Most people know New Zealand from the Lord of the Rings movies. That’s how I first started thinking about moving here. What some may not know is that there is actually a Hobbiton with about 40 little hobbit holes on the North Island. Well… most doors are fake except for Bilbo’s home.
Today is a fun video for Passport Members where I use Plotagraph Pro to make some cool animations for a future NFT launch.
Here you’ll see how I use this fun and easy tool to make a rather complex animation. Enjoy! 🙂
Here’s a cool view of Antelope Canyon. There are really no bad photos of this place… I think that’s why photographers love it so much! I spent a few hours in here getting waaaaaay too many photos. I still haven’t gone through all of them.
Man, I have SO MANY photos from this place, but I’ve hardly processed any of them. This is one that I worked on recently. They are actually very difficult to process, even in HDR, because of the brightness of the sky. I’m pretty happy with how this one turned out, but I think I can do better on future ones.
Sam and I are excited to release our newest creation: Machine Elf 34: Master Owl.
The owl knows everything and is often the one who allows you to see it. Graced by the owls presence, Machine Elf 34 takes us on an unpredictable adventure that delves inside the alien mind to see what hides within. This is our most mathematically complex fractal so far and is a combination of the Xenodreambuie in a hybrid with Atan2Power 2. As with all the others, watch in full screen with the volume up and allow yourself to fall away into the world.
These are also available in 360 for a cool VR app called TRIPP. If you have an Oculus Quest, Go or Rift, you can download TRIPP which features guiding experiences to make you happier, calmer and more focused. Grab that here: https://the-machine-elf.com/TRIPP
For more Machine Elf creations, including physical installations, check out the website: https://the-machine-elf.com/
Made in the Mountains of Queenstown, New Zealand.
Here’s a fun trip down memory lane when I spent an entire day at the Pinterest HQ in San Francisco. This is just when they are getting started so everyone looks a bit younger! 🙂
My friend Pete sent me this video of Paris Hilton making lasagna. I always thought she was an idiot, but I was wondering if she was faking it. Now, I’m completely convinced she’s not just an idiot, but a self-deluded idiot. I think she was trying to be funny sometimes, but some of the things she said to be funny are things an idiot would say to be funny.
Remember Google+? Yeah, that was the best! Actually, it was an absolute blast for a while. I made a lot of great friends including this guy: Vic Gundotra! He was kind, he made me laugh, and he was always full of surprises. That’s about all I ask for in a friend! 🙂 I gave a talk at the Google HQ in Tokyo after a fun photowalk (where I took this photo).
This was a great concept and even better in execution.
The Hobbiton tour is definitely worth a visit if you’re up on the North Island of New Zealand. After you go on it, I find it impossible that you would not actually want to live in a hobbit hole. I also suggested to the management team there that they open up a few of the hobbit holes for people to sleep in at night. I’m sure that they could charge whatever they wanted. I’m a diehard LOTR fan, but there are people that are even way more hardcore than me!
Today, if you’re a Passport Member, you get to see the edit of one of my newest photos of Toronto that I took a few weeks ago. Remember, every Sunday, a new Passport Video for you! 🙂
This is a really cool editing video where you get to see my process for editing this photo of the stunning Toronto skyline. I decided to edit one where the plane was taking off to add a bit of flair to the final shot.
I took this one all the way back in 2013 when I went to Toronto to speak at a travel blogger convention. It was a really fun event, and after the talk, we all went over to Centre Island to take photos of the city. It was a stormy night, as you can see, but I managed to get in a pretty decent photo!
Well, here’s yet another experiment in fun! I have a goofy and funny neighbor here in New Zealand who is a photographer. We decided to try out a new concept for a critique show. Here’s episode 1! Tell us what ya think! 🙂
Man, these guys loved Bel. They really loved her hair. The couldn’t stop touching it and she was just giggling in her silly way. All in all, we spent about half a day in this little village. You’ll see the whole thing in an upcoming episode that we are premiering on YouTube from Africa.
Here is a new playlist of mine on Spotify for you to enjoy. It’s made up of songs that I listen to on a lazy, relaxing afternoon at Burning Man.
There is a beautiful road that connects Wanaka and Queenstown that is locally known as the Crown Range. It’s the highest highway in all of New Zealand as it crosses the Southern Alps. There are plenty of places to pull off the side of the road and get a view of the valley down below. I live down in there somewhere… kinda over on the right side of the photo.
I hope you had a good Christmas and got some cool toys. If you didn’t go buy yourself some… kids of all ages should get toys on Christmas, I think!
I was only here for one day, but I had great luck with the weather! Well, I did for a while, because right after sunset all those clouds dumped endless gallons of water on me while I was just finishing my photos. It was totally crazy, actually! There was lightning and thunder and I felt like I was in the middle of a Michael Bay movie. I usually don’t get scared by thunderstorms, but this one had me shaking while I was running through the forest with my tripod trying to get back to the safety of the car!
