Ritz-Carlton Archives - Page 4 of 17 - Stuck in Customs
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Jul 2017 : Sunday
filed under  #80Stays, France, Giverny, Ritz-Carlton, Travel

Monet’s Garden in Giverny

Time to Re-Arrange my Portfolio!

I’ve not taken the time in the last 6 months to swap out my favorite portfolio images. I try to get in there every 3 months or so, but I’ve been too busy. I do very much enjoy the process. Most of you know that I keep my portfolio over on Smugmug – they’ve been great and are still the best.

If you go see my portfolio there, you may notice the top 100 photos or so will be changing in the next few days as I endeavor to re-arrange. I always advise this for photographers of all levels. Go in every few months and see if you have any new photos that get into your top 100!

Daily Photo – Monet’s Garden in Giverny

When our bus pulled out of Paris on the way to Normandy, we decided to stop in Giverny and the home of Claude Monet. Since Monet is one of my favorite painters, I wanted to do my humble best to capture his garden pond and lilypads in all their glory!

Monet’s Garden in Giverny

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2017-05-10 11:45:52
  • CameraX1D
  • Camera MakeHasselblad
  • Exposure Time1/250
  • Aperture8
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length30.0 mm
  • Flash
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
8
Jul 2017 : Saturday
filed under  Cairo, Egypt, Passport, Ritz-Carlton

Egypt Remix!

Just for Passport Members

I did a little behind-the-scenes while here at the pyramids in Cairo. If you’re not a Passport member, then why not?!? 🙂

A Remix

Here are some of my favorite photos from Egypt!

Exploring Around The Pyramids

Looking up at the Mosque

The Pretzel Man Cometh!

Camels across Egypt

Tips from the Pyramids

Exclusive content for Passport members

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7
Jul 2017 : Friday
filed under  #80Stays, Monaco, Monte Carlo, Ritz-Carlton

Monte Carlo from the Hill

Contact me directly through Messenger

Hi friends! Today I’m announcing a novel way of connecting and hearing from me. It’s over messaging. You’ll receive messages from me every now and then, and you can send me your thoughts and questions whenever you like. It’s free, private, and just like adding me to your chat list. Best of all, I’m actually behind it all, so no robots. To get started simply click on this link.

New Studio!

Hey it’s my birthday and I gave myself a present! I re-decorated my entire studio/cottage. It was a huge project and it took about 6 weeks to finish. I’ll be sure to take some photos of it and share… and I’ll make a little video for Passport members as well!

Daily Photo – Monte Carlo from the Hill

There’s a big hill/mountain thing that seperates Monte Carlo into two parts. Both sides have a harbor with billionaire’s yachts and are very beautiful. Our uber dropped us off down there at the bottom. I looked up to the top of this hill (where I stood to take this photo), and I was thinking, “Hell, I don’t want to walk all the way up there.” So I tried to call an uber, but there were none in the area. And no taxis either. It’s a very residential area, so I ended up having to walk all the way up! But that’s okay… it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought.

Monte Carlo from the Hill

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2017-05-01 19:45:52
  • CameraX1D
  • Camera MakeHasselblad
  • Exposure Time1/15
  • Aperture4
  • ISO200
  • Focal Length30.0 mm
  • Flash
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
6
Jul 2017 : Thursday
filed under  #80Stays, Hasselblad X1D, Lisbon, Portugal, Ritz-Carlton

Guess what they are selling in this store in Lisbon?

Sensitive Horizon Controls

Man, I do love that Hasselblad X1D (today’s photos is one of my favorites with it), but one thing that is a bit strange is the electronic horizon. When I take a photo like this, of course I try to use it to make sure everything is level. I can’t tell if it’s tooooo sensitive or if my hands are too unsteady. I don’t think the latter because I’m using the tripod. Even the slightest movement seems to send it over the edge.

It would be cool of there was some kind of way for the camera to auto-horizon itself. I have no idea how that would work… but it’s a cool idea.

