Stuck In Customs

Any fun Thanksgiving Plans for y’all?

I know it’s a US-thing, and we have readers from all over… but y’all have anything fun going on for Thanksgiving?

Daily Photo – Sunset at Glacier National Park

I’m having a nice weekend processing photos. I just completed this one a few hours ago, and it brought back good memories of Glacier National Park. I don’t think I ever really got warm there. Even in the room there was a steady chill. This is a strange memory of that place… I normally don’t mind the cold as there are a few occasions to warm up and reset my system.

Why are my last three photos so wide?

I don’t know…. I just noticed this common crop… I did not do it on purpose, but it is kind of cool I think.

Daily Photo – Fisherman in Switzerland

I got these fishermen outside of the window of a moving train.

And that moving train was thanks to you great readers here of the blog, that recommended that I take a ride on the Glacier Express from St. Moritz to Zermatt. It was a great suggestion! In fact, it was so good, I think I will have to ask for more advice in the future!

A raging Android and iPad/iPhone Discussion!

The new app Stuck On Earth accidentally set off a firestorm on Google+ the other day! See the article here. Here is a snippet of the beginning below:

Are Android people easier to anger than iOS people? (Or is it just me?)

So, yesterday, we announced +Stuck On Earth, and the first version is only iPad. Yes, we have plans to build Android, web, iPhone, etc in the future, but the kind of comments I got were often downright angry. !! It was so surprising.

I got comments like, “NO Android App available? Marketing Fail.” and “Android!!!!”

Now, maybe I am just too sensitive about this because it is my baby… and I’ve worked so hard on it and put so much love into it… I can barely stand the slightest critical comment. It eats right into my soul. I dunno… maybe some of you know what I mean.

Now, I can tell you with ontological certainty that making a quality app is HARD. It takes a long time and is expensive. Remember, by the way, this app is free. Ask +Kevin Rose about building apps. I’ve never met that guy, but I know he puts as much love into his work as I do…

When I gave a sneak peak a few weeks ago at the +Jason Calacanis LAUNCH event (where we were awarded Audience Winner! thx!), I was up there on stage by the eHarmony guy. Their app is equal in quality and polish to ours, and Jason speculated that it could have cost over $1 million, and I don’t doubt it!

Daily Photo – Painted Face in China

I was walking along outside the Forbidden City trying to find a special entrance, and I saw these guys sitting on a bench. It was so interesting and amusing… I dropped down on a knee to take a quick photo while things were perfectly strange. What do you think is going on in this photo?

http://stuckincustoms.smugmug.com/Portfolio-The-Best/your-favorites/10668747_nxsXfB/1590565586_HHnQt

Prints before redesign

My SmugMug site is going through a re-design, and it will be even easier to order prints. Currently, if you click through on an image, you can see there is a way to order various types of prints, but it is not as obvious as I’d like it to be.

We also have a more exclusive and limited set (only 50 printed ever) of our photos on metal. It’s the best quality and presentation, if you are looking for something more exclusive. There’s more info on that over in the Prints area of the website.

Daily Photo – Sunset from the Sky

As I was landing in Lijiang, China, I saw this sunset out the window.

I tried not to panic the other passengers as I quickly stood up and hauled my massive camera bag out of the overhead. I tried to be smooth as I ripped open the bag in a frenzied way. I tried not to be too loud as I grunted to pull out my giant camera and jam it into the window.

I was hoping this was a good indication of a nice week of photography in Lijiang — and it was! 🙂

HDR-Kurs auf Deutsch!

Yes, and now in German too! 🙂 Chinese is next… should just be a few days away… Below are various international translations so far:

• Sie sprechen deutsch? Herzlich Willkommen zum HDR-Kurs auf Deutsch.
• Vous parlez français? Bienvenue sur le Tutoriel HDR en français.
• Parli italiano? Leggi il tutorial HDR in italiano!
• Fala Português? Confira o Tutorial HDR em Português.
• Hablas Español? Clic Tutorial HDR en Español.
• Mluvíte ?esky? Pokra?ujte zde!  HDR Tutoriál v ?eském jazyce.

