Twitter contest starting soon!

I am on Twitter at @TreyRatcliff, but you guys should follow @PeachPit if you want to enter some fun upcoming contests to get a chance to win a book! I ran a post recently called “5 Great Twitter Contests“. We are going to get started with “The Michelle”, so get ready! I’d like you to follow @PeachPit since they will be the ones running the actual contest — I didn’t want to fill up my own Twitter with book-centric tweets and annoy everyone!

Daily Photo – A Final Sunset

There is that languishing pain of the final day of an amazing trip. You know the feeling. It’s the old, “Man, this sucks… I have to leave tomorrow…” feeling. I was trying not to think that while I shot this final sunset in Argentina. Truthfully, I was thankful for the clouds and the perfect light.

Filed under the categories: Argentina, El Chalten, Nikon D3X, Travel

Newsletter Soon

The next newsletter (it’s free!) should find its way to your inbox soon! We’ll have tidbits, news, and beautiful images as always. You will have a great time forwarding it to your friends and family… and, if you’re one of those crazy email-forwardin-moms out there, well now you have one more thing to forward on to everyone on your list!

Daily Photo – A Lonely Prayer at the Crypt

The entire labyrinthian network of crypts in Beunos Aires was lonely and eerie. For a few moments, I thought I saw a ghostly nun floating between the marble and granite tombs. And then I came around a corner, and saw her deep in prayer. I hung back a little before snapping a quick photo.

Filed under the categories: Argentina, Buenos Aires, Nikon D3X, Travel

Book Pre-Orders, About a Week Left

We are cutting off all book pre-orders for “A World in HDR” in about a week at 11:59 PM on December 6.  After that, of course you can still get the book, but all the signed Limited Edition Numbered prints will be taken off the market forever.  And yes… this is all exciting, because it means we are shipping soon!

Daily Photo – Tokyo from the Air

Wow this city is amazing.  I have to go back soon!

I found one of the tallest buildings and scooted my way around inside until I found an elevator to the top.  On the way up, I was lucky to be on a glass elevator.  I was as shocked as you when I saw that soccer field on top of a building!  How cool!  I’d love to get up there and play around with those guys.  If you’d like to see the details there, or anywhere else, be sure to see the original sized version.  You can find that by following the photo to the Flickr site, clicking on “All Sizes” and then “Original”.

Filed under the categories: Japan, Nikon D3X, Tokyo, Travel

Lenses I want for Christmas

I have two lenses on my Christmas list this year. They are the Nikon 300mm 2.8 and the 85mm 1.4. Both look like a lot of fun! If anyone has an older one they are selling, let me know. What’s on your list?

I have another discussion thread on this on the FB fan page.

Daily Photo – The Frozen Granite

Getting to this spot in Glacier National Park wasn’t easy. It was even tougher trying to get Ethan and Tina into the exact spot too. Even though this area had all this cool granite around it, there was a bit of a swamp there that we had to traverse first. And, just around the corner was a nice sandy beach!

Filed under the categories: Glacier Natl Park, Montana, Travel

Charity Stuff Going Nicely

Just recently, I announced that a percentage of all book profits are going to Kiva.  So far, we’ve gotten over $1,900 from Team Stuck In Customs, so that is great!  You can find out more on the charity page or a recent post on the Kiva blog.

Holiday Gift Guide for Dads

Thanks to Cali at Geekbrief.TV on her recent Holiday Gifts episode for the nice things she said about the website here.  She mentioned the “Stuck in Motion” page here on the site.  And YES, I do have a new video coming soon!  I am thinking about debuting it at the Austin Book Party launch on December 9th.

Daily Photo – The Crash of the Surf

While driving down 17-mile drive a few weeks ago, I stopped for a while to go on a little beach hike! While there, I found this little area…. I set up for a while to see what rolled in!

Filed under the categories: California, Carmel, Nikon D3X, Travel

The Big Picture

I know most of you are not on Twitter yet, or perhaps you just are following people who tell you what they just ordered at Starbucks, but those of you that follow me get to see amazing links like this one to the Big Picture.  I try to post several links a week to other photographers, art, and other inspirational things I find…  It’s a good medium for quick finds where I don’t have time to write a whole blog post.

If you are new to Twitter, try out my Twitter Lists to find some good people to follow!

Interview on ReadyPhotoSite

A new short interview went up yesterday over at ReadyPhotoSite.  It’s a short and sweet one.

Daily Photo – An Amazing Day at the Met

On Sunday, I set aside about six hours to spend alone at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.   Most of you may know by now how I am obsessed with the Impressionists.  Don’t ever go to a museum with me, because I will bore you for hours on end with strange tidbits.  Anyway, the Met has a fantastic collection that kept me busy most of the time…  It’s rather nice of them to hang on to my paintings for me.  One day, when I get some time, I’m going to make a little page here and show some of my favorites.

The Man would not let me take a tripod inside, so that was unfortunate.  I did manage to do a few hand-held HDRs however… here is one that I have processed thus far.

Filed under the categories: New York, New York City, Nikon D3X, Travel

Not Much Time Left to Secure a Limited Edition print with the Pre-Order

We are starting to count down the final days of the pre-order for “A World in HDR“.  One of the two packages comes with a Limited Edition Numbered print that I’ll be signing.  We are not going to offer this print after we turn off the pre-orders, so it will be a collector’s item.

The Austin book launch party and Photowalk should have over 300-400 people in attendance.  If you are coming to the party, we will have your pre-order there waiting for you (need your name and address).  I know many people are excited about the book, so I wanted to make sure you didn’t wait till the last minute to get all the bonus stuff!

