Here’s a photo from the Burlock Coast restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I have a great relationship with that company and they are nice enough to let me stay for free. What a deal, eh? In exchange, I give them a bunch of photos, but it’s great because they don’t dictate what I should shoot. I just sort of roam around and find interesting things. This restaurant had so many textures and such cool lighting that it felt like the perfect place for a cool HDR.
Here’s a great video that highlights some of the new research being done. I know several people that have gone through this treatment for PTSD, Depression, and Anxiety and results have been amazing.
Daily Photo – The Ships Sailing into Singapore
I do really enjoy visiting Singapore for the sights, but I never quite feel “at home” or comfortable there. I’m not sure why. I think maybe because it doesn’t feel very organic. It feels a bit master-planned… sort of the opposite of some small town in Europe that has been there since medieval times and then slowly evolved into something that just feels nice and cozy.
Was taken just about the same time I took this photo. Not too long after this, sadly, he took his own life.
Daily Photo – Relaxing in the Ocean at the Grand Cayman Cookout
Besides lurking around and hanging out with famous chefs, most of my time at the Cayman Cookout was taking photos of all the amazing things happening all the time. The water here was nice and warm and people would hang out in there all day long, floating around, sipping cocktails, and so on. I captured this cool couple out on one of the floating structures just off the beach.
Here is the latest fractal creation, and it’s probably my favorite so far! I decided to explore the math of V3 of the Menger, which has all these beautiful spherical structures that are created by the minutest of filaments. It calmly explores the evolution of a void and allows you to relax in the unraveling, fundamental nature of its creation. As with the last one, Sam Mehrtens (Sam Wave) did custom music. He explains “with all these worlds there seems to be a pulsing balance of life and release. When I was making the soundtrack I was instantly drawn into the void and felt a passive tribal tone urging to come out… as the void unravels so does the sound, and the beat becomes a distant memory. Accompanied by sprays of tonal delay and psychedelic guitar, ‘Avoiding the Void’ is our most explorative creation yet.”
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/
Daily Photo – More Donkey Bay in the Bay of Islands
This is the kind of amazing place that’s perfect for indoor photography. In general, the more rich textures and strategic lighting, the better. A perfectly lit room with boring textures just doesn’t always translate into HDR as well for some reason.
We started off our European photo tour here in Sintra, Portugal. It was my first time there and we visited some of these hilltop villas. They were all cool in the way they worked themselves into the rugged and rocky surroundings. Here, you can see Tane in action!
When we do my photo workshops in Queenstown, this is an area where we usually begin. We start along the lake and walk for about a mile down to Queenstown Gardens. We always time it to arrive just before sunrise. It’s usually pretty cold, but when the sun pops out, everything is great again!
If you’re a Passport Member, then today you’ll get to see what I packed to work on this art commission in Gisborne. I notice I pack lighter and lighter each trip as the equipment gets better and better.
Here’s a short video that shows all the goodies I brought with me on this trip… So far I have about 3000 videos and 2 crash landings with the quad. But it still works somehow! The blades are all messed up… I don’t know how this sad but amazing thing is still flying!
Here’s one of the first sorts of quads I used, when you would attach a GoPro under the blades. There was no live video or anything, so you just had to guess! That made it kind of fun, but also completely random… This was shot in Morocco when I was working on the SmugMug films video.
We woke up at the crack of dawn to go out to our launching point for the balloon ride here in Queenstown. It was freezing cold, but we were excited as it was the first hot air balloon for the two of us. Just after we launched, the sun came up and caught her across the face with this cool blade of light.
This guy was quite the visionary to design all of this in his mind. It’s too bad he never got to see it in person. They’re still building the cathedral and I think it’s gonna be another 20 years or so. When you’re inside, however, it looks to be almost 100% complete. The first time I went I didn’t even realize you could go inside, so I missed that opportunity. I don’t know why I didn’t at least go and ask… that’s not like me.
Right before I took this photo, I went over to Paddy’s Pub, which you may know from the show It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I don’t know if that pub started AFTER the show got popular or before. It didn’t look exactly the same, but it was still pretty cool and I’d recommend it!