Daily Photo – Guess what they are selling in this store in Lisbon?

Chocolates? No, definitely not. Candy? Not even close. Flavored condoms? No, but that’s a strange guess you made. They’re actually selling sardines! It’s like the most beautiful sardine store in the world. It’s worth a zoom-in on Smugmug to see all the details. Each column is a different year. The gimmick is you go buy the sardines with your birth year on it. It gives you “fun facts” about your birthday on the back of the sardine can. Stuff depressing stuff like, “same year that Pope was shot” or things that are hard to prove like, “same year as beavers were discovered.”

Guess what they are selling in this store in Lisbon?

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2017-04-22 21:24:03
  • CameraX1D
  • Camera MakeHasselblad
  • Exposure Time1
  • Aperture16
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length30.0 mm
  • Flash
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
5
Jul 2017 : Wednesday
filed under  #80Stays, Barcelona, Hasselblad X1D, Ritz-Carlton, Spain

The Papal Area of La Sagrada Familia

More Hasselblad Stuff

Here’s yet another one (did you miss the new Hasselblad X1D Review?) from the new camera. Like the shot yesterday, this is a vertirama made from two different vertically stacked photos. Because the widest lens I have is 30mm, whenever I want a wider shot, I have to make a little panorama then crop it later.

Daily Photo – The Papal Area of La Sagrada Familia

Somehow we got access up to where the Pope sits when he comes to services at this amazing cathedral in Barcelona. You know the Pope always gets good seats, and they don’t get much better than this.

At this level, there’s actually a passageway that goes around the entire church. Sometimes you have to go up some stairs and twist around some narrow corridors, but the views are amazing. I was up there with the crew and we had a handler. I didn’t realize she didn’t want us to go through all these passageways, but we all took off in different directions. The lady started running after me first and shut me down 30% of the way around. But my dastardly friend Rene went the other way and made it all the way around, taking pictures all the way… lucky guy!

The Papal Area of La Sagrada Familia

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2017-04-30 09:12:30
  • CameraX1D
  • Camera MakeHasselblad
  • Exposure Time2
  • Aperture11
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length30.0 mm
  • Flash
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
4
Jul 2017 : Tuesday
filed under  #80Stays, Porto, Portugal, Ritz-Carlton

The Harry Potter Bookstore in Porto

Hot Tip for this spot

Now in this legendary bookstore below, they don’t let you use tripods. This was a real buzzkill for me, so I tried my best with handheld (but not bad, eh?) – anyway after I was there I got a hot tip from a friend. If you get here in the morning, an hour before opening, the cleaning crew will let you in with a tripod so you can take your time and get the shot you want!

Daily Photo – The Harry Potter Bookstore in Porto

My friend Cliff from Google tipped me off on this place. He sent me his own photo and I go, “I gotta get in there!” Even though it’s a real bookstore, you actually have to buy a ticket around the corner to get inside. I thought that was a bit strange, but they do subtract the cost of your ticket if you buy a book, so that’s pretty cool.

This is a vertirama made from two handheld photos.

The Harry Potter Bookstore in Porto

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2017-04-25 18:42:10
  • CameraX1D
  • Camera MakeHasselblad
  • Exposure Time1/60
  • Aperture3.5
  • ISO1600
  • Focal Length30.0 mm
  • Flash
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
3
Jul 2017 : Monday
filed under  #80Stays, Moscow, Ritz-Carlton, Russia

The Red Square in Moscow

Embarassing Video Appearance

I like how I keep hitting new rock-bottoms. Here’s one I did in Russia… hope you love the sweater. I got to keep it… when I wear it at home, it makes the kids laugh.

Maybe a little more back-story is needed. There’s some below… basically, I was pulled into a room and told to say a phrase completely out of context.

