Interview in Queenstown Part 1

Mark Stagi from Digital Photo Buzz sent me some interview questions, and I answered them all on video. I split it into two parts because of YouTube upload limitations… and here is part 1! Enjoy!

Daily Photo – The Range at Night

I drove to Glenorchy (a not-bustling suburb of Queenstown) late in the afternoon. After doing a bit of shooting and snacking, I took a perfect little road back to Queenstown. It runs along a long and perfect lake. The sun had dropped to an interesting spot, and I could see the heavens were boiling away… so I pulled over to take this quick shot.

Filed under the categories: New Zealand, Queenstown, Travel

Daily Photo – Carmel in the evening

I took a California road trip up Highway 1 from Los Angeles to San Francisco. On the way is the famous little town of Carmel. It’s right by Pebble Beach, 17-mile drive, and a bunch of other amazing little places. The town is very quaint and cool… a lovely place to walk around and explore with your camera!

This was my last shot of the night. After this, I stopped in a small Italian restaurant to eat some tasties while I edited some photos. This is one of my favorite things to do after a day of shooting… just relaxing… having someone bring me coffee and snacks… headphones on… editing away. Good times!

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

This Week in Travel Goodie Guide

Later today, I’m a guest on “This Week in Travel”, a popular podcast that’s all about exactly what you think it’s about. Among other things, they asked me to prepare a few photography-related travel-goodies for the holiday season.

Here is the episode!

I have a more full list on the “Photography Gadgets” page, but here is a quick list of stuff for you or the awesome photo-geek in your life!

New Video Soon!

I’ve spent this weekend working on a new video to release that is the next chapter in the “Moments Between” video from below.  My current plan is to release it on Friday… so get ready!

Daily Photo – Lines of Tokyo

To go with the video theme of the day, here is a new photo in Tokyo.  This was taken near the Akihabara area, not too far from the subway station.

There is a kind of “sterile” feel to a lot of the modern, well-architected areas of Tokyo.  I don’t mind this non-organic sense sometimes, but it is not always comforting.  All of the lines, shapes, and angles make for some fun photography, though!

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

Daily Photo – Beautiful Feng Huang at night

This was a beautiful and relaxing night for me.

I strolled up and down the banks of this old river-town. All the houses up on stilts were so charming… the little boats motoring around… old ladies still washing clothes deep into the night… young lovers skipping along the opposite bank while I set up for shots…

After a few hours of shooting, I stopped at a small family-run restaurant that overlooked the river. I pulled out my sketch pad and started drawing the scene around me for a few hours while the nice mom inside brought me all kinds of mysterious hot foods, teas, and little cookies. It was a very peaceful and nice night…

Filed under the categories: China, Feng Huang, Nikon D3X, Travel

Five People List – Thanks Scott!

Scott Bourne made a post yesterday called “Five People Who Made Great Impact on the Photography Industry in 2010“. He must have made mistake there on #4! But thank you very much anyway… even if that was a draft list that you accidentally published!

How to Zoom in to Maximum Size and EXIF

Two regular questions I get revolve around how to see the maximum size, and how to get all the ISO/Aperture/Shutter speed info. I don’t mind repeating the answers from time to time.

To get the maximum (or any) size, simply click on the image below (for example), and then click on the tiny “O” (For Original) at the top.

To get the EXIF photo data, click on the lightbox version (then you see this) over the photo and look for the Blue “i” that appears on the right – click that little thing!

Daily Photo – The Chinese Technopolis

How boring does the “Beijing Planning Museum” sound? Very!

How surprisingly awesome is the “Beijing Planning Museum”? Very!

The museum features a few giant city-models. And I mean GIANT! You can get a sense of the size of this thing by looking at the waist-height red rope around the outside. Not only is this a fully detailed model, but each of the buildings light up individually in a cascade, corresponding to a dreamy Chinese voiceover. The voice describes each sector of the city and what makes it unique. There is music playing in the background that I could have sworn was the same music as “Jurassic Park”, so that was a very strange addition to the scene.

Filed under the categories: Beijing, China, Nikon D3X, Travel

Social Media Awards

Last year, I lost to Gowalla.  Damn that awesome company.  But maybe this year, we can pull it off!  The nominations round has started…  Should you care to support the cause, come Comment on Trey’s Nomination.  Or, you can even nominate others…  just don’t nominate Gowalla.  Or they might take away all my awesome badges.

Too Many Burning Man Photos!

You all know that I normally only post one new photo a day. But I have so many Burning Man photos, that I’m likely to cluster them on occasion… otherwise I’ll never get through them all before the next one!

As usual, to see other photos of a category, just go click on the “Burning Man” at the bottom of the post.

Daily Photo(s) – Exploring Burning Man

Are you looking for something totally unique in this increasingly homogenized world? Try Burning Man!

Look… it’s not for everyone. If you’re kinda right-brained and like to have unexpected stimulation hitting your eyes non-stop for a week, then this just might be the place for you. It’s a nice shock to your artistic self.

I spent the first few days without my camera… just sort of walking around and drinking it all in. I was fairly zombie-like in my wandering. At the same time, I was considering various ways to capture the overall feeling of the place in a series of photos. I don’t usually do this, but I did add a few captions to the photos below in case you want to know more…

People spend all year building elaborate land-vehicles that cruise around the playa day and night. This one is particularly awesome, with a fully articulated head that can breathe fire at night (pics of that coming soon!).

Groups set up special camps with different themes. Here I am inside the "Black Lodge" from Twin Peaks (I'm a fan). It was modeled after the Red Room. I sat in it for many hours, listening to music and looking out this opening. This is one of the many photos I captured.

Most people roamed the desert wearing goggles to protect ourselves from the sand and sun. For me, everything had an orange tint, so I've used the same technique in many of my photos of the event.

Note that all the Burning Man photos do not fall under the Creative Commons license as my other photos.

Filed under the categories: Burning Man, Nevada, Travel

HDR From a Single RAW?

Yes! This is one of the most common questions I get. I usually shoot multiple photos (all RAW) at different exposures. However, often times I just use one of the RAWs to do the processing. It’s best in cases with a lot of movement, like today’s shot.

For specifics, it’s on page three of the HDR Tutorial here on the site.

Daily Photo – Information in Tokyo

I was navigating a complex series of catwalks through a beautiful building in downtown Tokyo. I got so busy looking around at all the amazing structures that I almost forgot to look down. Upon doing so, I saw this, or close to this… after a few minutes of walking around, I found a angle that seemed to make special poetic bits of my brain happy.

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