Namibia Archives - Page 5 of 6 - Stuck in Customs

Hiking in Namibia

Tips on Navigating Stuck In Customs

We’re always making little improvements here and there on the site… I don’t really mention them too much. But, be sure to check out all the links along the lefthand side. There’s some gold in them thar links! Also, don’t forget that you can click on the category up at the top to see more photos from, well, Namibia in this

Daily Photo – Hiking in Namibia

What a place this is! I did my best to try to give a scale of the dune by showing a small group making the ascent. And, honestly, they are only halfway up that beast. I walked up the same dune with our group, but a different direction. The direction we chose was steeper, faster, and it made me want to curl in a ball and cry until the world was better again.

Hiking in Namibia

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-09-25 19:50:37
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/350
  • Aperture6.7
  • ISO320
  • Focal Length59.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias

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Around a warm fire in Freezing Namibia

A bunch of photos of me in action

I just checked this link and saw an absolute ton of photos of me. I am not very photogenic and I always cringe a little bit when I look through these… but, anyway, there ya go!

Daily Photo – Around a warm fire in Freezing Namibia

Who knew Namibia was so cold at night? It wasn’t just a little bit cold, it was a lotta bit cold! I really didn’t bring enough warm clothes and I found myself wearing way more layers than I anticipated. Almost every night found us circling around the fire to stay warm. This is one of the many resorts we stayed at with our Africa Photo Adventure group… what an amazing property.

Around a warm fire in Freezing Namibia

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-09-28 06:45:10
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time20
  • Aperture4
  • ISO320
  • Focal Length13.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

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The Desert Rose Begins to Swim

The Desert Rose in a future video

I took this photo during a little tutorial video we were shooting while there… so you’ll see more of her soon!

Daily Photo – The Desert Rose Begins to Swim

This girl was amazing! She was working at the hotel when our whole photo adventure crew entered the Damaraland are of Namibia. She announced herself at lunch as “The Desert Rose” and she was a real piece of work… just hilarious and a total actress. She could also do the whole click-language thing which was a source of endless entertainment!

The Desert Rose Begins to Swim

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-09-27 07:10:09
  • CameraILCE-7S
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/4000
  • Aperture
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments

Elephant in the Wild

Tracking Elephants

I’m not exactly the greatest animal tracker in the world, so I was really watching my guides as they tried to find some of these elephants. They actually had great difficulty and we looked for hours before finally finding them. But then, sure enough, there they were! We found one, then five, then several families. And then we were with them for many hours… we never got tired of watching them and following them along the riverbeds!

Daily Photo – Elephant in the Wild

There are not a lot of wild African animals in Namibia, but one of them is the desert-adapted elephant. They walk along the dried river beds with their families, constantly moving and eating in a never-ending buffet. Imagine that – waking up and going straight to a buffet with your family and eating All Day Long. You never get to sit down, but you can just keep walking along a neverending buffet… so strange to think about. But, I guess the bad thing about it would be that it’s just a nonstop salad bar and you never get to the good stuff.

Elephant in the Wild

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-09-28 19:29:49
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/2000
  • Aperture4
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length69.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments

Doorways Through Time

Tony and the Diamond Mine

The night after I took this photo, I had a very strange set of things happen. The diamond mines are still very active around here, and I ended up in a bar with a guy named Tony that was the manager of the mine here. He wore a very stylish hat. Me, Rene, and Curtis all ended up back in his suite where the party started to get super, well, unreliable. We ended up getting the hell out of there, but not before Tony gave us his hat as a sign of gratitude and sorrow.

Remind me to tell the full story some time!

Daily Photo – Doorways Through Time

Here in the abandoned diamond mining town called Lüderitz, I found a cool old house where every room was painted differently. The color choices all went so nicely together, and they seem to go even better as time ticks along. You can see some of the sand that has come in from the sand dunes below at the bottom. All the rooms to the left are almost completely full of sand, and that is blocking a lot of the sand from getting in here.

