Stuck In Customs

Isn’t this just the perfect kind of place to take this sort of photo? I say it is! I almost don’t even know what to say about this place, and anything I say about it would only take away from it!

The only interesting thing about this is that I was in a tremendous hurry to take this shot and get to another destination. I think I had literally 45 seconds to take the shot. I prepared for it… got all the camera settings right, ran into what I felt was the perfect spot, ripped off some shots, then got right back on the road. Afterward, naturally, I was happy to see that everything worked out as expected.

Usually, I like to sneak up to the roof of buildings to get the best shots.  But, every now and then, my best plans are foiled by locked doors and surly security guards.  My charms fail at some point, and I am stuck shooting out of my hotel room window. The only advantage is that I don’t have to freeze in 10 degree howling wind while waiting for the light to hit its apogee of beauty.

This was just about the prettiest part of the day, especially since I had to spend the rest of it staring at morose lawyers.

One thing we always ask for, as part of the deal, is for the companies to send us a copy of the final product. So we get several of these kinds of things a week, and it is always cool! I get excited and giddy to see my work used in creative ways across many mediums. Here is one we recently got of a poetry book that used on of my Indonesian pics on the cover. I put the orig below, along with a few other shots from that temple.

I end up throwing all of this stuff into these giant boxes in my office. I don’t know what I will do with them! They just kinda pile up… I should have a giveaway some day! 🙂

Daily Photo: Another Sunset in Austin

I think many people in Austin know this place!

There is a cliff wall that can be traversed up the side on an easy trail that overlooks the 360 bridge. It’s always a beautiful place to come see the sunset over the Colorado. I walked up here a few nights ago when I had the feeling that a good sunset was coming (it’s in my bones now). There’s also this oddly-shaped tree up there all by its lonesome, and I felt like it should be included too.

You know, I was just realizing that I spent a nice part of last summer digging up dinosaurs with Jack Horner in the badlands of Montana, and I’ve hardly posted any photos!

Well, now we are starting to get a “bit” closer to the dinosaurs… Here we are, descending down through the sandstones of time into the belly of the beast. Just a few more feet down, and we are getting into the cretaceous. Getting from the top to the bottom is a little treacherous, but I find it helps to follow a smart paleontologist when trying to figure out the best way to traverse the mudstones.

Not too far from here, I picked up a hadrosaur vertebrae, which I now keep here on my desk at home, among a panoply of other 90 million year old dinosaur fossils that I was lucky enough to find.

I’ve said this to a few people while talking about this place, but I’m not sure anyone believes me. This is the slipperiest place in the world. It’s completely unbelievable. I don’t know how many people die here every year, but it’s gotta be a high number. The ice is already slick, but when the mist from the waterfall settles on top of it, there is some eerie superconductivity achieved and then all frictional bets are off.

I did slip down onto my back at one point. It was pretty jarring, since I put 99% of my effort into saving my camera! Thank goodness it was a flat part… because if it was slanted, there was only one direction I would have slid.

This is the Gulfoss waterfall in Iceland. It’s pretty intense… and I don’t really recommend getting too close in the winter, in case you could not sense the trepidation before…

I was barefoot like the rest of them.

The day must have been around 95 degrees and as stuffy as can be, but the cool marble seemed to keep me from being drenched in sweat. After a long walk, I had finally made it to the inner core of the Taj Mahal, around the main tomb structure where pilgrims from all over the country had gravitated. The faithful coiled in long lines and snaked their way around the complex, waiting patiently to reflect at the megamausoleum and communing with the god of their choice. How could a billion people be wrong?

When I travel, I actually always enjoy talking to Indians (or whoever) about their religion. Here is a little thing I do… I’m not sure it’s totally ethical since I say the same thing over and over, but I enjoy seeing people’s reaction as a probe a panoply of personalities. Inevitably, when I’m in a taxi or man-powered trike-mobile, there is some sort of deity that is jiggling about on the dashboard or handlebars. It can be anyone from Shiva to Brahma to Vishnu to Krishna to Ganesha and beyond.

So, I always ask, “Who is the god to whom you pay reverence?”

They respond quickly and directly, usually naming one from of the top ten from the pantheon of possibilities.

I respond back, in all seriousness, “Oh! He is a very powerful god!”

To this, they always turn to me and nod gravely.

My guide there was from no from one of the traditional Hindu sects — he was a Jain. The Jain don’t recognize the divine origins of the Vedas (made popular in the US from Oppenheimer’s re-quote after testing the Bomb), nor do they believe in any one supreme deity. They instead revere Tirthankaras who have raised themselves to divine perfection. So anyway, if you ever try out the little trick above, don’t bother with a Jain because they will just give you a funny look and a wobble of inconsequential solitude.

So if any of you get the chance to go, I recommend it.  The people are all nice as can be and very eager to engage in conversation about just about everything.  Or, of you’ve already been, then you know what I mean!

By the way, this comes from my new Lucis Tutorial.

These old tractors are always interesting to photograph. I don’t know why! I really have no penchant for tractors one way or another, but they have a nice feeling about them for some reason, especially with a pastoral scene in the background… like a cabin with smoke coming out of the chimney. And just in case that chimney runs out of firewood, there seems to be a bit extra right around here somewhere…. now where did I put that extra bolt of wood?

My last downtown photo of Dallas went over pretty well, so here is another from a different perspective.  This is shot from the south side of Dallas, which is rarely seen since most of the commercial development is immediately to the north side of the city.  I see this perspective a lot when driving up from Austin on regular trips up to the city.  On the last trip, we were able to have a bit of extra time to go visit some of the Impressionist works at the museum here in downtown.  It was nice to make it there after dodging all the modern art that just takes up a lot of space.  I’m sure that’s sort of a heretical thing to say, for someone so deep into the digital mediums, but I find most modern art to be inane.  Any piece of modern art that requires a douche in a black turtleneck to describe what I am seeing is something that probably simply represents two minutes of my life I will never get back.  Anyway, I’m sure some people like it… that’s fine… just not for me.

I’ll be sure to add some of my favorite Impressionist paintings in the next iteration of the “Things That Inspire Me” area of the site!

Hey I know everyone comes here for photography, and primarily HDR photography at that!  Well, this is “kinda” photography, in that it is, technically, a photo.  The only thing more recursive is if I would have made a drawing of me taking a photo of this drawing, but, of course, I’d have to take a photo of that to so I could get it on the blog.

Normally, I hate to show work-in-progress.  It kind of takes the magic out of it a bit, you know?  Maybe not.  I remember a few days ago at the talk, I forgot to tell the crowd, “Okay look, this all may be a real disappointment to you all when you see how it is done!  Sometimes the best part of magic is not seeing the steps betwixt!”  But, oh well… it was a pretty techy crowd, and they like hangin’ out in Photoshop too…  It’s all good.

As you guys know, I think drawing is a nice way to help out with photography a bit…  I think it certainly helps you to notice things.  I mention a bit about that in an article here on the site (in case you missed it) called “10 Principles of Beautiful Photography“.