Daily Photo – Checking Social Media in St. Petersburg
Everywhere… everywhere… people are addicted to their phones. I’m pretty sure this is a giant source of increased anxiety. It is fun and stimulating to be on your phone, but it is an “unnatural” way to navigate the planet. Just getting out in nature and walking around is really a great counter to this. Also, being around other humans is important too. I was thinking about those African villages where the grownups and kids had so much happiness and absolutely zero screens to stare at. I’m not saying it’s one or the other, but a bit of balance is nice!
In this episode, part 2 of a conversation while walking on the El Camino in Spain, I talk with Kevin Kelly about one of his many projects, the 10,000 Year Library. We also talk about what to do with all the existing libraries in the world… access to information… the future of libraries and knowledge curation… and more!
I only had one quick day in this awesome city. I tried to make the most of it by taking as many people photos as possible. Some of these Russians had the grumpiest faces I’ve ever seen. I think they were so confused while I was taking the photos… it doesn’t seem like a hobby over there at all. I hardly saw anyone else carrying around cameras for street photography. My theory is that the older generation that lived in Communism for so long are just generally distrusting of others… especially others with cameras. But that didn’t stop me.
Who would have ever guessed this is the Moscow skyline? Not me! I took this from the balcony of the famous White Rabbit restaurant. Even well-traveled people rarely visit Moscow for a variety of reasons. It’s hard to get there. Visas are difficult. It seems a bit “scary” to most travelers. However, I know a few Russians and they are all a bit crazy in a fun way… so I was excited to go there and experience thousands of crazy Russians. I was not disappointed!
One of my psychonaut friends sent me this video! If you are interested in mushrooms… well, this is the dude!
Daily Photo – Incredible Moscow
During our New Zealand workshop, I got a request about how I achieved the “streaky” effect you see in this photo. I decided to re-create it with this photo from Moscow! And then, after I was done, I decided I like this photo even more than the original, unstreaky one!
While I was at the amazing Te Arai Lodge, Doug (one of the family members) and I did his podcast together. It was a ton of fun! You can Listen to It Here.
Here’s his description that he put on Instagram:
“I felt so alive. I finally felt like I was finding my true life’s purpose… (When I became consciousness) It’s been a wild journey. By the way I still don’t know what I’m doing.” – @treyratcliff now up on the podcast with insights, love & vulnerability in all things HDR photography, consciousness, @burningman , fine art & so much more. Warning: This contains some explicit content & will expand your mind, heart & concept of reality. Bon appetite! 🎤😎👌🏼
Daily Photo – Soviet Soldiers on Break in Moscow
I walked into a random shopping mall to see what one was like in Russia. I think shopping in far-flung countries is always interesting… I like to see how they do things differently. Anyway, while walking around, I saw these two young soldiers sharing an ice cream. I told them it looked like much more fun than invading Germany and they nodded.
I’d like to thank my friends again at Origin PC for sending me that new computer! Man, Lightroom is SO FAST on it… even faster than my Macbook. They don’t pay me to write this stuff… it’s just the truth! It brings me a stability and a pleasure knowing that I’ve got a super-fast computer there helping me take care of my photos!
Daily Photo – Coffee Shop in St. Petersburg
While in Russia, we had a day-trip to St. Petersburg. We went to a coffee shop that was full of women that seemed to be right out of some modeling catalog. I don’t know if it’s like that all the time, but I will assume it is so. It’s hard for me to sit still for long, so I started running around with my camera to take photos of some of the inhabitants.
Below is the highlight video from our photo walk in Moscow… it was a great way to end the event. If you look closely, there were two undercover marines following me for protection.
A Week in Dusky Sound
Here’s a fun video that shows a boat I was living on for about a week with some friends down in the fjordlands of New Zealand. What a great time we all had! I also recommend this a fun guy trip to anyone. I think everyone pitched in around $800 bucks or so. You get a captain and a chef and basically an unlimited week of freedom!
We were all pretty tired by the time we made it to the last stop in our 10-country tour of Europe a few years ago. But there’s something about being a new city that gives me a little boost of energy! So I tried to use every possible calorie left in my body to see as much as I could… this is the view from one of the bridges as you approach the Red Square.
I upgraded from the Pixel 2 and I’m happy I did! This one has been absolutely fantastic. One of my favorite things is the little charging dock. It looks kind of like… hmmm… how do I describe it. Well, let me put a picture below. What I think is cool about it is that, even with a case on, you can just set your phone there and it charges… no need to plug it in. And it acts like a photo-frame while there, showing me family photos while it happily charges.
Daily Photo – St. Basil’s Cathedral
It was a perfect day in the Red Square in Moscow for photo taking! This was my very first time in Russia and I absolutely loved it. I found it to be such an interesting-crazy place. There is something about that Russian mind I cannot quite put my finger on, but I think it is interesting. Besides all these hot tourist spots, our videographer Olya took us around with all her nutty friends to see all sorts of places tourists don’t normally get to see. It was great fun, and I’ll share more of those photos soon!
As you can see in the photo walk highlights below, it definitely didn’t rain and a good time was had by all!
Daily Photo – Moscow on a Moody Day
There were great views from the rooftop bar in at the Ritz-Carlton there in Moscow. It was pretty easy to pop up there at different times of the day to get different light situations. I took this right before our photo walk, when rain was threatening. This was the final city of our 10-city European tour, and we had not had rain at all. I was afraid our luck was about to run out!
Here’s a live video I just made that shows off some of the new features of Aurora HDR 2019. If you pre-order prior to October 4th you save $$ and get tons of freebies! Existing users can check this link to see if you qualify for an upgrade for just $49. New users may purchase Aurora HDR 2019 for just $89.
A collection of bonuses are included with every purchase:
$300 USD OFF a multi-day Iceland Photo Tour
Landscape Photography Handbook by David Johnston
Exclusive interior Aurora Looks by Richard Harrington
Burning Mood Looks by Richard Harrington
3-month 500px Pro membership
Video Tutorial: Getting the Most from Aurora HDR 2019 by Trey Ratcliff
Getting to Burning Man
For next year I’m looking to buy a truck that can haul a 15,000 lb fifth wheel. If anyone has any contacts, please let me know. I feel quite dumb because when Rene and I bought this monster, I didn’t realize you also should really own a truck to haul it. But, hey, now I know… All this simply reminds me that one’s freedom is indirectly proportional to one’s possessions.
Four Quick Hits for Passport Members
This isn’t part of the regular Sunday Passport special days… so these are just some quick hits that may be helpful for you. One tip is how to fix that sloooow previews in Lightroom for Presets. Tip 2 is about “Trello” which is one of our favorite apps. Tip 3 is all about MOO cards. Tip 4 is about the new Screenflow Pro!
On my first day in Moscow I was treated with some amazing clouds. This has been a city I’ve always wanted to visit, but it turns out to be a pretty difficult place to visit. It’s not really a hot-spot for tourists, but there are so many interesting photo spots all over the place. The Kremlin here is perhaps the most iconic spot in Russia with all of these unusual onion-shaped domes. I wanted to end up back here to take some night photos, but Moscow is such a crazy place that I ended up becoming distracted by all sorts of strange parties.
