Cool Rings
How cool is this?!
27
January 2024 : Saturday
Jan 2024 : Saturday
Random Cameras Along the Way
Daily Photo – Random Cameras Along the Way
Here’s a shot from another random camera experiment. One from the Leica Q one evening in Venice, circa 1875.
24
January 2024 : Wednesday
Jan 2024 : Wednesday
The Hasselblad X1D Incident
Daily Photo – The Hasselblad X1D Incident
I like to think I’m pretty good with my equipment and taking reasonable care of it. That the a7R III, for example, has lasted me 5+ years all over the globe, from the USA tour, to the Euro tour (as a backup), to Africa, Asia and most recently my Scottish adventure. You’ll note that I mention backup on the Euro tour. That’s because I’d decided back around that time to move to Hasselblad and their new X1D, as well as taking on an ambassadorial role with them. That’s not something I usually do for a brand but I liked the equipment after some time with the H5D and was interested to see how the support and relationship would be on a larger trip like our bus tour and photowalks from Portugal to Moscow (via loads of Europe). Anyway, on that very trip there was a “small” mishap with the X1D where I (and my team) left a train between Amsterdam and Rotterdam (i think) and well… the X1D continued onwards, alone, never to be seen again! Sorry Hasselblad!
As for the camera, soooo slow…. but that thing did take AWESOME images.
Note: I’m no longer a Hasselblad Ambassador. A mutual, uneventful end to the relationship when they decided to take their ambassador program in a different direction. I’m sure it was nothing to do with losing some of their high-end kit… probably.
23
December 2023 : Saturday
Dec 2023 : Saturday
Number 6
Daily Photo – Number 6
I thought it’d be fun to go through what turned out to be my top content on social media for the year and that continues today. Mainly I’ll focus on Instagram but I’ll drop in a few others towards the end as when they get traction (e.g. Flickr) the stats go crazy. So, here’s number 6 in my most viewed posts of 2023… does that make them the BEST? Not so sure, but for whatever reason they connected with people, or the algorithm!
30
April 2023 : Sunday
Apr 2023 : Sunday
Over Manarola
Daily Photo – Over Manarola
You are not really supposed to use your drone here, but I am also the kind of person that likes to break the rules if I don’t really feel like it’s that big of a deal. I know… that’s the mind of an artist. Also, what’s the downside? There is no prison in Cinque Terre! I think…
13
April 2023 : Thursday
Apr 2023 : Thursday
Inside The Guided Mirror Room
Daily Photo – Inside The Guided Mirror Room
This place did something I had never seen before. They gave everyone a pretty big mirror you can carry around. You can kind of hold it at your waist and angle it up, so you can look down to see the ceiling instead of looking up. Genius!
See the four mirrors down there on the floor? I was gonna lay out like 50 of them, and I ran back to check my camera to see if they were centered before I added the others. Then, the security guard started yelling at me and rushing over! So I took this photo really fast. (You can see her black visage rapidly approaching on the left!)
29
March 2023 : Wednesday
Mar 2023 : Wednesday
The Calatrava Bridge in Venice
Daily Photo – The Calatrava Bridge in Venice
I don’t do a lot of these abstract scenes, but I do quite like the way this one turned out… I didn’t know for sure if these long shutter techniques would work well on this subject. There’s a lot of experimentation if you want to try something like this yourself. Of course, a tripod is mandatory, but then just switch into manual and try different shutter speeds and adjusting the aperture until you get the lighting you like. This one was 3.2 seconds.
16
March 2023 : Thursday
Mar 2023 : Thursday
Colors and Lines in Venice
Daily Photo – Colors and Lines in Venice
As a little study like project I love mixing together different levels of detail and smoothness in a photo. I think it’s important to have a series of transitions. This one has many transitions, jumping from smooth dull colors to riotous textured colors to bright smooth areas to dull-colored highly textured areas. It’s a fun way to process a photo because it comes out a little different every time, and I’m not ever sure I could re-create this.
12
February 2023 : Sunday
Feb 2023 : Sunday
Venice Sinking Into a Flood
Daily Photo – Venice Sinking Into a Flood
Some nights the water comes up so high that St. Mark’s square starts to flood. While unfortunate, it’s actually mega awesome for photography! Rene and I would swing by this square every single night to see if there was a flood…
This is one of those situations where my shoes and socks are soaked while I am squatting down with my tripod. In order to get a good reflection shot in these situations, you have to get really low and close to the ground. I always watch people’s reactions to my strange positions. The muggles think I am crazy but I know when I may eye contact with another photographer because they give me a knowing nod.
25
January 2023 : Wednesday
Jan 2023 : Wednesday
Ponte Dell ’Accademia at Sunrise
Daily Photo – Ponte Dell ’Accademia at Sunrise
Here’s another one of the images from my 1000 Stories from 1000 Places NFT drop. It sold out in minutes, but they are now available to trade on OpenSea and X2Y2, etc so be sure to check them out.
I was in Venice for about a month, out taking photos every morning at sunrise all the way through the sunset. Then there was always lots of heavy Italian food and bridge-wine on the way home with my friends. I’m not quite sure how I survived it or how I got up at every sunrise. I’m a trooper! But I guess we don’t want to miss any sunrises like this, do we?
I also made a video with this same scene in a meditative Alan Watts video that went viral and got over a million views. It’s one of my favorite videos I have ever made and I hope you enjoy it too. I actually made two Alan Watts videos and you can enjoy them if you jump on YouTube and search for “Trey Ratcliff Alan Watts.”
