Abandoned, Grunge HDR

Since you got into HDR photography, do you tend to seek out more abandoned, creepy places like this?

Daily Photo – The Abandoned Boiler Room from the Queen Mary

Here’s the next photo from the amazing ghost ship! Well, I don’t know if that is what it is really called or not, but we did walk into this room during our little ghost tour aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach. It was very creepy, alright… mostly alone in this huge old ship from the war… and these vast interiors felt very hollow and eerie in their emptiness. I enjoyed taking the photos… and then I enjoyed getting out of there!

The following bit is from Wikipedia: “Anecdotal reports of paranormal activity have included children crying in the nursery room, used as the third-class playroom, and a mysterious splashing noise in the drained first-class swimming pool.”

Filed under the categories: California, LA, Nikon D800, Travel

Another Favorite Photo from New York City

Here’s one of High Line Park that you might enjoy if you’ve never seen it!

Daily Photo – New York City Bus

Here’s one of the first places I stopped during the New York City photowalk. Since I’m not from NYC, I really get excited about all these thing New Yorkers find quite banal. But I saw that big glass surface and all the reflections, so I got in close with the 14-24mm. I had to be fast… these busses don’t wait too long. I was never tempted to actually get in FRONT of the bus, however. I may not be from NYC, but I don’t have a deathwish while taking photos there!

Filed under the categories: New York, New York City, Nikon D800, Travel

More from Amateras

I’ve posted a few photos from this amazing place we stayed. If you’d like to see more, visit the Amateras website!

Daily Photo – A View From our Balcony at Amateras

We stayed in two different places on Virgin Gorda while we were waiting to move to New Zealand. This is one of the two places, and this outdoor area was a magical place to come out and read each night. I remember I was reading a physics book then called “The End of Time” by Julian Barbour. I recommend it if you’re into geeky science stuff like me!

Filed under the categories: Caribbean, Nikon D800, Travel, Virgin Gorda

Small Rental Car

If you’re going to rent a car in France (or most other places in Europe), you had better not say you want a “small” car. If you do, the car will be smaller than you expect. In fact, it will be smaller than both you and your bags expect. It’s best to ask for 4 doors, otherwise you may not have room for anything other than yourself and a small espresso cup. I found this out the hardway on a roadtrip here through Bordeaux with Tom! Anyway… a little word of warning there!

Daily Photo – The Towering Old Village

Aren’t medieval places the best? Yes! I wonder what it would be like to live here all the time. Maybe you’d get tired of how charming and Hansel & Gretel everything is all the time… I doubt it though!

Around this old monastery of Mont Saint Michel is a curtain wall where you can easily walk along the top. It’s quite cool because every few steps there is a good view of the village and the tower above, each view offering another good photo op.

Filed under the categories: France, Mont Saint Michel, Nikon D800, Travel

NPS Australia is a model for the other NPS branches

Nikon is a confusing company. The way the NPS (Nikon Professional Services) territories have been separated by the Japanese-corporate-groupthink causes a lot of confusion. I know it’s “just the way they do things,” but that is a sorry excuse from an old-style company that refuses to change and be more like, well, Apple. The way products are sold with distributors and middlemen that create this “grey-market” is absolutely perplexing to the well-meaning customer. I never get a “grey-market” iPad. Wherever I buy an MacBook, for example, I can take it into any Apple store around the world and get it fixed.

A few months ago I wrote a blog entry called “Bad Experiernce with Nikon Professional Services“. I’ve now put an update at the top of that blog entry with this sweet “exception” about NPS Australia!

If NPS does decide to change things up, they should put the team from NPS Australia in charge of the whole shootin’-match. These guys are awesome.

Thanks to my friend Alexia Sinclair and her new husband James, they hooked me up with NPS Australia while I was there with Tom. I had a problem with my 14-24mm lens. It would not reset the aperture between shots. The NPS Australia team got the lens, fixed it, and cheerfully delivered it to me in Melbourne a few days later. This is of course exactly what I would expect from a Professional Services organization. Compare this to dozens of multi-paragraph emails and countless confusing phone calls with other NPS branches, and, well, you get the picture.

(and thanks to all the other Big Camera Companies that contacted me during this dark period in my life… but I’m still staying with Nikon for now… your Australian outfit saved the day!)

Daily Photo – Through The Mists of Milford Sound

The mornings are the best in Milford Sound, I think. I’ve been here about seven times now. Even though I had one amazing sunset, I think that the mornings tend to have better luck for photos. Note this is all anecdotal, and I’ll be more sure after I visit 100 times, which I plan to do, by the way! It’s only a few hours from my home… I really have no excuse, do I?

Filed under the categories: Milford Sound, New Zealand, Nikon D800

Aoraki Village

This photo below is very close to Aoraki Village. This is a very small place at the end of a dead-end road. This idea of a village at the end of a road that is encompassed by mountains is very interesting to me! I think it’s so cool, since most places have at least two (or more) ways in and out of the town. Anyway, once you reach the end, there are two places to eat or have a snack. One of them is the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre Café and Bar, named after the famed Kiwi explorer himself!

Daily Photo – The Valley of Mount Cook

One of the most unexplored (but easy to explore!) areas of Mount Cook is the valley. After you pass the lake, the valley opens up into a tremendous plain. There are thousands of little bits here and there to find. This is one of many gentle streams that flows across the valley floor. I walked along this one for a few kms… getting interesting shots throughout. Plus, no one is around… so, once again, you are off on your own!

