I was doing an old promo video for Smugmug, which is the website that hosts my portfolio. They are a great company and I’ve been a fan for many years. They did a few “promo” videos staring yours truly and this was one of the locations we visited. They would get footage of me looking “cool” with my tripod. I don’t really think I look that cool. I look quite nerdy. But, comfortable with my nerdiness, I think!
Daily Photo – The Rock Moved So Slowly That I Did Not Notice
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.
This is one of the six uber uniques from the collection where the owner on the 31st March 2023 gets the large format physical print!
This is a mysterious place!
This magical place is deep in Death Valley and virtually inaccessible. These massive rocks move across the desert pan, carving trails of time behind them. Countless theories exist about what causes this phenomenon. I stayed here all night, and this was taken just after midnight as the moon rose to make new shadows. I thought the moon might give some clues, but it did not. I lay on the hard pavement near the rock to see if I could sense movement. After half an hour, not only did I see no movement, but I also felt quite redonkulous.
I was completely nude while taking this photo. That has nothing to do with the photo, but I thought you might like to know.
Daily Photo – The Starlight in Downtown Los Angeles
I’ve been to downtown LA many times, and there are many good angles, but I think this one is just about one of the best. There was a lot of waiting around, however. I had to wait for big busses to pass me on either side so I could set up for the long exposure.
Usually, I’ll take 5 exposures in these situations, but I do something a little special. I’ll take the quicker exposures right away (often 1 or 2 seconds). And then I’ll pause and wait for a bus or something before taking the longer exposures. I create the HDR then mask in the tail lights from the photos where I get the best trails.
This area is kind of wild but worth the drive. I had to take this direction one time because part of Highway 1 on the PCH was shut down just south of Carmel. The only way I could get around the other way was to take the longer way down through this military base, most of which is just open fields and trees. The wide-open fields make for perfect tree shots, especially in the early morning and late afternoon. I’m not sure why the fields are so empty — it’s possible they cleared a lot of the trees for practicing military manoeuvres and whatnot.
I took this photo in Death Valley one evening. The bush is red and mysterious because of a bit or light-painting with my headlamp. My neck got a bit tired from multiple tries. That glow around it? I don’t really know… maybe a bit of the dust from the desert caught the red light. Either way, I like how everything looks all funky and Zen. Even in the middle of the night, it was still over 95 degrees with a hot wind blasting into my camera and face.
I haven’t been to LA since Covid… man it’s really changed quite a bit. I listen to the Tim Dillon podcast a lot (one of my faves – not for the faint of heart!) – but he has the funniest things to say about LA. Anyway, I took this one, I think, following a photowalk, after the USA bus tour of 13 cities… what a fun evening that was in Santa Monica!
I’ll be in LA for the week soon… should be a fun time. Catching up with old friends and some art collectors. Also working on some cool Machine Elf stuff. If you haven’t seen the latest Machine Elf fractal creations, be sure to check out the-machine-elf.com.
Daily Photo – the fog you can only see through from above
Yosemite is a wonderful place for photography, and it’s one of those places that is filled with an intimidating and rich photographic history. I don’t even understand how Ansel Adams did it back in the day; but I have a sense of it, I suppose. So this is un-Yosemite in a way. I aimed away from Yosemite, to all the little mountains that walk up to the great park, and I embraced all the color that I felt flowing inwards.
Daily Photo – the rock moved so slowly that I did not notice
This is a mysterious place!
This magical place is deep in Death Valley and virtually inaccessible. These massive rocks move across the desert pan, carving trails of time behind them. Countless theories exist about what causes this phenomenon. I stayed here all night, and this was taken just after midnight as the moon rose to make new shadows. I thought the moon might give some clues, but it did not. I lay on the hard pavement near the rock to see if I could sense movement. After half an hour, not only did I see no movement, but I also felt quite redonkulous.
I was completely nude while taking this photo. That has nothing to do with the photo, but I thought you might like to know.
Aiming to launch the new TreyRatcliff.com towards the end of next week… can it be achieved? I hope so! In the meantime, here’s one of the fine art images from the current site.
