I think the best time to visit this artistic beast is while the sun is setting. While there, a good challenge is to see how many different sorts of shots you can. The obvious one is to capture the whole thing with a wide-angle lens, but some of the more interesting shots are zoom-ins like this one. It’s kind of fun for me to wait for people to be in interesting positions to make the whole thing seem more alive.

Exploring The Vessel at Sunset

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2019-06-22 20:24:04
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/125
• Aperture6.3
• ISO250
• Focal Length57.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

Right by the site of the disaster, I walked into this tremendous building that was designed by Calatrava. I didn’t know anything about it ahead of time, and I was excited to go inside and see what was happening. Much to my surprise, it was just like a shopping mall with Apple Stores, etc. I don’t know what I expected, but I wasn’t all that excited by seeing a Sephoras and stuff like that.

Exploring the new World Trade Center of New York

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2019-06-20 16:05:40
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/500
• Aperture4.5
• ISO250
• Focal Length16.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

This organ is one of the only organs the Catholics are allowed to touch and look at during services. I have all sorts of ways I poke fun at the Catholics… probably because I went to an all-boy Jesuit school for four years where they tried to brainwash me. But, it didn’t work! However, having just poked more fun at them, I do actually have a decent amount of respect for the Jesuits. They at least have a lot of critical thought and philosophy that makes up the backbone of their teachings. There are a few logical fallacies here and there where it breaks down for me. But hey, that’s just me. I want to go back and do some DMT with some of my old teachers to see what they think.

The Amazing Organ at Notre Dame in Montreal

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2019-07-27 08:12:30
• CameraILCE-7RM3
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1.3
• Aperture5
• ISO250
• Focal Length24.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

As you can tell, I’m posting a lot of my favorite photos from the recent tour across the Americas! One of the best cities for taking a ton of photos was New York, especially here around the previous site of the Twin Towers. This building was designed by Calatrava, and I think it’s absolutely amazing. It was my first time seeing it in person. The structure reminded me of whale bones for some reason. I was excited to see what was inside, but it turned out to be kind of a boring shopping mall.

Continuing our Tour of New York

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2019-06-20 15:54:28
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/1600
• Aperture9
• ISO250
• Focal Length16.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

Wow, this is such a cool place. There’s not a bad photo of it! I was trying to figure out the economic model for this place. It must have cost tens of millions to build. But there is no entrance fee or anything. It’s part of the “Hudson Yards” project, so maybe that was something they agreed to build for free for the city in exchange for taking over that area of the city to build commercial and residential real estate buildings. That’s my guess, and I’m probably right. I didn’t take the time to look it up… I find it’s more fun to wonder about things and try to figure them out independently.

More from The Vessel

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2019-06-22 20:15:36
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/100
• Aperture16
• ISO160
• Focal Length46.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

We took a Lyft into downtown New York to shoot the financial district. Literally the second I popped out of the Uber, I saw this perfect scene with the cloud centered right on top. I had to quickly get my settings right to snap the photo even before I was fully out of the car! I’m sure the driver thought I was some lame tourist… and, well, I guess I am! I’m okay with that.

Freedom Tower

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2019-11-19 08:02:09
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/400
• Aperture9
• ISO250
• Focal Length24.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

If you make it to this city, don’t miss this spot! They didn’t let me take a tripod in there, so I had to get pretty inventive when it came to securing the camera. Sometimes I would just jam it up against one of the columns… and that’s what I did here! The only way I could get it stable was in this off-center way, but decided it looked pretty cool!

The Ancient Roman Cistern under Istanbul

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2016-10-02 22:32:24
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time13
• Aperture4
• ISO800
• Focal Length11.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

I only had 48 hours there, so I did my best to make the most of it. One great thing about the city is there are several rooftop restaurants, so it’s always easy to get multiple views of the Hagia Sophia. I knew a lot about the Hagia Sophia ahead of time thanks to how many times I had built it while playing Civilization!

Exploring Istanbul

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2016-10-02 18:33:39
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/1000
• Aperture6.3
• ISO200
• Focal Length115.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias+0.3

I slept inside one of these old farmhouses for a few nights. They look very cozy, don’t they? Well, let me assure you… they were absolutely freezing! The only warm room was the dining room in the middle where they made my dinner, but when I went back to my little room, it was way below freezing. I had about 30 seconds to get onto my futon under a blanket before I froze to death. The worst thing was waking up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, which was quite a long way away!

Snowy Fantasyland in Japan

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2019-02-14 20:57:40
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/320
• Aperture7.1
• ISO200
• Focal Length26.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

I was so surprised to walk into this cathedral at night and see this! They were showing images from deep space and playing all this crazy minimalist music… something like Phillip Glass. I sat in here for about half an hour just kind of staring at this giant movie screen. It’s definitely one of my best church experiences! 🙂

Inside the Cologne Cathedral

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2016-09-24 04:53:53
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/160
• Aperture
• ISO12800
• Focal Length
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias-0.7