Daily Photo – The Red Square in Moscow

Here’s a photo I took on my first night in Moscow from the roof of the Ritz-Carlton. It was a crazy day, I’ll tell ya. We arrived just as the sun was setting and the director of marketing met me immediately after getting out of the car and said I needed to do all this stuff. First, the team went to the club to start having champagne and drinking immediately, in true Russian style. Then she took me to the basement and implored me to wear a crazy sweater (see video above) to take part in some video where I had to say a phrase (I had no idea the context or the reason). Then we went to the top floor for some raging party with DJs and fancy people. It was completely chaotic, and at some point, I realized I had not taken a single photo! So I ran to my room to grab my camera to get this shot outside on the balcony, taking a break from the chaos inside.

The Red Square in Moscow

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2017-06-02 21:11:57
  • CameraILCE-7RM2
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1.3
  • Aperture5.6
  • ISO200
  • Focal Length89.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
2
Jul 2017 : Sunday
filed under  #80Stays, Hasselblad X1D, Lisbon, Portugal, Ritz-Carlton

Pena National Palace in Sintra, Portugal

Textures!

You may notice today’s photo has a fun series of textures on it. I do this a lot whenever the sky is a bit dull or I just want to give it a nice effect. Be sure to go Grab my textures and texture tutorial from the store if you want to try it too.

Daily Photo – Pena National Palace in Sintra, Portugal

This is probably the most beautiful castle/palace thing I’ve ever visited in my life. I think it’s officially called a palace, but I think of it more like a Disney castle. The colors are all real that you see here! (Well, I added some texture in the sky for fun, but the colors are all true-to-life). It’s set in the middle of a sprawling 200-acre forest park. There are paths all over the place, but it’s actually quite hard to find a place to take a photo like this. You definitely can’t get this view from any of the standard lookout spots. It takes just a little bit of rock-climbing and clambering around to get this view.

Pena National Palace in Sintra, Portugal

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2017-04-17 07:48:01
  • CameraX1D
  • Camera MakeHasselblad
  • Exposure Time1/250
  • Aperture5.6
  • ISO200
  • Focal Length90.0 mm
  • Flash
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
1
Jul 2017 : Saturday
filed under  #80Stays, Hasselblad X1D, Lisbon, Portugal, Ritz-Carlton

Beautiful Lisbon, Portugal

The Hasselblad X1D

You’ll start to see me get more and more X1D shots onto the blog. I absolutely love that machine! Here is one of them on today’s daily photo. It’s actually the first time I put that 90mm lens on there… what a beast!

Daily Photo – Beautiful Lisbon, Portugal

This was my favorite spot to shoot the city from above. I was surprised how hilly Lisbon was; I had no idea. It reminded me a lot of San Francisco in that way. One way it wasn’t like San Francisco was the food prices! Everything cost just a mere fraction of most big cities. Now that I think about it, I both wish I would have eaten more, and I’m also glad I didn’t eat more! 🙂

Beautiful Lisbon, Portugal

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2017-04-17 21:12:03
  • CameraX1D
  • Camera MakeHasselblad
  • Exposure Time1
  • Aperture3.2
  • ISO200
  • Focal Length90.0 mm
  • Flash
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
28
Jun 2017 : Wednesday
filed under  #80Stays, Germany, Ritz-Carlton, Wolfsburg

The Giant Car Robot

New Spotify Playlist

I take great care in grooming my Spotify playlists. I do each one based on mood. Here’s my latest one… hope you enjoy. It’s called Feelin’ Groovesalad.

Daily Photo – The Giant Car Robot

How’s this for a unique place?!? While in Germany, we made a day-trip to visit the Ritz-Carlton in Wolfsburg. It’s an entirely unique location because it’s embedded right in the middle of Volkswagen heaven. Germans love their cars (if you didn’t know), and many people make a pilgrimage to come here to pick up their new cars. Volkswagen has these two huge towers where new cars are delivered every day to their owners. A tremendous robot goes shoots up the central cavity to pick up and deliver different cars as if in some tremendous vending machine.

The Giant Car Robot

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2017-05-22 14:31:18
  • CameraILCE-7RM2
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time0.5
  • Aperture13
  • ISO50
  • Focal Length16.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias

Comments