We got good news from Peachpit! You guys in many international locations can finally pre-order the book. Now, I’m afraid that you cannot get the one available here that is autographed and comes with the Limited Edition print. However, someday when I meet you in your country, I’ll be happy to sign it in person!
Today’s Photo
Today we have a fun one from Tokyo at dusk. What a cool place! I think I could climb up to the top of a different building every day at sunset and just shoot in every direction. None were bad! There is that perfect time just before the sun sets when all the lights are coming on… they sort of have that soft glow while they are getting warmed up.
Update: I am very excited about the HDR Workshop. Thanks for all the great feedback! Registration will open close to midnight next week at this time (The midnight between Thur and Fri… hehe… I know saying “midnight” can fall either way!). I’ll also update the full list of everything that will be included, the amazing venue, extra bonus post-processing “fun” time with me after hours, etc etc.
I was lucky enough, thanks to a friend, get entry to run around the Crimson Lounge in Chicago on a Saturday before they opened. I think maybe some of you have seen the other Chicago photos of this location… there were so many interesting things to shoot with great angles. That reminds me — did you know that if you scroll down and look on the right, you can click there to see photos from various locations around the world?
Speaking of shooting cool stuff inside of an amazing place, we have a secret event coming up in Austin in the beginning of December. But shhh… don’t tell anyone… I’ll announce more as the time gets closer. It’s going to be quite a party. It may or may not have something to do with a major book launch from someone you may or may not know.
First, I’d like to thank everyone that expressed their interest and gave feedback to the HDR Workshop yesterday. Great stuff. I’m shocked. Really.
Second, I am glad so many of you are getting a kick out of my Five Twitter Lists! I KNOW you guys are finding some interesting people to follow on Twitter. As always, I’m open to suggestions, especially if you would like to join the Stuck In Customs Community List. Follow it, make a suggestion or recommendation (even recommend yourself – no prob!). I’ll take care of it.
Third, for today’s photo! What an amazing place. Now, knowing the crowd around here, you will be able to identify this secret spot in Tokyo. I really thank everyone out there for being so kind and introducing me to these great spots for photography. I feel quite lucky that when I travel, I have instant friends everywhere. I can’t believe it! Anyway, the gentleman who ushered me into this incredible lair was Alfie. Be sure to hit that link if you ever visit Tokyo and want to get some lessons WHILE seeing great places around the city.
Yes! It’s true. I have a new HDR Workshop page that you can visit for a few more details. This is gonna be awesome. It’s the first time I have ever offered anything like this…
It will be the first full weekend in January 2010 (9th and 10th) here in Austin (pics on link!) . I’m only going to have a few people at the workshop to keep the interaction quality high. Note that at the last photowalk, we had a 175 people show up that were local! But, this workshop will only have 10-15 people. Check back on Nov 13th to register and grab your spot!
Are you interested in this? If so, leave a comment below. I’ll gauge overall interest keep this in mind for the future. I’m very excited about it — I hope you are too.
Now, if you’re new to HDR, or are coming here from another photography site because of this announcement, I’ll post a few HDR photos below so you can get an idea of what the technique can achieve. I can’t promise you’ll make images like this — that depends on you! But, I’ll certainly show you all the tricks and tips in person that I have in the HDR Tutorial here on the site. It’ll be a great weekend, and I hope you can come!
As you guys know, I’ve been using Twitter for the past 27 years or so. Over that time, I’ve built up a good list of people to follow. Now, I can share this list and more very easily with you. When you visit the links below, you can “Follow” the list. Or, you can also go through and follow the individuals. Any questions? Just ask below!
Art for the Right Brain – Here is a collection of artists, designers, illustrators, and the like that I find inspirational. I didn’t really add any photographers to this list… *Make Recommendations here!
Stuck In Customs Community – This is a list of everyone around here! This is a great “channel” to listen into to hear everything that’s going on with all of us! If you ever need advice, have questions, or just want to share, be sure to follow the people inside and talk it up… that’s what Twitter is for! *Add yourself and make recommendations here! (yes it is totally cool to recommend yourself!)
Do the good people on here a favor. Follow the list, and then go through and follow some of the most interesting individuals inside. Twitter is better once you build your own personalized list, and this will be a really good injection of inspiration into your world, I hope!
How to Use Tweetdeck
I made a video to show you how to use Tweetdeck to stay connected to members of the Stuck In Customs community!
Whatever interests you, make a “Search” column for it. For example, my mom loves “General Hospital”, so I made a new Tweetdeck column for her with it. Now, whenever anyone on twitter mentions something about General Hospital, she is the first to know!
Turn off the annoying sounds and the little popup notifier under the settings. For me, it gets to be too much to constantly see updates!
After you follow the lists and some people therein…
Then you can then easily switch to that “channel” in Twitter to see the latest. Also, very soon you’ll be able to add that List as a Column in Tweetdeck, a program I highly recommend. As soon as they enable this, I’ll come update this post!
And, of course, be sure to tell your friends the fun of lists, especially those new to Twitter. If people start out by getting good links with nice art and funny comments, it makes it a much better experience from the beginning!
Daly Photo – The Bamboo Forest
Today’s daily photo was taken while exploring the wilds outside of Kyoto a few weeks ago. It was a beautiful place! The walk took me into this giant bamboo forest. After strolling through it for a short eternity, I set up for shot. This is a standard 5-exposure HDR; it was shot with a 14-24mm lens. For those of you new to the site, you can find out more about my process in the HDR Tutorial.
There is a very cool and swank area of Kuala Lumpur that has a collection of trendy and well-designed restaurants. The whole place is a photographer’s paradise! The only problem is that the entire place is quite dimly lit. But, as you know, I’m a nerd that takes my tripod everywhere, so that doesn’t pose too much of a problem! Well, it does pose a problem when it comes time for dinner and all my gear takes up an entire table. I don’t like to put it in the corner. Nobody puts baby in the corner.
Like any big city, Tokyo has many huge neighborhoods, each with their own personality. One of the quirkiest is an area called “Harajuku”. I don’t know if I can accurately describe it, but I’ll try!
It’s a place where the most outrageous of the outrageous congregate. You’ve probably seen those Japanese people that like to dress up like anime characters and the like. Well that’s kind of the starting point. It goes onward from there, with everything from girls covered in pink frills to goth men wearing gas masks. In fact, in that little video I made, you can see a pair of legs/shoes in differing colors that I shot in Harajuku. This guy below was with a group of extreme rockers that were parading around the streets. They all seemed to love having their photo taken… which was cool. I could have gone to that place every day to take photos… I’ve got some other crazy ones in the hopper too for the future!
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