The amazing team over at Origin PC custom-built me a new PC! I was soooooo excited to receive it! Here is my rather random and silly unboxing video. It’s probably the WORST unboxing video they have ever asked someone to do. But, nevertheless, I finally got it done and I absolutely love the system.

This machine is screamingly fast, and it was a great move to put my main Lightroom library on here. It’s great to have my ~800K photos all in one place with no external drives (except for backups). And the speed… the SPEED! It’s so fast that not even the sloppy programming of Adobe Lightroom can slow it down!

Here’s the 360 video of the unboxing (you can move the camera around). I’ll put the specs below!

ORIGIN PC M-Class Desktop (Black)

• 850W EVGA SuperNOVA G3 PSU
• Blue Individually Sleeved Cables
• Supermicro X11SRM-F Motherboard
• Intel Xeon W-2145 8-Core 3.7GHz (4.5GHz TurboBoost)
• ASUS ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
• 64GB SUPERMICRO DDR4 2666MHz ECC Registered (2 x 32GB)
• MS Windows 10 Pro
• 500GB Samsung 860 EVO Series SSD
• 1TB Samsung 860 EVO Series SSD
• 12TB BarraCuda Pro Seagate SSHD
• 12TB BarraCuda Pro Seagate SSHD
• …and some LED lighting.

Africa and India Workshops

We’re loosely planning a workshop for India! Stay tuned to our workshops page to see what we have in store for you! 🙂

Daily Photo – The Hills

There are about a dozen perfect little ponds around The Hills golf course. Most of the time, they have perfect reflections as well. Michael Hill has been trying to talk me into making a full set of photos for the golf course, but I’ve been pretty busy lately. Maybe I’ll get around to it… it’s not a terrible idea!

The Hills

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2018-05-03 16:35:46
• CameraILCE-7RM3
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/400
• Aperture7.1
• ISO250
• Focal Length32.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

Next Trip to Japan

I’m in the middle of planning one right now! This time I’m going to try to visit more places in the deeper part of the south… I may start with Hiroshima. I’ve heard it’s really beautiful and there are a few interesting things to see from the war. I wonder how long the radiation stayed around… it could not have been that long because it’s totally clear now. I thought radiation would hang around for hundreds of years, but it wasn’t that big of a bomb. Well, I mean, it was big, but not like the ones we have today. I need to look this up!

Daily Photo – Kobe, Japan

I had one extra day at the end of the Japanese tour, and I decided to visit a new place I had never visited before: Kobe. It was another awesome Japanese town, although I didn’t get to spend a lot of time there. You can see another town there in the distance across the way. That’s actually Sakai, which is near Osaka, and I was there a few weeks early to watch a blacksmith craft swords and knives using the old traditions.

Kobe, Japan

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2017-11-12 10:16:01
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1
• Aperture6.3
• ISO100
• Focal Length122.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

A New Photography Podcast

There’s a new podcast kicking about that is made by Derrick Story of Skylum fame. It’s called “The Nimble Photographer” and I was on a recent episode which you can hear here!

In it, we discuss one of my more successful photography based business ideas, including how reading about a stuffed shark led me to working out how a fine art business could succeed.

Daily Photo – Abandoned Ships in the South China Sea

Now I’m not technically sure these are abandoned, but they probably are. This is near Sanya, which is an island off the SE coast of China. I flew my drone over about 50 of these ships and got in close. There was definitely nobody aboard the ships, and they don’t appear to be terribly seaworthy. If anyone else has more info on these, let me know!

Abandoned Ships in the South China Sea

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2018-03-19 18:27:25
• CameraFC220
• Camera MakeDJI
• Exposure Time1/470
• Aperture2.2
• ISO100
• Focal Length4.7 mm
• FlashNo flash function
• Exposure ProgramProgram AE
• Exposure Bias

Live on Video on Facebook

I should do more of these! Here’s one from a few weeks ago when I went live on Facebook to stream my screen while editing some photos. (If you click through to Facebook you can read the comments.)

Daily Photo – Kuala Lumpur from the Traders Hotel Bar

I think the bar on the top of the Traders Hotel has the best view of the Petronas Towers. I tried a few other rooftop bars in the area, but this one is still the best. While I was there, you can see that dark, foreboding Four Seasons hotel on the right. Maybe it wasn’t open yet? I can only imagine that because not many lights are on and the sign on top is not lit up.

