The other day I mentioned an upcoming press interview and here it is in web form.
I shared an image from one of the Ritz-Carltons in Bali the other day. Here’s one from the resort I mentioned in the Sphere article, Mandapa – A Ritz-Carlton Reserve. My favorite hotel.
I was having to think back a bit into my travels for an interview I was doing yesterday, and it sent me down a rabbit hole that ended in Bali. Here’s one of the Ritz-Carltons over there and the view I had from my room. Hopefully I can share that interview next week, it was quite fun. 🙂
I think it’s probably obvious to those who read this blog, even occasionally, that I’m delving deep into NFTs. One of the more interesting aspects of the whole experience has been the negativity towards them from some people. It reminds me a lot of the negative feedback I was getting in the early stages of my journey into HDR photography. Which is great as that turned out not too bad a life choice! 🙂 Here’s one of those early HDR examples from back in 2008. Fourteen years! Yikes!
A huge storm was washing over Java just as I arrived here at Prambanan just outside of Yogyakarta in Indonesia. One thing I’ve come to know about big storms in the late afternoon: if you’re patient, you may end up with a crazy sunset. It rarely happens, but if the sun dips below the clouds, you get incalculable layers of crepuscular light. This is an 8th-century Hindu temple that is an expression of God as the Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, for those of you that know the Marvel superhero awesome gods of India). The complex is actually quite huge, second only to Angkor Wat, and has 240 temple structures. Most were destroyed in Earthquakes, but they are slowly being rebuilt.
From the Worship collection on Foundation.
There is a beautiful cliff walk in one of the more rugged areas of Bali that features this simple but iconic temple. There were a bunch of tourists around, so this isn’t usually my bag, but I figured: why not? So I spent a few hours walking around this area preparing for the final shot… I’m actually not 100% happy with the composition of this shot, but it’s the best I could do. If I could go back, I’d take my quadcopter and try a few different looks.
I had to look up in the metadata where I took this photo! Man, my memory is terrible! Anyway, I zoomed into Smugmug to check the tags and realized it was in Bali. I hate having to look it up because it makes me feel dumb… and this one should be easy to figure out because one rarely sees camels by the sea.
Oooookay… welcome to my favorite Machine Elf fractal animation so far! This one explores an infinite poly-helix of DNA as it transforms from one form to the next. You’ll see many patterns in here that remind you of things… I won’t tell you what they are, as they are your own memory patterns. Enjoy! And be sure to check out our new Machine Elf website below. There are many more Machine Elf creations in the works!
There are a few of these Ritz-Carltons where you walk into the lobby and you are completely blown away. This is probably one of my favorites in Bali. There are actually two different RCs in Bali. One is a “Reserve” which means it’s “extra special” where you get a butler and stuff. But, both of them have a stunning entrance lobby like this!
I had an amazing time in Bali, but I didn’t actually get out to see much of the island. This is the most popular area along the coast for photographers and I only made it there with a few days to spare. It’s actually quite difficult to get a shot here, so I walked around for a few hours trying to find the best place to set up for the big sunset image.
Sometimes I tell people I’m a pretty good drone pilot, but I’m nothing like this guy. This guy makes me feel like I can barely operate a tricycle. Check out this video below!
Here’s a shot of the rather remarkable Mandapa, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve. The hotels are nice enough on their own, but these “Reserve” locations take everything to the next level. This photo was taken as a “vertirama” where I stitched together a few vertical photos.
If you want to see this same location from above, jump forward to the Bali location in one of my favorite videos below!
Man, this guy was so fit! I spent a few hours in some of those tapered rice fields in Bali, and this guy was all over the place. It was hot and muggy and I felt like a chubby blob rolling around the fields, and this guy was chopping and carrying rice like a man possessed. He must have been in his late fifties but he was in amazing shape. It made me think I should really do a lot more hard labor and not be in front of a laptop right now writing about it.
