Here’s kind of a cool trick! If you click on this photo, you’ll get all the interesting info including a satellite photo of where it was taken from. This is a super cool feature of the DJI drones in that it records the GPS data of every photo. After you get over to Smugmug, click the three lines on the left and it will open up all the EXIF including a cool map down at the bottom.
Every day on Laucala Island was just as great as the next. The weather was perfect every day except for a few late afternoon showers every other day or so. But that’s always kind of a fun event because you can feel it going and run under cover to get a book or, in my case, download all my files…
Today, for you awesome passport members you’ll get to see all the “rejects” from a recent art commission I did. At first, I did not think about sharing these, but I thought you may be interested in seeing the ones that didn’t make the cut. They’re not terrible photos or anything… but that final selection process is always a little difficult!
Welcome to the Rejects
I proposed a final 10 with 3 alternates to the clients, and they loved all of them. I just recently sent them all these “rejects” which I now share with you. There are definitely still some winners in here that I’ll be sharing soon on the blog and social media… but I hope you enjoy seeing them in the meantime!
If you haven’t seen “My Octopus Teacher” – then make sure you get it on your list… here’s a trailer for it.
Daily Photo – Driving to Milford Sound
As you exit the tunnel on the way to Milford Sound and Mitre Peak, this is the scene with which you are presented. I pulled over to the side and launched the quad to see the hypnotic scene from above.
If you are a Passport Member then today you’ll see some of my favorite shots from the past few weeks on the north island of New Zealand. You’ll see my 13 selects… and in a future week, I’ll show you my 71 rejects, some of which are actually pretty good.
The 13 selects
I went back and forth with Stu and the team about the best photos. It’s funny how everyone has a slightly different opinion… in the end, I chose these 13. I hope you like them too!
Continuing our “Covid-fun” to get people excited to travel again… well, even though China may NOT be the first on your list, here are some favorites from Shanghai!
If you’re a Passport Member then today you get to see not one, not two, not three but FOUR new quadcopter clips to inspire you that I just shot last week! Enjoy!
Over the Farm
I’ve been working hard on an art commission here in New Zealand and having the most amazing time. I do a pretty good mix of ground-based and air-based photography. In between, I capture a bit of video stuff as well. Here are four quick videos I shot while there.
They told me this is the biggest swimming pool in the Pacific Ocean and I have no reason not to believe them! It was absolutely immense! I had a great time swimming around in here and after a bit, I realized I didn’t even know where my stuff was! I was one of the only guests at the resort, so it should not have been that hard. But after swimming randomly around for a quarter of a mile, I didn’t have the faintest idea where my original chair was. I was too embarrassed to ask the staff where my stuff was, so I kept randomly swimming for another half hour until I espied my stash.
This is the most mathematically complex fractal I’ve been working on for a few months. If you’re a math nerd, it’s a variant on the Menger Sponge but I ended up messing with the coefficients so much that you will only occasionally see the source pattern.
Last month, I did another hardcore version of the Menger with the short “Devs Cube (based on the Alex Garland show)” – which is a bit dark and unsettling. Most of my other weird Machine Elf creations have been more calm and meditative. Choosing (or creating) music is very difficult. For this one, I decided to use one of my favorite Jon Hopkins tracks. It’s quite glitchy and full-on, but it works more than enough for me. This song (Everything Connected) is from his latest album.
We’re in the middle of generating a 360 version of this now… so if you have a VR set, it’s quite a ride. Enjoy…
Daily Photo – Floating over a seafront villa on Laucala Island
When I was running around taking photos all over the island, they told me that this is where George Clooney stayed when he came. It’s a little hard to tell from this angle, but that pool is surrounded by this cool angled black basalt rock. It made the blue pop out even more.
If you’re a Passport member then today you’ll get that little bonus section where you see how I made the photo. I hope you enjoy it! It was a bit of a challenge…
The Gold Coast Panorama – making of Gold Coast
I was a little worried during the edit of this one that it may not work out… but, I should have had more faith in myself, because it did in the end!
This is a photo made out of 9 different shots from the Mavic in a 3×3 grid. I love the way it turned out, but when you watch the making-of video below, then you’ll see it didn’t start out so perfect!
