I loved my three weeks in Morocco. It was Time Well Spent! I got lost, got found, ate amazing street food (way too much), traveled the desert with locals, and stayed in amazing riads. Wow, everything happened there. I’ll start with a video I made with SmugMug while I was there, then share a few favorite photos.
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Here’s a favorite photo I took from the top of the Gondola here in Queenstown one night. I should really go up there more, you know? It’s kind of expensive… and I guess I always cheap-out a little bit because I live here. I’d actually like to go up here one night and spend the whole night, doing time-lapses and maybe seeing the Aurora. That would be epic… I wonder if I’m allowed to?
Here are four behind-the-scenes videos for Passport Members. It starts with me and the team flying out to this remote location to get some photos for a patron. And then by part 4 I am in his private home in Beverly Hills trying to figure out where to hang the final selection.
On my many trips to Earnslaw Burn while working on that project for the patron, we would always pass over this in the helicopter. I asked the pilot to bank this way and that so I could get some straight-down shots at the beautiful patterns below.
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Two days in a row for Morocco photos! You can probably tell by now what a colorful country this is. It makes me think a lot about the west, and how drab and neutral-colored our homes can be. It’s not quite like that in Morocco, where they are not afraid of color! I have a soft-spot for that, of course, being the HDR-kinda-guy I am! 🙂
This is my best recommendation here! First of all, you barely even need to try to get lost. It’ll happen quite naturally. You’ll eventually find your way back… or, if not, just take a business card with you from your lodgings and the locals are more than friendly.
This is one of the best places to photograph in Fes, but it’s not without its downsides. I went here three different times, and it was always a different experience. There are plenty of people milling around outside, convincing you to buy some mint sprigs to keep close to your nose and mouth so you don’t choke on the fumes. I tried it once, and it helped, but I didn’t mind the smell so much. Maybe I’m just strong-minded or something. I figure all those workers out there could handle it, so I could to!
Besides the mint thing, each time a different guide took me up. After taking photos, they would guide me out a 5-story leather shop… really giving me the hard-sell! It’s almost like they don’t understand that photographers are only there to take photos and not to buy anything. Maybe other non-photographer tourists will buy things… The prices seemed pretty good, but I’m not much of a leather-guy. I guess I’d look pretty cool in a leather suit, but it was about 100 degrees and it didn’t seem very practical.
Join me for a recent Live FB show where I tell a few stories from Antarctica!
Which one to swim in? Is it better to swim in the pool that is body-temperature or the ocean down below where it’s also body-temperature? These are the kind of life-or-death decisions you have to make on vacation sometimes. In this particular case, I chose both and was pretty happy with both decisions. This was shot at the Four Seasons in Bora Bora — what a spot!
Over on my Facebook Fan Page, we’re trying something called “Notes,” which is kind of like a blog post… Here’s one I just published!
Posted by Trey Ratcliff on Wednesday, October 14, 2015
If you want to get this view of Arrowtown, you have to go into the Bendemeer area and drive to the very very end of the road then walk up a little hill. I’ve been to this beautiful area before, but never took the time to walk up the little hill
I took this photo in the middle of Autumn during one of our workshops here. This is Arrowtown at the foot of those mountains. Doesn’t it look quaint and perfect? That’s how it actually is too!
I’m super excited about the upcoming Star Wars movies, and I have total faith in JJ Abrams to resurrect it! Remember that one line from Episode 2, I think, when Anakin Skywalker said, after growing up on Tatooine, “I hate the sand! It gets everywhere!” I mean, Jesus dude… you’re Darth Vader! Darth Vader doesn’t complain about sand! And don’t you kinda get used to the sand if you live
How cool is this? Right before I started trekking through the Sahara, I stopped at this Kasbah. The day was unmercifully hot, but I decided to go on a little reccy around the outside anyway. And look what I found! I’m not actually sure what it is… looks like an old jet or something.
This is one of my favorite times in Queenstown… the spring. It’s opposite-land down here, you know. One great thing about the springs and autumns down here is that they last a full 3 months, so you really get a full run of the seaso
Here’s a rare action shot of a leopard in action! I say it’s rare because we watching this gal lounge around for hours! They are super-lazy… but in a flash, she shot right up the tree to protect a warthog kill she had hung up there earlier when a bird of prey started circling around.
It would have been so awesome to see the leopard leap off the tree and kill the bird of prey. That was a little too much to hope for, though!
I started playing Eve Online with my son recently… he had never played before and the game is so monstrously complex that he’s finally old enough to do it
It was another extremely long photo walk! Often times these things go way longer than I expect. Thank goodness it was not the hot season… this is where the group said their goodbyes and everyone went their separate ways. I got one final shot before heading out myself…