Daily Photo – A Bar with a View

This is an incredible bar in that overlooks the amazing city of Tokyo.  The place was amazingly awesome, and I could see it becoming a major hangout if I lived in the city.  Then again, everywhere I went I could picture as a major hangout!  Can anyone figure out exactly where this was taken?  These little photo mysteries don’t last long around here!

Filed under the categories: Japan, Nikon D3X, Tokyo, Travel

Join the Facebook Fan Club!

We have a nice growing community over there, and I drop in on occasion to put in little bits of news that just can’t wait on the daily blog post. I do want to keep the blog a regular once-a-day event. However, sometimes there are cool things you might want to know over on the Fan Page. I also encourage discussion, finding more friends, and the like there. So, come join and have a good time!

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I had a great time in New York!

I just got back from NYC, where I went out to get ready for the book launch party. While there, I shot a secret video with Steve Simon, which may not be secret for long… stay tuned for that.

Also, I went out with Cali Lewis to shoot some HDRs in Times Square! This was a bit of an in-person version of the HDR Tutorial here on the site. Cali is the host of Geekbrief.TV – a show you should watch for sure if you like tech and spunkiness (plus, you can see she uses my photos on her backgrounds!). Anyway, after shooting some HDRs, we went and had Italian food with Cali, Neil (her hubby), and my friend June Arunga. I handed Neil my camera and he shot this pic of us together…

Daily Photo: New York is Alive and Well

It’s been a few years since I have been to New York, and Times Square is better than before! I was actually in New York on 9/11, so it’s always good to go back to the city and see everything is still awesome. Maybe next time I come, we can all do a flash mob and hit B&H Photo for a while – that would be fun!

Filed under the categories: New York, New York City, Topaz Adjust, Travel

Party Details

I posted links to the Facebook Events for the book launch a few days ago. I’ve gotten some email that not everyone has Facebook. So, I will endeavor to copy all that info to a webpage here when I get the chance. For now, just pencil in the dates — I look forward to meeting you! And yes, I’m sorry it’s just in those cities… but I’ll be traveling around a bit and we might just have surprise photowalks here and there!

Daily Photo – The mysterious bridge to the fantastic forest

I think if I were in charge of building little bridges, I would give them all a fairy-tale touch. And, of course, I would put cool glowing lights all over it and other mysterious ones underneath. Even better, I’d try to make sure it was dusk all day long so there could be just a touch of ambient daylight remaining. You guys probably think I’m crazy, but I always really like that time of night when the lights first flickr on…  it’s a nice feeling.

Filed under the categories: Horseshoe Bay, Texas, Travel

Tinychat Video Interview

Yesterday, we did a little video interview with @Peachpit, the book publisher. It went pretty well, except for the Porn Spam. But…. that drifts away after a few minutes. Special thanks to Pat O’Brien who uploaded a recording here.

Daily Photo – The Forgotten

This was brought up in the chat session yesterday — Black and White HDRs! Yes, they are possible, and they are a lot of fun!  I don’t do it that much because I am so in love with vibrant colors.. but sometimes, on a lark, I’ll do it.  The one below, of a forgotten temple in Cambodia, is a simple black and white with a bit of a sepia tone.  Enjoy!

Filed under the categories: Angkor Wat, Cambodia, Siem Reap, Travel

Book Parties Announced!

More details to come soon, but save the dates and come RSVP on Facebook! I’ll be signing books, meeting you, and hanging out. I hope you can make it! Don’t worry about coming alone… you’ll make friends with the nice people there soon enough!

• New York City – Dec 14th – Secret Location in Manhattan to be announced – Visit Facebook Event Page and say “Attending” or “Maybe”!

• Austin – Dec 9th – The Driskill Hotel – includes Photowalk and $500 prize! – Visit Facebook Event Page and say “Attending” or “Maybe”!

• Chicago – Jan 2nd – the swanky Hotel Sax – Visit Facebook Event Page and say “Attending” or “Maybe”!

The Timeless Tomb

The Taj Mahal is an awesome place. I mentioned it last night in the live video chat (thanks to those of you that could make it — we should have a recording up soon). I spent the day taking photos of the place, and I was dog-tired when it was all done. Plus, my feet were hella dirty. You have to take off your shoes there. It turned out, actually, to keep me pretty cool. It was a very hot day; the marble was nice and cool on my feet.

I obviously used a special texture treatment on this one — if you’d like to find out more, there is indeed a “Textures Tutorial” here on the site.

Filed under the categories: Agra, India, Stuck In Customs Textures, Travel

Live Video Chat Thursday Evening in the USA

The video chat is tonight, Nov 19th! Come join us at tinychat.com/stuckincustoms. Everything begins officially at 7 PM CST (5 PM PST). I know we have people joining from ALL over the world. Sorry I don’t have local times for everyone, but I know people around here are smart enough to do the addition in their heads, I hope!

I’ll start it out with a little announcement that should be fun for everyone!

The Newsletter is Off

We sent off the free Newsletter yesterday. I notice that one of the previous newsletters was opened by over 200% of the people who were on the list! That means that most people forwarded it to at least one person. That’s great. I always try to fill it with pretty pics… so they are the kinds of things that are fun to forward to people that like pretty pictures. And who doesn’t like those? Anyway, since it’s free, I do ask that you forward it around. It brings more people to the site, we get better advertising deals, and then it’s great for everyone! Thanks!

Daily Photo – And then I hiked through the Autumn Trees to find the Glacier

I wasn’t exactly hiking in the safest spot in the world, when I stopped to take this shot. But the tripod helped! I tend to use it like a hiking stick sometimes. I was hiking through a pretty area of southern Argentina in a bitter rainstorm. You can’t see the rain here because I left the shutter open for so long, but you can see the heavy clouds, hanging just a bit over the Perito Moreno glacier.

Filed under the categories: Argentina, Nikon D3X, Patagonia, Topaz Adjust, Travel