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!
I have a Neal Stephenson book recommended here on my Kit.com. This one is pretty intense, so get ready for the ride!
Daily Photo – The Opera House in Sydney
A few years ago, I went to Australia with Neal Stephenson while he was researching his new book. I’m a great secret keeper, so I can’t talk about it. We had a great time… I actually kept track of a lot of stories of our adventures, but I don’t want to release them until after his book is out! If it wasn’t for Neal, I might have never seen the bustling metropolis of Dubbo, Australia.
There are now 5 of my audio podcasts available on your favourite streaming services (iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify or in some regions Google Play). The latest features Kevin Rose. Kevin is one of the fun success stories of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and in this episode we talk about vulnerability, the approval of strangers, why we love Japan, psychedelics, kids and much more.
The Lies of Locke Lamora
I have a new book suggestion that came from my friend Brian Brushwood! The book is called “The Lies of Locke Lamora,” and if you are a fan of “The Name of the Wind,” then you will like this one as well. You can see it and more of my book recommendations here.
Daily Photo – Happy People in Sydney
Here’s a photo I recently edited from Sydney Harbor. While this huge rubber ducky was here, I took a ton of different photos. This shot is one of my favorites.
I’m always making big and little changes to my Kit.com so head over there to see all the latest goodies!
Daily Photo – The Sydney Opera House Before the Storm
We spent an amazingly fun day out on a yacht sailing around the Sydney harbor. It’s tough to take a bad photo out there! We did have a bit of an incident with the quadcopter, though. It got so far away from us that we were unable to figure out how to get it back. It was just a tiny white speck, and you could tell if it was moving forward or backward or right or left. After quite a bit of panic, we finally figured out the right orientation and brought her home!
In the photo below, you can see Tane, my once-bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed previous assistant. After a rather strenuous and stressful China leg to the tour and in the throes of young love, he has decided to head over to the USA to pursue his college sweetheart, Ash. His heart beats away like a jungle drum inside of his smooth dolphin chest, and soon that chest will flutter across the mixed metaphor of the Atlantic Sea to rejoin his paramour. Thusly, I have lost an assistant and New Zealand has lost a national hero.
So now, I needs me a new one. What’s involved? Well, first let’s talk about what you get, then talk about what you gotta do.
First, you’ll travel around the world with us and everything is included from air travel to board. For example, across our tours in USA, Europe, and Asia, we stayed in over 40 different Ritz-Carltons and other partner hotels, so we’re not exactly slummin’ it. You get to take photos alongside the team, learn a lot about the visual arts, and see some of the most amazing things in the world. You’ll have adventures that are indescribable. You’ll also have the freedom to create a great many things within the organization from photos to books to film and more. You’ll be on the cutting edge of tech, media, and social media. You’ll also end up going down many philosophical rabbit holes if you so choose.
Now, what is required from you? Well, mostly a willingness to do everything from the most awesome to the most mundane. Remember, anything I ask you to do is something that I have been willing to do myself for the past ten years. So, if it’s not below me, it’s not below you. We’re a small company (about eight people), so everyone does a little bit of everything.
Remember, it’s my goal to be the dumbest person at the company. So I hope you’re clever and enthusiastic. I find that gets you through most anything.
To name a few of these tasks, in no particular order: Organizing photos and videos, backing up data, editing video, charging camera batteries, sending videos to our editors in Brisbane and Scotland, carrying a lot of stuff, shooting video while carrying a super-heavy gimbal, meeting with our art collectors, getting me smoothies or wine depending on the time of day, writing newsletters, copy/pasting blog posts, creating eBooks from existing assets, getting supplies for the studio, driving my kids around when we need another set of wheels, keeping meticulous track of social stats in spreadsheets, getting us sandwiches on those 14-hour days, cleaning our Burning Man RV, procurement, drone piloting and prep, graphic design for social media reports for partners and other marketing needs, Lightroom basics, Photoshop basics, laughing at my jokes, writing skills that are way above average, making cocktails at our studio bar for soirees, driving us around on photo shoots throughout New Zealand and the world, hiking long distances while carrying a lot of shit, managing our online store at http://Store.StuckInCustoms.com, keeping up with the latest trends in social media, and generally aniticipating what needs to be done before we ask for it.
You’ll also need to live here in Queenstown or Arrowtown, New Zealand. While I am in the studio here, you’ll come in every day during normal working hours and you have your own little office with a window view of beautiful New Zealand (that is blocked by a huge bush).
It’s certainly a rather stringent set of requirements, I realize… sort of like Another Trey. A clone. A clone of my own… willing to work ridiculous hours while chipping away at short-term and long-term goals.