Filed under the categories: Mount Cook, New Zealand, Nikon D800, Travel

Lightroom Fun

You’ll notice today’s photo has a certain “look” — that comes from one of my favorite presets in Trey’s Lightroom Presets. Thanks again for all the good feedback and whatnot… I’m working on a special secret gift for everyone that has already purchased it!

Daily Photo – Old Boats in the Afternoon

Maybe I arrived in the low part of the tourist season, but I rarely saw these boats out and about on the river. They were always tied up here on the dockside. This was good for me, since it allowed many easy shots after I got around all the slippery bits. BTW, if you are by a dock in a small town in China, and the dock looks slippery, well it probably is SUPER SLIPPERY. That’s my little hard-earned piece of advice for the day…

Filed under the categories: China, Feng Huang, Nikon D800, Travel

Will we plan more?

Maybe! Sign up at the top of the Photography Workshops page to be the first to find out!

A Huge Thanks!

Above you can see everyone that joined us… and our final night together at Bendemeer Estates (also below in the daily photo!) and the Woolshed.

Besides my team of Curtis Simmons, Karen Hutton, and Scott Kublin, I’d also like to thank, in no particular order, Touch of Spice, Artisan Catering, Hilton Queenstown Hotel, Tours and Travel New Zealand, The Hills Golf Club, Milford Sound Lodge, and Southern Discoveries!

Just below is a photo of one of the fire dancers that performed for all of us one evening.

Daily Photo – The Fields of the Queenstown Valley

See that cloud up there? It’s called a “Lenticular” cloud, and they seem to pop up down here every so often. I have never seen them before I moved here, but this is my first time living in a mountainous environment. Maybe you can tell me if these are common in rocky, mountainy areas!

Filed under the categories: Arrowtown, New Zealand, Nikon D800, Queenstown, Travel

Upcoming PhotoWalk!

A TON of people have signed up for it… how fun! See the latest details and prizes for the photowalk here!

Stuck On Earth – Featured in the App Store!

The app is still free – see more at http://stuckonearthapp.com/ And yes, in case you missed it, the Android version is officially under way. It will be ready when it is ready… and, even better, the Android version will use sweet sweet Google Maps!

Handy Pants!

A few months ago I posted about the Search for Pants. I got many good suggestions, and the guy that runs Bluff Works Pants actually sent me some! They are really good… and I recommend them. Very light and wrinkle-free. One thing that is quite surprising is how tiny they roll up when you pack them away in your bag!

Daily Photo – Fisheye in the Hotel Banke

I was very happy to experiment with the fisheye lens while I was in Paris. I borrowed Tom’s, and that pushed me over the edge to buying one for myself. Prior to this, I had rented one, but never really liked it very much. I think maybe because I took a lot of people photos, and they were just tooooo artsy and weird for me (which is saying a lot), but I really found using the fisheye on architecture and things like this to be a lot of fun!

Filed under the categories: France, Nikon D800, Paris, Travel

To Share Your Own Photos with the Community

Don’t forget about the free Stuck In Customs Community on Google+ ! It’s a great place to share your photos and see other photos from regular visitors to the website here!

Daily Photo – Brushing a Miniature Horse

We took another trip out to Kerry & Simon Brackstone’s farm in Gibbston with the kids. My two girls, Isabella and Scarlett, love that miniature horse! They spent a very long time brushing it… apparently this is something that all little girls enjoy doing. We always hold this out as a carrot for them if they are being good, and they they can hold out a carrot for the miniature horse, and it will be a neverending circle of carrot-based incentives.

Filed under the categories: New Zealand, Nikon D800, Queenstown, Travel

Working on new videos

I’ve been working hard to record hours and hours of new videos. The photo below makes an appearance in one of the videos that will be coming out soon. I’ve just spent a small eternity inside Photoshop. It keeps crashing and it’s driving me absolutely batty. I keep submitting error reports, but I’m convinced those error reports are just placebos. I keep hoping I’m generally contributing to the common good, but I think it probably does nothing… I may give up… and play my own small part in contributing to the Tragedy of the Commons.

Daily Photo – Slow Motion Sunset on the Color-Thickened Lake

The sunsets in the summer here last about 2-3 hours. Once you get around 45 degrees latitude and beyond, the sun does not sink right into the horizon. Instead, it slides sideways into the horizon like A-Rod stealing second in slow motion. This means the colors change very very slowly, and sunset is a nice, long relaxed photography session rather than a high-pressure one.

Filed under the categories: New Zealand, Nikon D800, Queenstown

Thanks for all the great feedback

We’re glad people are enjoying the recently released “Midnight in Paris”! It looks like most people are buying the “Bonus” version of it that has all the extra videos for $4 more. Keep the good feedback coming… and if you’ve never bought anything from the store before, no worries. It’s easy, and if you aren’t 100% happy, then you can have all your money back… so no risk at all, and everything to gain!

Daily Photo – La Défense in Paris

The new, modern downtown area of Paris is certainly worth a trip! It’s just 20 minutes through the subway to emerge into this area. I never really wanted to go down here, even though I kept hearing good things about it. To me, it wasn’t really Paris, you know… modern buildings and all. But, once I got down here, I was very excited. There are a ton of cool buildings and a thousand great compositions waiting to be had!

Filed under the categories: France, Nikon D800, Paris, Travel