It’s been a pretty manic month or two with my first time outside NZ since 2019. Almost all my focus has been on family time and now I’m off to Burning Man, so for the next week or two I’ll share some of my Fine Art images and their story rather than new/unpublished images. That should allow you to prepare your brain for the deluge of Burning Man 2022 image awesomeness in September. Hopefully you won’t have seen some of these before or if you have, hopefully your eyeballs will appreciate them anyway. 🙂

“The Impossible Library”

This library holds more secrets than I am willing to share. The secrets are so good, in fact, they would absolutely ruin the photo if you knew them. This is the dangerous nature of secrets, right? I suggest you don’t try to discover them to save yourself the disappointment.

Tianjin, China

(Fun fact… this is a Google Pixel image. It had to be worked quite hard to get it ready for fine art printing at a decent size but it held up well and collectors LOVE it!)

Fine Art

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2018-06-13 13:53:19
• CameraPixel 2 XL
• Camera MakeGoogle
• Exposure Time1/60
• Aperture1.8
• ISO158
• Focal Length4.5 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramProgram AE
• Exposure Bias

This library holds more secrets than I am willing to share. The secrets are so good, in fact, they would absolutely ruin the photo if you knew them. This is the dangerous nature of secrets, right? I suggest you don’t try to discover them to save yourself the disappointment. – Tianjin, China

From Series 2 of my fine art prints. Available in a limited edition at 1.5 meters by 0.85 meters. More info at TreyRatcliff.com.

The Impossible Library

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2018-06-13 13:53:19
• CameraPixel 2 XL
• Camera MakeGoogle
• Exposure Time1/60
• Aperture1.8
• ISO158
• Focal Length4.5 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramProgram AE
• Exposure Bias

These hotels are always nice, and the Chinese sometimes take them to the next level of palatial. This is not even a ballroom or anything. It’s just one of a ton of different hallways… I’m amazed at the level of decor and quality in these places. It reminds me a bit of Versailles in a way. I got one of the ladies from the hotel to walk down the shiny floor to give it a little more personality.

The Ritz-Carlton in Tianjin

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2018-06-12 17:29:32
• CameraILCE-7RM3
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time0.6
• Aperture13
• ISO100
• Focal Length29.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

I don’t often do staged shots, but I did this time! I was at this amazing library in Tianjin with Curtis and one of the ladies from the Ritz-Carlton. I thought the photo would look better with a person in there pretending to read a book, and it does! It was pretty funny because in the first take we realized the book was upside down.

Curious Lady at the Library

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2018-06-13 15:04:02
• CameraPixel 2 XL
• Camera MakeGoogle
• Exposure Time1/180
• Aperture1.8
• ISO50
• Focal Length4.5 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramProgram AE
• Exposure Bias

Here’s one of the new pieces from Series 2 of the fine art called The Impossible Library. We decided to make these a little smaller to fit on the walls of regular people! Haha… Series 1 has been doing great and many are sold out, but not everyone has a ton of room to hang pieces that can be 6 to 10 feet wide.

The Impossible Library

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2019-03-29 19:09:47
• CameraPixel 3 XL
• Camera MakeGoogle
• Exposure Time1/25
• Aperture1.8
• ISO126
• Focal Length4.4 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramProgram AE
• Exposure Bias

When we went to the crazy library in Tianjin, we decided to have some fun and do some posed shots. That Curtis there on the right and the lady on the left was one of the ladies from the Ritz-Carlton that brought us here. She is probably the most giggly person I have ever met in my life. Literally, anything I would say or do would make her giggle uncontrollably. But, I actually like this quality in people… I like when they laugh at my jokes even when they make absolutely no sense.

Having Fun in the Library

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2018-06-13 14:42:28
• CameraPixel 2 XL
• Camera MakeGoogle
• Exposure Time1/120
• Aperture1.8
• ISO197
• Focal Length4.5 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramProgram AE
• Exposure Bias

Tianjin is kind of an interesting city and kind of a strange city, like most Chinese cities it reminds me of some kind of parallel universe where people use some of the same rules as Western cities and also do some incredibly random stuff. It’s clear the Chinese have a different aesthetic to city living than Westerners. I’m not saying it’s good or bad; it’s just different. Anyway, Tianjin is one of the first Chinese cities I’ve visited that has a ton of bridges crisscrossing the river. Here’s one of the best views from the most centrally located bridge.

Bridge Views in Tianjin

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2018-06-14 00:16:10
• CameraILCE-7RM3
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1.6
• Aperture9
• ISO100
• Focal Length73.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

This library was both amazing and confusing, in more ways than one. I spent about three hours inside of here taking all sorts of photos. They would not let me use my “big boy” camera, so I had to use my Pixel 2 phone. But hey, I must say, that Pixel 2 phone is pretty incredible. Now I’m using the Pixel 3, and it’s even better!

Checking out Books in the Tianjin Library

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2018-06-13 14:50:43
• CameraPixel 2 XL
• Camera MakeGoogle
• Exposure Time1/120
• Aperture1.8
• ISO100
• Focal Length4.5 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramProgram AE
• Exposure Bias

This was a heck of a cool city, and I would love to spend more time here. We met a local photographer who really enjoyed a bit of breaking and entering of office buildings to get unique angles. To get into this place, we had to go in some back entrance at the bottom of the building then take the service elevator up. There were all these other people on the elevator too, so we had to act like we knew what we were doing (I did not). After we got close, we got off the elevator then went up several flights of service stairs until we reached the right level. Well, we were on the wrong side of the building, so we had to duck, climb over, and crawl through all matter of ductwork and electrical cables until we finally got to the very edge of the building. I’m glad I’m not too afraid of heights!

Mild B&E in Tianjin

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2018-06-12 23:55:15
• CameraILCE-7RM3
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/5
• Aperture2.8
• ISO100
• Focal Length35.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias