Stuck In Customs

I am still working on this new Stuck In Customs Textures Tutorial. This is one I edited this evening while recording the how-to video. I commented in the beginning of the video that the initial photo was good and there may not be a need to add textures! But, then you end up with something that is also good, just different. It’s like deciding which of your kids you like better! They are all different and good! (Well, most of the time).

These horses came thundering onto the scene while I was walking down the road. I got myself behind a tree so I would not get trampled like Mufasa. I was lucky that they started kicking up dust in the right position relative to the sun so that their legs cast shadows through the cloud. I can’t take credit for that one!

I was with my friends Scott and Rick in Atlanta a few weekends ago. While there, Scott pulled out his video camera and started following me, asking all kinds of questions about photography. He’s just getting started with his DSLR and so is Rick. Scott has made a few HDRs and was already hooked, so he thought it would be a good idea to videotape me for a few hours and just ask a bunch of questions while I set up for HDRs.

Scott just sent me an advance look at the final cut of the video he made… it’s very cool! I am going to share it with everyone in the Newsletter shortly. I think we should get it out in the next week or so. I’ll also have a longer uncut version available exclusively for Newsletter subscribers (yes it is FREE). It was very nice of Scott to make the video and I’m excited to share it. Below is one of the four photos I took in the video.

The second screenshot below is from Flickr. We are probably 10 days or so from breaking 20 million views on Flickr. Thanks everyone! I’ll buy a Coke for the 20 millionth visitor!

Does anyone else remember the Red Room from Twin Peaks? I was a real fan of that show and saw every one. The Red Room was this perfectly insane place that came out of David Lynch’s mind. All the scenes inside were filmed in reverse, and the lines were spoken backwards. They were then played backwards (so it appear forwards, but twisted) to give a very creepy feeling to the place. This was where the quirky Agent Cooper visited in many of his strange dreams… It’s also because of Agent Cooper that I give myself a small gift every day, like a nice slice of pie. I wish Lynch would make a new TV series!

This is yet another shot from the Crimson Lounge in Chicago. The place was awesome. I took a ton of shots and I probably could have taken even more!

Also, we have a new sponsor of the site here – BorrowLenses.com. I have a review coming up in the next Newsletter that will talk more about it. In short, it’s like Netflix for lenses! Very cool idea… It’s a great way to try out all those lenses that you’ve always wondered about or wanted!

I’m in the middle of working on a full upgrade for the Stuck In Customs Textures Tutorial. I think it’s already very good (only had ONE return in over a year!), but I can do even better. I’ve learned a lot in the past 18 months about this stuff and the technique continues to evolve. As I am working through some new shots for the tutorial, I thought I would go ahead and post this one. It was taken late one afternoon near a glacial lake on the southern edge of Argentina.

We have put together a fair upgrade plan if you have purchased the current Textures Tutorial and you want to a new set of 50 Textures taken from secret locations along with the new video. I’m excited to get it out there… not sure how much longer it will take. I want to give it a professional touch. In the meantime, I wanted to share this one with you!

I am looking forward to all these cranes getting finished so I can take a final shot of downtown!  As soon as I think they are done, another building starts up.  I’m not sure the expected completion date, but I do have a shot in mind for that day.  I’m not sure if it will work out…  but it’s worth a try!

There is an interview on FOX news here in Austin tomorrow morning.  It’s a live shot and I’ll be on a few times throughout the show…  I know we’ll be talking about HDR photography and I might even have a tripod set up…we’ll see!  I know most of y’all aren’t in Austin, so I’ll try to get a link up…

Early one morning I went walking around the streets of Boston and I found this firehouse. They were looking at me a little suspiciously while taking photos, but they let me be… I think they could tell that I thought firehouses and firemen were pretty cool. Firemen can see that kinda thing in people!

This was taken in New York when crossing over towards Manhattan. There was a huge cargo ship from China pulling into harbor with the buildings of New York in the distance. I thought it was a fitting subject, so I snapped a quick one.

I also wanted to thank Cameron — a fellow photographer I met here in Las Vegas today. He works at the Lion King stage show here and he was nice enough to give my family a backstage tour after the event. It was really remarkable to see how everything worked… and my son and daughter were thrilled to meet Simba. It was quite a thrill! Thanks again Cameron — that was cool!

It was a busy day in Vegas (is any day here not?). We went all over creation… thank you for all the suggestions here on the blog and in Twitter!

The first shot below is from the recent expansion from the Venetian shopping area. It’s really beautiful inside and these designers should be given some kind of award! The best I can do here is try to honor their design with good photo of the place. It’s actually quite a difficult venue to capture! I have it from a few angles. There are many other beautiful ones, including one from down below looking up. I’ll be sure to include that at some point in the future!

After this, my friend Andrew Mayne (of WeirdThings.com) recommended that we go to see the Mac King Comedy Magic Show. It was a great recommendation! I have pretty high standards (without being a snob), and this guy was just amazing. Ethan even got pulled up on stage to do all kinds of stuff… he was in heaven. After the finale, we went to meet him and I snapped this photo of Mac and Ethan. Anyway, I also recommend the show. It’s totally hilarious, family-friendly, and the magic is original and amazing.

Last week about this time we had the PhotoWalk here in Austin. Thanks again to everyone that came out! I emphasized that an important part of the night was sharing, so I wanted to point to the two places where everyone shared their work. The first is the Facebook Event and the second is this Flickr Thread in my group (to which you are invited, of course). Feel free to come see some of the photo work of the participants and join in the comments!

This photo here is from Ed Sparks, who works at ABC here in Austin. He’s a regular on the blog, and I was glad to meet him in person! He was snapping away during the interview and took this shot. Here is a link to the interview…of course it’s dated now since it was talking about the PhotoWalk last week, but you might enjoy it nonetheless!

Seoul is one of those cities that keeps going in every direction to the horizon. Those mountains in the distance are really really far away, and it’s non-stop activity between here and there. I’ve always wanted to try taking the subway to the end, but never quite had the opportunity to do so. But, while there, I did get to know the subway system pretty well.

I was amazed at how the girls on the subways would take non-stop photos of themselves with their mobile phones. They would look at themselves, make a few adjustments, show their friends, then do it again and again. You don’t see that here in the states… (yet!)

I believe (the smart readers here will correct me if I’m wrong) that this is facing north. Seoul is right on the border of North Korea, so it’s just a short distance to the edge. In fact, it’s so short that they occasionally find tunnels that come up near the outskirts of Seoul as people are digging their way out. Crazy.