I’m usually too busy in these cities to go for a swim, since I’m running around with my hair on fire taking photos. I often think, gee willickers, I should really have a swim and a relax. But I almost never do! If I have a little extra time, I try to hit the gym, which I enjoy more than swimming. Now that I think about it, I don’t really like swimming much at all. But I do like playing in the pool with my kids!
Here’s a clip from the recent Joe Rogan podcast with Michael Pollan about his new book called “The is Your Brain on Plants.” Back when I named the new company “Machine Elf” it was a super niche word only known to a few that have ever seen them or at least heard about them. Anyone out there know Rogan or Pollan? I’d love for them to see some of our Machine Elf creations at https://the-machine-elf.com/ Oh, and be sure to check out the full podcast on Spotify, it’s always a good watch/listen.
Daily Photo – Midnight Through 1,000 Gates
If you’re ever in Kyoto, be sure to come adventure around this gate area at night. It’s pretty busy during the day, but at night it’s almost empty. It’s also a great time to pick up Japanese girls, if you are into that. I’m not into that at all. They can be very distracting while you are trying to take photos.
I often walk over here around sunset to this little peaceful pond in Dalefield. You can’t tell from this angle, but it’s actually in the shape of a heart, which fits many of my Disney romantic fantasies. Speaking of which, I think Disney has messed up a lot of people! A friend came over about a week ago and she studied Women’s Issues or something in college… she went on a long diatribe about sexism and stuff. I mostly was tuning her out because she was a woman, but she did have a few good points.
While on the bus tour across Europe, we made a quick stop in Nice for breakfast and a beach walk. The beach is super popular, but the only bad thing is there is no sand. It’s one of those beaches with big rocks that makes walking a little challenging, and certainly not smooth enough to lay out a beach towel and relax. Maybe the French people have inflatable things to lay on out there. I don’t know… I don’t understand the French. 🙂
We were lucky to get a little bonus access to the Sagrada Familia and were able to get into the upper floors. These are quite hidden from the ground level and I never would have known they were there otherwise. I didn’t have to do anything special to get access, just a bit of planning ahead of time with their PR team.
If you ever make it to Portugal, but sure to go here to visit the Pina Palace. Planning ahead, you can reserve this whole place for a few hours of your own personal photography before the crowds come in. It’s not that touristy of a place anyway, but it is nice to take photos and be calm before all the muggles show up.
Here’s one of the first photos I took with my Hasselblad camera when I got to Tokyo. This is kind of a weird thing to like about that machine: the aspect ratio. I mean, it’s not that big of a deal because I can always crop them any way I want. I guess there is just sort of a different feeling when looking through the viewfinder and looking at that 3:2 aspect that gives me a slightly different experience. Hard to explain.
That’s not the official name of this cool rock structure in Skipper’s Canyon near Queenstown, but that’s what I call it. This road around the canyon has many little turnouts and stops where you can see cool formations. This one is right in the beginning, just as you are beginning your downward crawl into the canyon.
While on the European Photo Tour, we stopped in Normandy for the evening while on the way to London. We parked the bus in a car park and I jumped out to walk along the coast to enjoy the sunset. It turned out to be a rather beautiful one. I took a lot of photos of the old monastery, but some of the best light was in this direction.
Okinawa, although an island by itself as part of Japan, is like a country of its own. The culture there is like a small parallel universe of Japan, which is like its own parallel universe. The country does not have much of a “beach culture” where families go out to hang out on the beach, so most of them are quite empty. In the middle of the summer, the weather is still pretty hot, but the beaches are mostly empty and ready for you to explore. Like many islands, the clouds are often multilayered and idyllic for photography.
