Stuck In Customs

Strange Things I’ve Seen/Done so Far Here:

I like to do my best to give timely updates when I am off on a photo adventure…. so while I am here in Iceland for about two weeks, I wanted to pop in on occasion with some new stuff!

• Got my metal tripod stuck in an electric fence for 11 seconds.  That was 11 long seconds of shocks…  (was meant to keep the sheep in and photographers out)
• Received a wake-up call at 8 PM
• Took photos behind a waterfall at 3 AM
• Avoided a dive-bombing bird who was upset at me for some reason
• Found two caves
• Drove for 3 hours without seeing another car

Daily Photo – Trey in Hot Water

In some spots, this water is like a lukewarm bath.  In other places, it’s like falling in fresh magma.  I wish I could get some place that’s right in between…. you know… about the temperature of a molten lava cake.

The water is a strange, but natural, light-blue color.   Really, milky-white is a more apt desciption.  The edges of the water are black lava rock, and the water laps up on it, giving it a fine white stain all around the outside.

The whole time I was in here, I kept thinking this must be good for my skin…. removing toxins or something… that’s what they say, but who really knows.  Conceivably, it could be inserting more toxins into my body.

There is a fine silica there that you can spread all over to make a little mud mask. I didn’t really do a full mud mask since I’m not a woman.

The Problem With PhotoWalks

I really enjoy leading PhotoWalks… I try to do my best to get around and talk to everyone. The biggest problem is simply that I don’t have time to get to know everyone as much as I would like! I can tell after meeting people that these are some interesting people…and we would probably have many things to discuss!

During the San Clemente one below, many people stayed after for a little pizza party. That was great fun and I did get to talk to people a little bit more in depth.

Daily Photo – Another Beautiful California Night

Here is photo from the very fun and engaging Photowalk in San Clemente, California.

Do you guys know who David Arkenstone is? He’s a musician that has done a few songs I’m sure you’ve heard. I’ve listened to some of his music for the last 5+ years, and I was SHOCKED when he showed up at the photowalk.  He enjoys photography and was a closet-fan of the site!

Even better, he brought me a bag full of CDs! How cool! Luckily, after that, I had a long road trip all the way up to San Francisco — I was able to listen to his CDs and just chill out… I was very happy (and felt lucky!) to meet him in person.

My family of course. But, after I have that, why not ask for a few more goodies? It’s good to have hobbies to keep us productive, after all…

So, here is a great list of…

Photo Toys and Gifts for Father’s Day

Some of this stuff I have… some of this stuff I want.  Either way, it’s a great list of goodies!  If you want more, see my full list of HDR Camera recommendations or Photography Gadgets.

The Awesome Green Cube – Approx $7 See Amazon’s current pricing – The Green Cube Everyone Asks Me About Mini Review – This is a clear, greenish 3-D bubble level.  I use it almost all the time and people always ask me about it.  It’s useful and cool-lookin’.  Even better than a fish-tie.

HyperMac Portable Battery – $199 and up See latest pricing – HyperMac Battery Page Mini Review – If dad has an iPhone, iPad, or Mac laptop, chances are one or all three are always running out of batteries!  This is a fantastic extra battery that powers all three.  I keep one in my bag all the time.  More than handy!

A Very Good Camera for HDR Shooting (or any kind of photography, really) The Nikon D90 – Approx $700-$900 See Amazon’s current pricing – Nikon D90 Body Only with No Lens See B&H’s current pricing – Nikon D90 Body Only with No Lens The Nikon D90 with Excellent Starter Lens – 18-105mm – Approx $1,100 See Amazon’s current pricing – Nikon D90 with excellent starter lens See B&H’s current pricing – Nikon D90 with excellent starter lens Mini Review – I recommend this wonderful camera because it does auto-bracketing, can hold a variety of lenses, and is an amazing camera now and for the future.  You’ll be able to have this be your main body as you slowly build up a collection of lenses in the future, as you get to better know your camera.

The Nikon Lens Coffee Cup – $40 and up, depending on auction price See Latest Prices on Ebay – Lens Coffee Cup – All Mini Review – How could not this be the best thing ever? I can’t think of anything more ridiculous or wonderful!

Daily Photo – My Camera in Tokyo

As you saw in the video a few days ago, I did a lot of night photography in Tokyo. Since I now often carry around two cameras, I sometimes use my second to take a photo of the first! Sometimes, I’m doing timelapse stuff which can take a looooooong time… so I get bored and start taking pictures of taking pictures!

I also included this because it has that green cube thingy mentioned above!

The Awesome Green Cube Everyone Asks Me About

OnOne Software Now Ready for CS5 OnOne Software has a new release out to make their cool plugin work with CS5. It’s really sharp, and I’ve been using it to process a bunch of photos. In fact, I just processed exactly 26 photos using OnOne. I’ll be releasing them in a special piece next week that I think you will enjoy! You can see one of those mysterious 26 over on the right… if you can figure out where that is, I’ll be super impressed! (And it will ruin my whole story!) If you want to pick up a copy, use the OnOne Coupon Code of STUCKINCUSTOMS to save the most money. You can buy and download immediately from the onOne Store I have a lot more information in the full OnOne Plugin review. I look forward to adding these 26 new images to that review soon!

Sleeping days and staying up all night in Iceland

I’m going to be trying something a little different this time. I’m here for about two weeks on a fun photo adventure. June is when the Summer Solstice is, and all the days around the have non-stop daylight. So, I’m going to try sleeping during the day from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. or so… And then stay up all “night” taking photos. There should be a 7 hour sunset followed by 7 hour sunrise! I’m so excited!

I don’t know what kind of Internet access while out in the fjords, so I have some really cool and exciting stuff queued up for y’all.

