iPad for Photos

I remember when I was in this spot, I saw two different people using their iPads to take photos.  They were not Americans — they were Chinese people.  And then, after that, I started noticing this more and more.  I think Americans are more “embarrassed” (for lack of a better word) to use their iPads for photography, but this is just anecdotal… I’ll have to look around more to see if this trend is consistant across cultures!

Daily Photo – Along the River in Lijiang

While I walked along one of the many little streams that flowed through the village, restaurants, cafes, shops, and homes lined the sides.  Each one was decorated a little bit differently with unique lanterns, fauna, decor, windows, furniture, and flowers.  You could stop almost anywhere to take a photo!  So, well, I did.

Switching lenses is still a bit of a pain.  The two lenses I used the most there were the 14-24 and the 28-300.  But many shots were kind of right around that 20-35mm zone, which menat I was never really sure of which lens to use… so I would end up swapping back and forth a lot until it felt right!

New eBook – The Tuesday Composition

Over the next month or so, we’re launching a bunch of new eBooks at Flatbooks.com. We just released The Tuesday Composition by Joe Decker – go check it out!

The Tuesday Composition solves the mystery of why some images just seem more “effective” than others, bringing in ideas from the sciences and the arts. Addressing many popular misconceptions, this beautifully-illustrated 75-page book teaches the craft of creating incredible, compelling photographs, through both a discussion of principles and through in-depth looks at a number of “case studies.”

Getting Visas

Getting Visas for travel feels like a very 18th-century way of getting around the world!  As far as I can tell, the only REAL purpose of having them is as an extra revenue-source for the country.  But the process is always so silly!  Here’s two examples:

• Each time I go to China, I have to fed-ex my passports to Houston where they process the Visas then send them back via fed-ex.  A little hint, btw, is that if you connect in Hong Kong, you can just do it there…
• I connected in Australia and had about 10 hours where I could go explore and take photos.  What?  I can’t leave the airport because I don’t have a Visa?  Australia!  You slay me…  that’s a silly policy.

Daily Photo – Across the Top of the Old Village

The old town of Lijiang has these old rooflines that go forever to the horizon.  Part of the problem getting up above the roofline is, well, getting up above the roofline.  You have to head a bit out of town and walk up a hill to get this perspective.  I found the spot thanks to Stuck On Earth.

Time Travel

This is one of the few places in the world where I feel like I’m time traveling…  If you could time-travel, where would you go and when?

Daily Photo – The Village of Lijiang

I tried to get this shot for almost a week!

It turns out there is a hill/mountain that requires significant planning and calories to ascend for this dusky time falls.  And I kept miscalculating the time with Tom.  We always thought the sunset would be a little later than it was.  And then we would start to get up into position, and we realized it was too late — so we went to go do something else instead.

This evening, I would snap a few photos and then sit down with my sketch pad and work on a few drawings.  I’d wait about 10 minutes for the light to change between photos… and it was nice just to listen to music and play around with some sketching-ideas…

Patrick Rothfuss, Charity, The Show

So, regular friends around here will know that my inspiration comes from the world outside of photography.  I read like a madman.  And look, I’m not bragging when I say I’m very well-read in Fantasy.  That’s just a fact.  And so, maybe it carries a lot of weight when I say that Patrick Rothfuss is teaching us all.

Now, before I tell you more about that bit, first let me point you to Pat’s charity team at Worldbuilders.  I’ve donated, and you might like to also.  There are all kinds of rare signed books that will be given away as part of the fund-raising effort.

And…. Patrick will be joining me for Trey’s Variety Hour #22 on Monday night.  How cool is that?

What Do You See?

And… which eyes are mine?  Yes, I’ll be back at EG in Monterey this year…

Daily Photo – The Mysterious Creatures Among Us

While in the southern town of Lixiang, I came upon this creature in the evening.  Maybe you know the legend of this…  maybe it is better to make up your own legend than to have me tell you everything about it… or, perhaps one of you intrepid explorers in the community can tell us all what is going on here!

Amazing New eBook!

Check out FlatBooks.com to see “Photographing the Fourth Dimension – Time” from Jim Goldstein.  I think you’ll love it…  And, I hate to say judge a book by its cover – but – go ahead! 🙂

Lijiang is a Photo Holiday!

This turned out to be an amazing place for photos! If you’d like to see all the photos from this area, click on the Lijiang Category here or at the bottom of the post.

Daily Photo – Walking Blind through China

As Tom Anderson and I were leaving the old area of Lijiang one evening, we saw these two coming towards us in the opposite direction. One of them was blind (perhaps both), and one played a small stringed instrument while the other held out a bowl for donations.

I squatted down and waited for them to enter a little pool of light from a nearby shot before I took the photo. And then I walked over and put a little donation in the bowl.