Interested? Then send us some goodies at [email protected] ! We expect a large volume of applicants, so don’t feel bad if you don’t get a personal response from me or the team. We’ll definitely look at every application, though! 🙂 Thank you for your time… and if it doesn’t work out with us, I hope it works out for you in one way or another! 🙂 -Trey
Daily Photo – More from the Sydney Opera House
You may remember I posted a photo of this place about a week ago. I guess I convinced myself it was sunrise, although I can’t believe I was actually awake for it. I keep hoping when I get REALLY old that I’ll wake up early like other old people seem to. They don’t seem to mind, do they? They kinda get up around 5 AM, have coffee, read the paper, and accomplish all kinds of stuff even before I hit the snooze button. It’s probably because I stay up too late watching Netflix and stuff. Anyway, I suppose, in that way, that I’m looking forward to getting older.
My son Ethan is trying to get his first job and he really has no job experience except when the cops got him to go try to bust a few local bars. So I decided to help him write a more colorful version of the episode:
Undercover Cop (said in Cartman’s voice) New Zealand Police Department
The NZ Police employed me to infiltrate dins of iniquity and use my cunning guile to expose lackadaisical standards of serving minors in local drinking holes. In disguise as my pre-drinking-age self, I surreptitiously entered pubs in Queenstown and Wanaka to beguile the local glasswipe with a bit of witty repartee before ordering a simple beer, a pilsner, a varied spirit, or a perhaps, on a whim, a rather complex girly drink. Despite my stage training, I was never able to bring any drinking establishment to its knees, a result that I entrust is an accidental benefit to my future employer after they leave work, tired of my musings, and “need a drink.”
Daily Photo – The Sun is Rising or Setting in Sydney
When I initially posted this, I thought for sure it was a sunset. But then my clever Aussie friends told me I was facing towards the East here, which means I was definitely 100% wrong. It’s so strange, though, because I don’t remember waking up for the sunrise there. But, clearly, I did. This just once again reminds me of how my memory is a slippery slope slipping more all the time.
I heard a rumor that Lando may get his own series of productions (played by Donald Glover). I think it’s the best idea I’ve heard in a long time. I think I could watch that guy play in anything… such an interesting guy! My favorite part with Lando was when he was doing The Calrissian Chronicles on the bridge. They should use that title and get Glover to write it!
Daily Photo – Under the Bridge in Sydney
Not far from an area of downtown Sydney called “The Rocks”, which I believe is the oldest area of the city, is a sidewalk where you can walk underneath this bridge. This was a three-exposure HDR that I took probably about five years ago. I’ve been going back and editing some older photos that I never had the chance to edit. I was happy the clouds looked so moody this night. The way they pick up and reflect the city nights feels like it’s out of a movie or something.
Be sure to check our “Facebook Events” to see all the upcoming photo walks! We also have our Tour Page that shows all the places we’ll be visiting! 🙂 Please come out for the free photo walks. You’re also welcome to come to the special ticketed event at the end… a great after-party where I give a little talk and we have fun together! 🙂
Daily Photo – Sydney Opera House at Dusk
Sometimes it’s like cheating taking a photo of this thing eh? I mean, you just kinda aim your camera in its general direction, then it’s a lock! We visited here on my most recent photo walk and we had an absolute blast… this was the ending spot. It was great to be with so many enthusiastic Australian photographers… even though they’ve seen this a million times, they still seem to love it!
I don’t talk about camera equipment too much here on the site. Because all cameras are so good nowadays, it doesn’t really matter any more. However, I do keep my Camera Equipment page up to date as well as my Equipment Kit of goodies!
Daily Photo – Sydney Opera House from the Harbour
We had such a fun day out on a yacht with the team. The clouds were absolutely crazy and really popped when I would zoom in like this. This one was only shot at 49mm while using the 24-240mm lens on the Sony A7rii. I have other photos where I’m zoomed in even tighter at around 200mm (when the boat was further away) that show a very different scene. I’ll have to process that one and we’ll do a side-by-side!
We were on a fabulous yacht in the middle of Sydney bay with my friend Dave Maxwell. At one point, we convinced him to somehow do a backflip off the boat into the sharky waters. He did it without hesitation! I declined the temptation to try it myself! 🙂
Daily Photo – The Amazing Sydney Opera House
This is just one of those buildings you never get tired of seeing. I think it was built sometime around the time I was born. I don’t remember if it was a controversial design at the time or not. Sometimes this stuff comes out and people really dislike the boldness of the lines. I believe the same thing happened with the triangular Transamerica building in San Francisco.