Here is a collection of my favorite Iceland photos from previous trips… You’ll see why I came back!

Video on YouTube – Japan: Heartbeats of Time

A little tweety birdy told me that smooth operator Frederick Van mentioned this video on This Week in Photography. So, I thought I would use the YouTube occasion to bump it back to the top!

If you want to know how I did this, visit the Stuck In Motion page.

So, I have a dumb question for all you video-smarties out there! I first put this video on Vimeo. By default, it has HD and seems to produce a smooth, HD signal. YouTube, on the other hand, has a more tricky HD Embed option. When I choose it, YouTube tries to force it to 1300 pixels wide, which is wider than this page. I’d be happy with 900 across. Any ideas?

Daily Photo – Traditional Japanese Woman in Tokyo

A few weeks ago I said I was working on some tips and tricks for taking photos of people. I haven’t forgotten about that promise! I’ve just been super-busy. And now I will be in Iceland for about two weeks… but it is still on my to-do list!

Japan is of course a great place to take photos of people… and, if you are like me (I suspect you are, since you are a regular), you like watching people. It’s especially nice to watch people when they look a little different and their mannerisms vary slightly from what we expect. Making that whole experience even more intense is the pure fun of trying to capture a whole person with a single photo.

Tokyo was full of all sorts of pedestrians. Most of them are modern — or, rather, neo-modern. They sport the latest fashions and are as flamboyant as any nation that is comfortable with itself. But, on occasion, you see a traditional Japanese woman gliding through the streets. These sorts of anachronisms are wonderful subjects.

You may also notice her traditional two-toed shoes.  I wore these a lot inside ryokan — the big toe goes into the first slot and the rest of your nonsense toes go into the other part.  They’re a bit like mittens… strange but quite comfy.  How she kept hers dry and clean in the wet streets remains a mystery!

What Projects Am I Working On?

I am working on more cool stuff than I can talk about!

But, upcoming, I do have a full comparison of the new Photomatix (see the current Photomatix Review) and the Adobe CS5 Photoshop HDR stuff. I’ve been doing massive testing, as you might expect… and I am trying to put together something cogent for release soon. But, very briefly, so far Photomatix is faster and better with my recommended workflow.

Do you primarily use a Mac to edit your photos? If so, then check out Aurora HDR Pro! I worked with Macphun for over a year to build the ultimate HDR software!

Upcoming in the near future, I have a very long-form article about a wonderful adventure in Hollywood. It is taking forever to put together and is quite different from the usual post… but I think you will like it!

Besides all that, I’ve also been working on a huge new art project that I hope to display to you in the next few weeks. You guys may hate it… I dunno… I guess we’ll see. I’ve received too much rejection in life to worry about it, so I’ll just float it out there and see what you think!

Daily Photo – Kea Campers in New Zealand

While I was in New Zealand, I got up close and personal with my Kea Camper.  That thing was my home for almost a month, and my wife, two kids, and I lived the heck out of it.  Before the trip, I did a lot of research to find the best one… I wasn’t disappointed.  In fact, I liked it so much, I grabbed a bunch of pics of it!  I’ll add them to the New Zealand Campers page in a bit. I will also add a bunch more information on there about suggested routes, tips, tricks, and more. I’ve been meaning to do that for a while… can’t find the time.

Also, the Kea Campers people know about me and the site – they wanted to offer you a special deal. Just mention STUCKINCUSTOMS when you reserve, and you’ll get all free camping equipment! Cool deal, eh?

I put a few things about the “Camper Van” experience on that page… the good and the bad. The best part? The kids having a blast in their “Clubhouse” upstairs above the driver. The worst part? Getting that beast up curvy, tight, uphill mountains… that caused a bit of unnecessary stress!

My Best Tweet Ever

Some of you follow me on Twitter to get regular useful and useless updates throughout the day. Sometimes I check back to see which tweets get “ReTweeted” the most. By far, the best tweet ever was:

@TreyRatcliff This guy traveled the world in the early 1900s & captured it all in COLOR http://bit.ly/apc4MK

If you follow me, I promise never to tell you when I am standing in line at a coffee shop. I try to do 33% inspirational tweets about interesting art and cultural finds, 33% connecting people with others, and 33% links to my own personal latest works. The last 1% is “Wildcard” (said in the Charlie voice from It’s Always Sunny).

Daily Photo – Aerophilia

Is aerophilia a word? Probably not. People that are really into planes probably have a very specific word for this, and the “wrong” word probably really irritates them… so I apologize in advance.

This wondrous place is the new Air and Space Museum in DC. I thought I knew a lot about planes until I got here. I would recognize this and that, but the whole gestalt of the place was completely overwhelming. Overwhelming in an awesome way, of course.

I only took the Nikon D3S in here (see my Nikon D3S Review) because they would not allow tripods. The D3S is so much better at quick shots with low noise. All of my HDRs in here were handheld, so I had to be sure that I took the photos quickly and with very little noise.

Free Breakout Session at Vanelli’s Workshop!

I’m giving away a few goodies at Vanelli’s Workshop.

• All members of his workshop get a free copy of my new Workflow eBook
• One lucky winner will get to attend a free breakout session with Randy Van Duinen

To sign up and see if you are winner, visit Vanelli’s Workshop page!  Now, that session will be in St. Augustine, Florida… so I suggest that you only register if you are in that immediate area.

Daily Photo – Mikimoto

It wasn’t until my third trip to Tokyo that I finally got to explore more of Ginza. It’s a pretty high-toned area that is filled with the best of the best. Every elite store you can think of is fully represented, and the designers have pulled out all the stops to make sure they get noticed.

Although not on the main street, this amazing Mikimoto store grabbed my eye. I walked around the building a few times to find an interesting angle and shot away!