Doorways Through Time

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-09-20 08:58:36
  • CameraILCE-7S
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/2000
  • Aperture
  • ISO3200
  • Focal Length
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments

Natives in the Hot Afternoon Namibian Sun

What I think About Bird Photos

I recently gave this fairly useless critique to Cat Burton inside the Arcanum. Below this quote, I put one of my own photos, which I do not really think of as a bird-photo, but as a weird-photo.

It’s a good photo.

Here’s my somewhat useless analysis, being a non-bird-photographer. I’ve taken a few bird-photos, but I don’t consider myself a bird photographer. I only know a little bit about bird-photographers, but they are mystical, like “The Others” on Lost.

My take is that: bird photos are only interesting to other bird photographers.

Other photographers are, at most, only vaguely interested and will generally comment on the sharpness, but otherwise find the subject matter inscrutable.

Bird photographers also seem to be purists. They’ll sit in one uncomfy spot forever to get a photo of some triple-adjectived rare bird that is only seen on a blood moon in a province of Linkershire when the tide is low. They take great pride in their fortitude and find any artifice to be reprehensible.

And, in your bird-cloning tactic, you have probably given offense to the purists among the bird photographers. I think it is cool, but, as I said repeatedly, I am not a bird photographer. They may find this photo to be incomprehensible and as impure as your original sin soul, but, again, I am not a bird photographer.

I hope this useless critique was of interest, or, something.

Attack On Gaijin

Daily Photo – Natives in the Hot Afternoon Namibian Sun

I won’t put much text here, because I think it sort of takes away from the moment. But while in Namibia, we visited a village, and I saw these to gentlemen, high upon a rock.

Natives in the Hot Afternoon Namibian Sun

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-09-27 01:31:41
  • CameraILCE-7S
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/4000
  • Aperture
  • ISO250
  • Focal Length
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments

Another Beautiful Night under the Quiver Trees in Namibia

Star Shot Pano

This was actually created with 6 different photos. I made a little grid in the sky with 3 boxes across and 2 rows tall. I did this mostly because I was shooting on the resolution A7S and the 35mm F/1.4. I just could not get all of the Milky Way with one shot, so I mapped out the little grid in my mind then made the pano later!

I actually have a how-to-video for this! Sign up for the Newsletter to be sure to find out when it is available! 🙂

Daily Photo – Another Beautiful Night under the Quiver Trees in Namibia

The Milky Way is a magnificent site anywhere in the world. I never really saw it when I lived in Austin so I kind of lost an appreciation for it over time – that was lame of me! Anyway, I should really take more opportunities for star shots, so I tried to get out almost every night in Namibia to make it happen!

Another Beautiful Night under the Quiver Trees in Namibia

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-09-18 13:44:40
  • CameraILCE-7S
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time30
  • Aperture
  • ISO1000
  • Focal Length
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments

The Feminine Sands of Namibia

Thanks Again!

Thank you again to everyone that joined us for the amazing Photo Adventure in Namibia! It was just great fun to get to know everyone so well and go on such a fun photography adventure with you 🙂

Daily Photo – The Feminine Sands of Namibia

I feel like I’ve spent a massive amount of time lately traversing sand dunes. It’s almost like I spent a huge amount of time lately on the planet of Tattooine! I’ve started to notice that sometimes when I squint and look at my photos, they can read very feminine. Then, when I converted this one to a high-key black and white, I definitely got this feeling. I like this technique so much, I think I will try it more on future sand dune shots.

The Feminine Sands of Namibia

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-09-24 23:06:07
  • CameraILCE-6000
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/160
  • Aperture9
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length134.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias

Comments

Some Favorite Photos and a New Daily One!

