Best Rooftop Bars in the World?

I was wondering if there was a good list somewhere. These typically tend to be the best places to take photos because most are open-air, which means you don’t have to shoot through a window. When I visit new cities, I’ve started looking these up more and more, rather than observation decks. Those are often too full of people and too brightly lit, which can cause very annoying reflection

Daily Photo – Atop the Bar at the Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach

What an amazing place this is! Dubai can be unbearably hot for several months out of the year, so there are many rooftop bars where you can go cool off at night. I reckon this one atop the Four Seasons there is one of the best. On one side is a view of the sea and on the other is a view of downtown Dubai. I brought my laptop up here almost every night to work on photos while having drinks… so fun!

Atop the Bar at the Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2015-04-28 04:31:39
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time8
• Aperture10
• ISO200
• Focal Length11.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

Interview on Epic Mirrorless

I recently did an interview over at Epic Mirrorless all about my switch to mirrorless. Enjoy!

Daily Photo – Hendricks in the Four Seasons Dubai

This place made me the most epic gin & tonic ever! First, they only use Hendricks, and second, they infuse it with all sorts of things… they have all kinds of condensers, flames, tubes, hoses, and, well, it all looks like a huge chemistry experiment. It was quite an enjoyable night of taking photos, editing photos, and exploring G&Ts!

Hendricks in the Four Seasons Dubai

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2015-04-30 04:04:31
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time2
• Aperture8
• ISO200
• Focal Length10.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

The Four Seasons in Dubai

I’m VERY excited to stay at the Four Seasons in Dubai. I’m not sure when I’m gonna have time to work on any photos, but I’ll do it as soon as I can… I’ve seen some amazing photos, but I hope I can make a few unique ones of m

Daily Photo – Approaching the Burj Al Arab on the Beach

This hotel is so massive that it’s hard to describe. Do you know it’s actually the third tallest hotel in the world? I know, hard to believe! And the top 5 are all in Dubai. Here’s a list of the tallest hotels in the world.

Approaching the Burj Al Arab on the Beach

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2015-03-18 22:59:40
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time0.3
• Aperture4
• ISO800
• Focal Length16.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

The Most Expensive Hotel – a Documentary

Here’s a documentary about the hotel I took a photo of below. What a place!

Daily Photo – Checking into the Burj Al Arab

Okay, I didn’t actually check-in here, but maybe someday! This is the world’s only 7-star hotel and it is absolutely majestic and crazy inside. I didn’t even know what was happening with my eyes when I was in there… super-duper-overload! It was all I could do to settle myself to take a photo. This area is right after the revolving doors… I took this photo around 2 AM after Rene and I had spent the evening up in the top floor bar editing photos.

Checking into the Burj Al Arab

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2015-03-20 06:20:51
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/10
• Aperture7.1
• ISO1250
• Focal Length16.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-0.3

Quick Review of TEDxQueenstown

I had a great time there! Here’s a mega quick review of what happened! The video should be done in a few weeks 🙂

ND Filter?

I’m on the edge of getting a good ND Filter for my lenses so that I can do some long-exposure stuff during the daytime. But one problem is that I use so many different lenses, and they all have different filter-thread sizes. For example, I looked into getting one for my 21mm Leica F/1.4 — but the adapter+filter all together is over $500. It’s not the end of the world on cost, but then there is organizing everything… carrying around different ND filters and stuff. It just seems like a tremendous inconvenience for the very rare shot I would take… I think it is very difficult to fill up your bag with all the “edge-cases” for photography, so I’m just gonna keep it simple

Daily Photo – Exploring the Reflections of Dubai

I absolutely love exploring Dubai at night. I can’t get enough of it. The ironic thing is I stopped in Dubai for a few days to rest and recuperate, but what ended up happening was I stayed up almost every night until dawn with Rene! He and I had so much fun walking around here and taking a ton of photos. I haven’t even come close to processing all of them, but here is one of my favorite reflection shots!

Exploring the Reflections of Dubai

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2015-03-15 09:50:05
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time2
• Aperture
• ISO200
• Focal Length
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias+0.7

Testing out BlogLovin’

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Venice PhotoWalk Announced! May 3, 6 PM!

Hey everyone, I’m coming to Venice for the Biennale and I’m super-excited. Let’s do a photowalk while there. These events are free and just a fun way to give back to all of you that have given so much internet-love. It’s a great celebration of photography and all skill levels, ages, etc are welcome to join. It doesn’t matter if you take mobile photos or giant DSLR photos… come along! Bring a friend or bring the family… it’s all good! 🙂

Day: Sunday May 3
Time: 6 PM
Starting Location: St Mark’s Campanile in St. Mark’s Square
Google Map: http://goo.gl/M1ISUr
Ending Location: ?? We’ll find some pub or something — actually I could use a local helper to help plan the route and stuff — let me know!