Kuala Lumpur from the Traders Hotel Bar

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2018-03-30 02:04:27
• CameraILCE-7RM3
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time4
• Aperture2.8
• ISO160
• Focal Length16.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias+2

I’m Behind This Book

It’s kind of fun to check Amazon Best Seller Rankings for my new book. We are #1 in a few categories, but definitely not OVERALL Kindle rankings, which are full of some Rather Silly Sounding romance books. For example, my book is many slots behind, “The Benefits of Bad Decisions,” which has the following description:

After a bad decision lands me a role on a reality show, I expect it to be my big break as a TV star. Despite getting kicked off the first night, I land on my feet again when a talent agent who saw the show offers me an audition as back-up dancer for a popular rock band.

Knowing this could be my stepping stone is exciting, but the real thrill is watching Brody bang on his drums every night. It’s a bad idea for a dancer to hook up with a band member, but after he kisses me, I can’t stay away.

Facing the consequences was inevitable, and it only takes one scandalous mistake from my past to cause our complete destruction.

Bad decision or not, I always manage to come out on top… until I don’t.

Woman that Can Smell Parkinson’s

Not 100% of my time on reddit is wasted. It’s more like 99%, with this very interesting article as the 1% exception.

Daily Photo – White Sand Beaches in Florida

I didn’t know Florida had white sand beaches! I don’t know why it’s that surprising, I suppose… I just had never heard of it. I can’t imagine how many millions of years it takes for the ocean to beat down quartz rocks into this fine, powdery sand. Can anyone guess exactly what beach this is?

White Sand Beaches in Florida

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2018-01-21 09:18:06
• CameraILCE-7RM3
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/500
• Aperture9
• ISO400
• Focal Length43.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

#1 on Amazon!

Hey thanks everyone for getting the new book! You helped get it to #1 in its category!! 🙂 It’s officially released now, and you can get the paperback version if you want that too. 🙂

Jim Gaffigan Comedy Special

Make sure you check out his new special on Netflix. This guy cracks me up…

Daily Photo – The Pantheon

Here’s the Pantheon in Rome. It’s hard to believe this building is 2,000 years old! I edited this single RAW photo using Aurora HDR 2019. This is an old photo, from probably over eight years ago. I still have SO MANY unprocessed photos, and it’s fun to go back to them now and process them using new tools.

The Pantheon

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2016-01-19 19:20:31
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/60
• Aperture4
• ISO1600
• Focal Length11.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-0.7

Working on a sequel!

I’m excited to be working on a new project. It’s really quite tough and takes a ton of time. Anyway, this is the first “test” version I did a little over a year ago…

Daily Photo – Lupin Party!

These are my favorite sort of pest. Kiwis definitely call anything not from New Zealand a “pest,” probably including even me. There’s an area between Lindis Pass and Tekapo where you see millions of these off the side of the road. This looks like a “normal” landscape but it is actually a quadcopter panorama!

Lupin Party!

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2018-12-21 12:55:04
• CameraFC2204
• Camera MakeDJI
• Exposure Time1/400
• Aperture3.8
• ISO100
• Focal Length8.6 mm
• FlashNo Flash
• Exposure ProgramProgram AE
• Exposure Bias

For Passport Members, as special Tokyo Travel Vid Full of Tips!

If you’re a Passport member then today you get one of the coolest videos I’ve ever made! It took about a week to make this, shooting all over Tokyo, and I hope you enjoy it!

Awesome Tokyo Video!

Here’s a special treat for you! You get to follow me around Tokyo for a while and find out more about my mission there, creating order from the chaos!

Exclusive content for Passport members

Unlock Now

Daily Photo – The Chaos of Tokyo

Here’s one of the photos we’ll be releasing in Series 2 of the fine art collection. It’s one of my favorites of Tokyo because you can’t really tell it’s Tokyo!

The Chaos of Tokyo

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2017-11-03 01:10:21
• CameraX1D
• Camera MakeHasselblad
• Exposure Time6
• Aperture8
• ISO100
• Focal Length45.0 mm
• Flash
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias-4/3

Red Dead Redemption 2

I still give this game my absolute highest recommendation. I’ve played a ton of video games on consoles, and this one may be my absolute favorite!

Daily Photo – Autumn in Kyoto

Japanese people tend to be very close to nature. That’s part of their Shintoism, which basically equates nature with being closer to the eternal. I certainly don’t disagree with that! And this is why you see so many Japanese people out in nature, spending times with trees. During the cherry blossom season, whole families will stake out a Sakura and sit under it all day long.

Autumn in Kyoto

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2017-11-07 17:18:50
• CameraX1D
• Camera MakeHasselblad
• Exposure Time1/180
• Aperture3.5
• ISO100
• Focal Length30.0 mm
• Flash
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias-1/3