

This girl had traveled from a remote part of Indonesia to visit Borobudur. She had never seen a white guy in person before… I told her that I might be kind of a disappointment since I am a fairly average white guy. She saw the freckles on my arm and asked if I had a disease…

Louis and the Ferris Wheel

tratcliff — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:40:54 +0000

I always wanted a good ferris wheel shot! It’s surprisingly hard to shoot these things. You would assume that it’s just a slam dunk with a long exposure and spinning lights… but it’s not that easy! I’ve thrown away hundreds… until finally it worked out magically one night in Lyon.

A Tiny Mall in Hong Kong

tratcliff — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:07:58 +0000

The Chinese love to shop. I can say no more.