Hashtag: #TRVenice2015

Who can come: Anyway, all skill levels and cameras from Mobile to DSLR are welcome.

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/362960580561857/

Google+ Event: https://plus.google.com/events/cbo3enena96k5orkh4l4horfru8

What happens on my PhotoWalks? I usually start out and give a little talk or something… some ideas and lessons, etc. Then we start on the walk, all together taking photos of stuff and people and things. I’ll stop 3+ times along the way and set up or a formal shot… talk through my settings, let you look through my camera, etc etc. All the while, I’m there to answer your questions and have fun with y’all!

Grand Prize: An unlimited digital shopping spree in the Stuck In Customs store! I will announce the criteria to win on location, but you can share your photos anywhere from G+ to Instagram to FB to Pinterest to Flickr to 500px… you know them all… I’ll search across all of them to find my favorite!

Thanks again for the Dubai PhotoWalk!

What an incredible photowalk that was… thanks again everyone… just amazing!

We were walking along the main marina when it was recommended we pop over to the beach area. On the walk down to the beach, we saw this scene below — amazin

Daily Photo – Camels in the New City

I gotta get back to Dubai! Man there is so much to shoot there. I could probably spend 6 months there and find new things to shoot every single day. It’s an absolute and total playground for photographers. Every day, Rene and I would find more and more amazing subjects for photography.

Camels in the New City

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2015-03-16 22:18:03
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/400
• Aperture4
• ISO1000
• Focal Length24.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

Yoga with Adriene

A few months ago you guys gave me some suggestions for yoga shows on YouTube. Anyway, here’s one of my favorites – Yoga with Adriene. I like her… she’s really chill and doesn’t take it too seriously. She also has a fun 30-days-of-Yoga program that I recommend. Also, she’s from my old hometown of Austin!

Daily Photo – Approaching Mos Eisley Spaceport on Tatooine

I was on a helicopter over the Persian Gulf and saw Dubai from a distance. It’s amazing how much the sand can give the city sort of an epic haze. At first I thought it was pollution, but my friend Sebastian told me it was sand. It absolutely reminded me of the spaceport from Star Wars.

Approaching Mos Eisley Spaceport on Tatooine

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2015-03-15 21:52:54
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/400
• Aperture4
• ISO160
• Focal Length55.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

Set your Cal!

They are only half price for 24 hours! Here’s the Lightroom Presets page that will tell you more about them… and here’s a little video!

Daily Photo – And the Lights Spiral Down

This is one of my favorite photos from Dubai, I must say! I keep coming back to it over and over again, and it gives me great pleasure!

I would love to live in a home surrounded by these. Or at least have one or two rooms absolutely full of them. I’ve only seen a few of these stores around the world, and they have such a plethora of them in these locations that I picture getting ALL of them just for one room. That would either be insane or awesome, but probably awesome.

And the Lights Spiral Down

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2015-03-20 00:29:20
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/5
• Aperture8
• ISO80
• Focal Length16.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-0.7

The finishing touch by MacPhun!

I used MacPhun Intensify to get some of this final sharpness. I use it a lot now… another cool one is MacPhun Tonality which is a quick black&white kinda program I also recommend!

Not having a plan…

…still seems to be one of the best plans of all when going out for an evening of photography. I mean, you can make one decision as to a starting point, but then let it flow from there. That’s what we did here below… I think if we would have had a set plan, we never would have found this incredible place!

Daily Photo – Getting Lost in the Souk

Rene and I had a magical time running around this Medinat and souk area near the coastline of Dubai. We got hopelessly lost and we had to occasionally go into Assassin’s Creed mode to get up high to see where we were going! We’d use the distant Burj Al Arab as a beacon. If we kept walking towards that, we could make our way to the beach and back home again.

Getting Lost in the Souk

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2015-03-19 23:57:47
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time2.5
• Aperture4
• ISO200
• Focal Length22.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

Dubai-fest!

Sorry for the multiple photos of Dubai two days in a row! I’m just so excited by the photos there… Also I’d like to thank Dubai Films for their incredible team and support. What a week!

Daily Photo – The Burj Khalifa from a Chopper

The city looks like a thousand sparkling jewels at the bottom of the sea, and the Burj Khalifa is the most grand. I have absolutely never seen anything like this in my life and I can’t get over how full of awe I was the entire time. I’ve seen a lot of pretty things, but nothing compares to this. It is probably the same feeling the first hot-air-baloonist had when flying over Paris at night 100 years ago. I took thousands of photos and it will take me a sweet forever to go through all of them, but here is another for you.

The Burj Khalifa from a Chopper

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2015-03-15 22:45:37
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/320
• Aperture
• ISO1000
• Focal Length
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias