This sure was a great trip! I think it was rainy and moody almost every day we were filming, but the sun finally came out at the end. It was seriously like 3 weeks with no sun… That’s okay in many ways because Venice is even more beautiful in the rain and mist to me.
Here’s one of my favorite photos just outside my hotel in Venice. I stayed here for about three weeks, so it was quite a long time to be returning to the same place every night. After about two weeks, I finally memorized most of the streets and would no longer get lost. This was the view that awaited me every night upon my return home… I took this one with the Hasselblad.
Daily Photo – Heading out for a Snorkel Near the James Bond Island
When I was staying at the Ritz-Carlton at Phulay Bay, one day we jumped into a boat and headed over to the archipelago in search of that cool island from one of the early James Bond movies. It turns out there are lots of islands that have that same look with the undercut limestone. The snorkeling is great around here and the water is always perfectly clear. Sometimes, however, when you get out into the ocean, you can see a big floating pile of trash, and that is really kind of depressing…
Heading out for a Snorkel Near the James Bond Island
Wow… Stu just informed my that my first Machine Elf video (See the Machine Elf Website here) has garnered more than 130,000 views, making it one of the most popular videos on my YouTube channel. I actually think it is the WORST of all 8 of the Machine Elf videos we have released so far, but it was the very first one. I think the music is cool, but it’s a little JARRING and not really as groovy as all the others… I don’t hate it or anything, but I’m just comparing it to my newer creations. Anyway, here it is!
Daily Photo – Late night in Abu Dhabi
The best time to get to the mosque here is just before sunset. That’s a popular time to visit the area, but also one of the best for photos. After then, people slowly start to leave before it’s almost completely empty at dark. The lighting here is so beautiful that I think the night shots rival even the sunset shots.
You know, as much as I make fun of the Hasselblad, I’m very happy with how some of the shots come out. I still do quite a bit of post-processing using Aurora and other tools, but, I have to admit… shooting in Venice at F/22 has its upside. Maybe I will try the Hasselblad again… (tents his fingers like Mr. Burns…)
I’m really looking forward to getting back to Oman to explore it some more. I absolutely loved it while I was there. Sometimes, one might expect (if you watch the news that tries to scare you all the time) that countries in the middle east don’t have the nicest people. Well, it’s just not true. And, when it comes to Oman, they might just be tied for the nicest people in the world with Japan!
Watch how this artist makes these carvings in wood… just wowsers!
Daily Photo – A Final Night in Venice
Here’s a new photo I edited from Venice. I was there for about three weeks, and it wasn’t until the last few days that I finally stopped getting lost! This was edited with Aurora HDR 2019, btw…
I was allowed to stay at this beautiful mosque after closing. This is one of the security guys that was helping to show me around. He was incredibly cool and nice. At the end, we got along so well, that we became Instagram buddies and remain so until this day! 🙂
Here’s a little video I made while we were in Oman!
Daily Photo – Family Visit in Oman
I can’t wait to go back to Oman! I’ve been to many many countries, and I can say that the people in Oman were amongst the nicest people I’ve met in my entire life. I’ve also noticed that the nicer the people in a culture, the more they are happy with you taking photos. This is not that surprising of a corollary, but an important one to note.
By the way, this is not a picture of MY family in Oman.
I recommend getting this plugin for your browser! It’s saved me from making a ton of errors. I noticed recently that if you are trying to use it in Google Docs, I had to re-install it to get a popup and ask me if I wanted to join the beta test for checking Google Docs. My new book is over 360 pages, so it’s really melting down their servers!
Daily Photo – First Shot with the Hasselblad H5D
This is not a new photo, but it’s one I took about two or three years ago as soon as I got that Hasselblad. Nice, eh? I was still trying to figure out the camera, as the behavior was quite a bit different than my Sony. So I spent a day traveling around the South Island here in New Zealand to try using the camera in a lot of different conditions. I took this over near Jack’s Point in Queenstown.
