Stuck In Customs

One evening after dinner in Kyoto, I visited a unique garden that was maintained by a sect of monks in Kyoto. I understood that the best time to go was at night because they had painstakingly decorated the entire expanse with lights and unique effects. It sounded perfect for photography, so of course I had to go!

When I arrived, I had to take off my shoes at the entrance. The inside was a traditional Japanese structure, raised off the floor, covered with mats and separated by rice paper walls. The monks lived and worked inside. This was plain as I moved from room to room via darkly lit hallways. I took this photo while barefoot. Little blue lights covered the grass and shone like stars. The whole place was quite unbelievable, fun, and unexpected.

This is a photo of a strange place on South Congress. I was down at a restaurant in the area and I saw this when I was walking back to my car. As usual, I had my tripod and camera ready, so I set up for a shot. It was actually a store that sold all kinds of pop art and a lot of neon. I thought it looked cool through the frosted glass. Any of you Austinites know the name of this place?

Also, recently I had the pleasure of hanging out with RC Concepcion when he came down to Austin to host a photo-editing seminar along with Dave Cross in Austin. Here is RC’s HDR he shot here in Austin. I found out he was coming to Austin on Twitter, so we tweeted up a little get-together in a well-orchestrated 140-character tennis match. We went out to shoot the SRV statue in the rain, ate a leisurely dinner full of philosophical thoughts, and then I had him over to show him the “Stuck in Motion” video over at my home before it was released. I was happy that this guy, the know-it-all (in a good way) host of Layers TV could not even figure it out! BTW, if you are looking to bone up on all your Adobe products, be sure to watch some Layers TV or subscribe to the free video podcast in iTunes.

Here is another shot from the little video I did with Scott Kublin. He followed me around with a video camera for a while and asked me questions. It wasn’t planned or anything, but it came out pretty good! I helped him and Rick a bit with their HDR photography while we moved around Olympic Park. That link above takes you to the short version of the video. The longer one is avail in Newsletter #3 — you get a link there when you subscribe.

There is a curvy street that cuts through the middle of Olympic Park in Atlanta. It wasn’t too far from here where that bomb went off in 1996 Atlanta. I was actually there with my friend Scott Sadowski when it went off! I was not too close to the blast, so I was not in any danger… but we did hear it and see the commotion. So I was there for that bombing AND I was in NYC during 9/11 and saw the 2nd plane hit the WTC. I had meetings in the financial district that day, and we ended up getting stuck in NYC for many days while the airports were shut down. Again, I was not close enough to be in danger… But… I have a knack for being in sketchy situations, I guess!

This is where my best friend Will was “retained” by the military all day because he did not have his passport. He told me a little of his detainment. Part of it was in a bunker where he was allowed to watch a bit of Colombo dubbed in Ukrainian.

I don’t make any of this stuff up.

As for me, I got to go into the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. This was the first security gate of many that I have recently processed. I posted a full story from the Chernobyl Adventure here — there are two parts… they should make for a good Sunday read if you have not seen them before!

This is a beautiful scene from Tokyo at dusk one evening. The city is a crazy Blade-Runneresque techno-fest that is alive, foreign, and crazy-wonderful. I had a great time there and took an absolute swath of photos. I’m so excited to post all of them… but only one photo per day….! You know the rules! Hehe.

I shot this from the top of Bunkyo Towers. I took photos here during sunset before meeting up with Alfie Goodrich. He’s a great guy – an Englishman that lives in Tokyo and gives photography lessons (click on that link to see more info). Tell him I sent you! He knows all the best spots all over Tokyo, so a really recommend that you hook up with him!

Before I get started, I finally had a chance to comment (#184!) on the “The Moments Between” post from a few days ago. I’m very happy people are actively guessing and experimenting to do the same thing! I think that’s very healthy and much better than just getting an answer (but I will give an answer in the future !! ).

It reminds me of last night. I was in San Francisco with a bunch of very nice people from Peachpit, the company that is publishing the upcoming book. After Indian food, we all went out to walk the streets of San Francisco so I could give them a few tips on HDR shooting. One of the gals, holding her D60 without a tripod, was asking me about “What happens if I set the ISO down to 100?” I said. “Hmm… I wonder what would happen… Why don’t you try?” (of course I knew the answer)… but better that she finds out herself. (she did).

