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How to Build Real Influence with Lauren Bath

In my book, Under the Influence, I expose the many ways people are cheating major brands, sponsors and their followers with their entirely "fake influence". However, there are REAL people that have built REAL influence through hard work and authenticity and became financially successful. One of these is my good friend Lauren Bath. She was deemed “Australia’s first professional Instagrammer” by national media, she pioneered the Australian Influencer industry. She's also the co-founder of “The Travel Bootcamp”, an inspirational event designed to teach people how to get paid to travel.

Lauren asked me to contribute to her new online course, How to Build Real Influence, specifically for those of you interested in becoming a real Influencer (instead of using all the underhanded tricks listed in my book). This is a multi-week online course that will show step-by-step how to grow your audience and influence.

If you’re interested, you can sign up for the course at https://thetravelbootcamp.com/HowToBuildRealInfluence

Also, in the interest of full disclosure, I consulted and contributed to the course. Lauren also said that she will buy me unlimited wine in addition to paying me for contributing, so I have a vested interest.

Luminar 3 featuring their new Accent AI

Skylum recently updated their Luminar product with their new Accent AI. This new version is content-aware and analyzes photographs, taking notes of things like faces, and offers a one-click improvement to your images. I often start with the Accent AI slider, and then layer in one of my Presets... err... I mean "Looks". I still say it wrong all the time!

You can get the latest version of Luminar here and check out my Wildly Unpredictable Luminar Looks here.

Interview About How To Stay Zen On Social Media At Google

The new book is still doing great on Amazon so thanks for that! If you don’t have your copy yet, now is a great time to grab it! Or even get one for a friend!

When I was out in San Francisco a few weeks ago, I was invited to do an interview about the topics in the book with Bradley Horowitz. It was a really fun conversation, and I bring it to you thusly!

StuckInCustoms.com is a personal blog where Trey puts up a new unique photo every day and writes about the art, the technology, and the story of the adventures. Actually, this is Trey writing about this in third person. Both Trey and I appreciate your support very much! If you think your family or friends might like this Newsletter (subscribe for free), please forward this to them. It'll make a fun email chain!

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Some recent photos from StuckInCustoms.com

Awesome Tokyo

I feel like I jump on here every week and talk about how awesome Japan is. It reminds me a little bit of Austin in a strange way… in that, in Austin, everyone sits around coffee shops and talks about how awesome Austin is. It’s sort of a strange thing, and quite the existential self-compliment. But, I do the same thing in Japan when I meet another English speaker. It’s always the same conversation: “Can you believe how awesome Japan is?” then they say, “Yes, how about the Japanese people?!?” then I say, “Yeah, like totes.”

Shopping in Singapore

There may be something wrong with me in that I enjoy taking photos of places that people shop rather than shopping. I almost do zero shopping... I've turned into more and more of a minimalist. Mostly, I spend money to buy experiences and travel rather than physical goods. That's one reason I enjoy going to Burning Man so much... it is a giant expense, but it's always worth it... so far, I come away with great stories and a few decent photos!

The Hills

There are about a dozen perfect little ponds around The Hills golf course. Most of the time, they have perfect reflections as well. Michael Hill has been trying to talk me into making a full set of photos for the golf course, but I've been pretty busy lately. Maybe I'll get around to it... it's not a terrible idea!

The Beautiful Great Wall of China

This is actually what 99% of the Great Wall looks like, with nature slowly pulling it back into the earth. I took this one above with a quadcopter... we slept not too far from here, up on top of the Great Wall. I think that is technically illegal, but we didn't find that out until too late!

A Moody Storm in Queenstown

One of my favorite things about having a quadcopter is that I can very quickly get a photo when the light gets interesting! This is the view from where I live here in Queenstown, and every night has a new set of light and clouds. I keep the quadcopter fully fueled and ready for action, just in case something like this presents itself!

Amazing Statue in Sanya

Look at the size of this thing! You can see the normal sized Chinese people down at the bottom. I took this with a quad and it was extremely difficult! For one thing, it was extremely windy. Secondly, this was about two miles away from my takeoff location so I was constantly losing the connection with the quad. I had to burn through three batteries before I finally got it out far enough to get this angle that I wanted.

The Golden Pavilion

This is one of the most famous temples in Kyoto, so of course I had to go. It's sort of like going to the Eiffel Tower in Paris or Rudy's BBQ in Austin. It was originally built back in 1397 and has been destroyed and rebuilt several times. The building itself is as meticulous as the gardens around it. The Japanese really know how to tend a garden! There was a fleet of workers all over the grounds, sweeping up and rearranging little bits here and there. It was all very quaint and wonderful.