A trip down memory lane

Here are a few favorite photos I thought I might re-share! And, as always, there’s a new Daily Photo at the bottom. Thanks again to everyone that comes to the blog so often… you guys are the best! And thank you for recommending it to your friends too. I hope you’re having a good holiday season! 🙂

The Peony Pavilion at The Imperial Granary I was invited to go see a very special event here in Beijing.  There is an old area that has the ancient Imperial Granaries that date back hundreds and hundreds of years.  One of these has been converted to an intimate opera house.  They bring in some of the best opera actors from all over China to perform here.If you haven't seen a Chinese opera, you are in store for something totally original!This particular performance was called The Peony Pavillion, which was written during the Ming dynasty and is a love story about all kinds of crazy mythical stuff that I don't want to spoil for you.  But it's really a must-see if you are into unique forms of entertainment.  And you do feel a bit like a time-traveller, watching a scene from hundreds of years ago.Even more interesting, there is a trendy and delicious restaurant next door.  Everyone eats together and has a wonderful leisurely meal before meandering over next door to enjoy the opera.  It's a great experience!- Trey RatcliffRead the rest of this entry here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

The Ceiling of the Paris Opera House I stole this photo-taking idea from Matt Knisely! At first, I would lay down on my back and try to get the shot. But that was frustrating and bothersome. Then I saw Matt just put his camera on the ground with a timer then run away! So that’s what I did to get this shot… although it took a few takes to get it to line up right…- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Little Girl On A Long Blue Road

Little Girl And Thought

In the Imperial Hallways I went over to Baihei Island in Beijing to visit some of the older parts and see what it looked like inside some of the temples. As you can imagine, everything was quite detailed and ornate. There was even some amazing food that was prepared for us by a chef at the restaurant there. And then, to my surprise, this richly decorated woman came out to serve it to us. As she was walking back through one of the old hallways, I asked her to stop for a second so I could take a photo.And yes, this was taken with the Sony NEX-7. All of my new photos from China were taken with that camera…- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

The Pink Sea Spray at Sunset Behind this exploding wave at Big Sur is something that I have never seen before. Why didn’t I take a photo of it? It’s because taking a good photo of a pod of whales from the beach is almost impossible! At least, it appears to be impossible for me. I’ve never seen whales so close into the beach. Maybe it happens all the time around there, but I was quite surprised. Have you ever seen a pod of whales from the beach? - Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Solar Flower - The Giant Robot of Buenos Aires This thing is enormous.  In grinds and churns as it follows the sun.  The metallic petals flex and bend with the light as the sun sweeps across the sky.  I had never seen anything like it in my life.  It sits in a park and public walking area of Buenos Aires, Argentina.  I walked around it for a while to get a good angle of the monster.  My tripod was stuck in customs, so I had to do this one handheld... and do my best to keep the camera as steady as a T-1000.In less than 24 hours, I will endeavor to introduce a new type of photography to you guys.  I don't have a name for it.  It's experimental.  You'll have to help me come up with a good name for the technique.  People that get the Newsletter (it's free!) will get a sneak peak tomorrow a little early.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Daily Photo – Lounging at the Fish River Canyon

Here’s one of the swanky places we stayed at during our Namibian Photo Adventure! It was so incredible… When we weren’t out shooting, we were either processing photos, drinking, lounging by the pool, or lounging by the pool and drinking! Haha it was all so fun! If this kinda think looks fun to you, be sure to sign up for our Newsletter and/or check out our Stuck In Customs store above to find out about upcoming workshops.

Lounging at the Fish River Canyon

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-09-20 17:19:26
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1.5
  • Aperture8
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length28.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias

Comments

A Mirage in the Desert and 3 Tips for the Perfect Refliction shot

3 Tips for the Perfect Refliction shot and my new backup solution! Part 1 of 3

I was just out here in New Zealand taking some pretty “refliction” shots (that’s how they say it here!) and using my new WD My Passport Wireless to do backups while in the field. I made a few short videos that shows how I did it all! Enjoy!

Daily Photo – A Mirage in the Desert

Isn’t this a strange and confusing photo? That’s why I like it so much! I climbed to the top of this godforsaken dune called “Big Daddy.” It’s the biggest dune in the Sossusvlei area and is 325 meters high. Down below, you can see the lighter colored desert where the dead acacia trees roam.

A Mirage in the Desert

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-09-25 21:59:53
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/2000
  • Aperture4
  • ISO64
  • Focal Length70.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias+0.3

Comments