This photo below is from Fire Lake. Yes, I dipped my hand in. I had to! I could not resist. It was really hot. Oh god was it hot. I had to do it twice just because I couldn’t believe how hot it was the first time.

The night had been dark for many hours by the time I hiked to this point. It was raining and somehow the wetness seemed to make everything even more black. There were old and new crypts, spider webs, lonely rotting wood, creaking trees in the heavy rain, and more strange sounds from the woods. Talk about eerie! Japanese cemeteries are not places that people visit very often. It’s bad luck. Naturally, I don’t believe in any of that, so it was my good luck it was empty for photography!

Of all the spots around Kyoto, this is probably my favorite. There is an area of 1,000 Red Gates that flow up and around a picturesque little mountain. This cemetery is about halfway up the trek and it shoots off to the right. It is both great and annoying to shoot in the rain. I had to carry an umbrella, tripod, bag of camera goodies, and the like, and everything gets all jumbled up when it comes time to set up for a shot. I need an assistant! 🙂

How did I do this one? There were three exposures +1, 0, -1. Normally I do 5 from +2 to -2, but in this case, it was so dark that the shutter speeds were outrageous enough. I kept the ISO at 200. The 14-24 lens was at 15mm (on a D3X). It was aperture priority at f/5.6. The three shutter speeds were 2/4/8 seconds. If you zoom into the Original size on Flickr – you can see all kinds of details.

Here is one special thing I did on the last exposure. It was DARK out there. And I mean DARK. I had my SB-800 in my bag. On the last exposure, I ran over behind the gate to the right like Carl Lewis, and jammed the “Test” button about 5 times in every direction to light up that area. I almost slipped and died… I have no idea what a police investigator might assume if they found me in the morning.

By now, I think you all know that I like experimenting and trying new ideas. I have created something here below — I don’t know what it is. It’s not photography; it’s not video; it’s not cold scientific slow-mo with bullets through apples; it’s something else. What do you think about it? Can you help me come up with a name for it in the comments below or by sending me a Tweet? I have entitled the piece “The Moments Between, Episode 1: Japan”. Yes, that means there are more episodes coming… they take a lot of work to produce.

Is it “new photography”? I don’t know – I think some of this has been available to big movie studios with sophisticated special effects teams and the like. But this can now be done by the common man – it is inexpensive, understandable, and fun. Have ever wanted to capture something that is in between a photograph and a video? Some of those micro-moments that are important and wonderful?

How did I do it? I’ll reveal that in an upcoming video! I’m still perfecting the technique… so, just as I have done with the popular HDR Tutorial on the site, I will endeavor to put together a tutorial on “this”, whatever the name might be.

EDIT: It has been revealed on This Week in Photography… you can see everything on the “Stuck In Motion” page here on the site. Enjoy!

You can also click this link to see the HDR Photos from Japan I have published thus far.

This thing is enormous. In grinds and churns as it follows the sun. The metallic petals flex and bend with the light as the sun sweeps across the sky. I had never seen anything like it in my life.

It sits in a park and public walking area of Buenos Aires, Argentina. I walked around it for a while to get a good angle of the monster. My tripod was stuck in customs, so I had to do this one handheld… and do my best to keep the camera as stead as a T-1000.

In less than 24 hours, I will endeavor to introduce a new type of photography to you guys. I don’t have a name for it. It’s experimental. You’ll have to help me come up with a good name for the technique. People that get the Newsletter (it’s free!) will get a sneak peak tomorrow a little early.

Before I describe this photo, I would first like to thank RC Conception for the nice evening.  RC is one of the gurus over at Layers Magazine, and he came to Austin to teach a class for the Adobe Creative Suite along with Dave Cross. We met this evening at the Hilton and then we went out to shoot some HDR together before heading to a nice Italian dinner. He’s a great guy… very nice and clever. You guys can follow him on Twitter here.

RC did come over to my home for a bit to see Secret Project #133. It is loosely related to this photo below. Those of you that subscribe to the Newsletter will be the next to see… It should go out in the next few days.

The photo below was taken on my final night in Tokyo. It was rainy, cool, and perfect for street photography. It’s hard to explain HOW clean my sensor was in this photo. I had the privilege of taking it to the Nikon Headquarters in Tokyo and having the sensor cleaned by a real Japanese guy. It was a religious experience — and it only cost $10! What a deal!