Live on The Grid today – 4 PM ET

Join me live today (Wednesday) on The Grid at 4 PM ET (1 PM PT). I’ll be on with Scott Kelby, RC Concepcion, and Matt Kloskowski.

New iPad App – Stuck On Earth

It’s officially out! You will LOVE it. Come grab it at this iTunes Link. See this new video below for a quick look at all the features.

Daily Photo – Sinking into the Future-Desert

Here is one of my favorite new photos from Burning Man. I took a photo of this full statue last year, and it was one of my favorites. This year, only the torso remained, and it looked like it sank into the desert a bit. People climbed all over it, day and night.

New Flatbooks on the way!

One of the many fine eBooks over at FlatBooks.com. This one is from the great photographer, Joseph Linaschke.

We have all kinds of new eBooks coming soon to Flatbooks.com! There are many authors working away now including Lisa Bettany, Ben Willmore, Jack Hollingsworth, and Jaime Ibarra – I can’t wait till they are available to read!

Daily Photo – New York, Yellow Cab

Here is one of my favorite areas of New York. It’s right by the famous Flatiron building — but I obviously did not shoot in that direction here.

There’s often a nice traffic flow, and it makes for a fun experiment to time out the traffic. Since I shoot from -2 to +2., I try to predict when the middle exposure will in the right spot to get the right amount of blur on that photo. My rules for this are a little different based on the time of day and a few other factors.

Get on Deck?

I just wanted to put this out there… that I’d love to be invited to land on a carrier… take photos… see awesome things… okay, I have put that out there 🙂 You can always contact wildcard at stuckincustoms.com 🙂

Daily Photo – The Carrier

I’ve been wanting to process this photo forever — I love carriers.

This one is open to the public, but I arrived too late to get up on the deck… So I was stuck on the ground level — but then a sweet fog rolled in to cover part of the carrier.

Categories Reminder

Yes yes I know regulars know this trick on the site… but since new people visit all the time (Hi! Welcome!), sometimes I like to throw in these little reminders.

You can click on the Burning Man category to see more photos of this type. I tag every post, and you can see those categories at the bottom of each post.

Daily Photo – Dragon in the Fire

I don’t use my “big” camera too much out in the desert because of the sandstorms… So I’ve been using this little Olympus PEN camera from time to time, and I like the results. Of course, I do a bit more post-processing and this sort of thing… but I’m happy with the results generally from this new line of cameras.

At Burning Man, there are hundreds of unique vehicles that roll around the desert during all times of the day and night. It’s a feast for the eyes and the camera! 🙂

Photomatix Tutorial

Yes, my TREYRATCLIFF Photomatix coupon code is still working… You can find the software for your OS at the HDRSoft website. This video below is a cut-down version of the longer HDR Video Tutorial, but it gives you a good look at Photomatix.

Daily Photo – The PhotoWalk Egg in China

We had a great PhotoWalk in China! It was really so amazing… it was nice to meet so many people while having a great sunset on The Egg. I’ve been to this place many times, so I felt lucky to have good weather. Upcoming, I have a behind-the-scenes video of how this photo was made as well. I’ll try to get that up in the near future, but please feel free to remind me… I get overloaded sometimes!

Silver Efex Pro

I’m still playing with the new Silver Efex Pro, seeing what it can do. Always interesting to try new stuff.

Daily Photo – The Matterhorn

For most of my life, I’ve generally only known the Matterhorn for the ride in Disneyland! I mean, I always knew it was a real mountain… and I’ve seen photos of it and stuff… but seeing it there in the middle of the Alps was really cool.

I think I was lucky while here in Zermatt, Switzerland. I understand that it is often occluded by clouds, so this was a lucky day indeed!

Zermatt was a really great little town — I’d love to go back and spend some more time there!