Free $50 Credit at Gelaskins – comment to win

Did you know Gelaskins is selling some of my work as skins for your phones/laptops/tablets? Cool! I want to give away a free $50 credit to a random commenter below. Luke will make a random selection and get back to you soon!

Daily Photo – The Forbidden Wooden City

How long did this full model of the Forbidden City take to build? Can you imagine doing something like this for a school project? And it seems so… flammable!

I took this photo inside the city planning museum in Beijing. Across the street in Tiananmen Square, there were tens of thousands of people, but this museum was totally empty. If you ever do visit one of these Chinese mega-cities, I think they all have these strange “City Planning” museums – they all are filled with really cool models like this.

Filed under the categories: Beijing, China, Travel

Video from the Great Wall

Here’s a video I took while up here!

Daily Photo – The New Garden Path Along the Great Wall of China

Just to get to this point required a long walk through a rocky forest. It wasn’t like the super-pristine part of the Great Wall (which is actually quite fake and Disney-like) — where you can drive up in a huge tour bus and park in huge parking lot. No, it wasn’t like that at all. Instead, there was a “path” that was barely discernible (much less so when I walked back in the dark alone!) that wove up through a forest along an old creekbed. I’m not sure I could find it again if I had to!

Filed under the categories: Beijing, China, Nikon D800, Photography Tips, Travel

Watch The Show Soon!

Every Monday night at 7 PM PT, 10 PM ET is the weekly show, and tonight we have on a bunch of people from Austin to talk about the photowalk and give away the prizes! I believe we have over 80 to give away, and you’ll get a chance to see a bunch of fun photos from the event. See you soon!

Daily Photo – The Royal Guard in Beijing

The interior space and design of the Capitol Museum is absolutely amazing. I don’t know if they designed the light to do this in the middle of the day or not, but I found it rather striking! If the architects did this on purpose, then even more kudos to them.

I must admit that I do not find all museums to be equally interesting. Some are just plain boring. Others are awesome… it depends on if the subject matter is something that is up my alley. I don’t like the “pressure” of making you feel bad if you aren’t fascinated by every little thing in a museum… that is silly.

Like, for example, I found this museum a little bit boring. I know a bit about Chinese history (I played a lot of Romance of the Three Kingdoms back in the day, and I was always Gu Yu!), but I get a bit confused when it comes to the some of the more bizarre and abstract lineages. Anyway, this museum featured a lot of that. But, on the plus side, the architecture was so cool that it kept me pleasantly distracted!

Filed under the categories: Beijing, China, 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

Light Camera Version 1.2 Updated

Pop on over to http://lightcameraapp.com and you can grab the new version of Light Camera. We’ve completely reworked the way overlay effects operate with the interface – hope you like it!

Daily Photo – Four Bums in Beijing

I was in one of the art-studios area of Beijing when I saw this most unusual statue! As you can see, there are a lot more than four bums in a row, so it was a bum-composition-issue that I had never faced before. Notice the ears too.

Actually this kind of “Avant Garde” art in Beijing is very unusual. It’s strange to find a Chinese artist that goes way outside of the norm to try something new… most of them are traditionally trained and do traditional, predictable work.

Filed under the categories: Beijing, China, Travel

Going Back to China Soon

I’ll be heading back to China… Now that I am in New Zealand, I need to figure out the process for getting my Chinese visa. I think I have to send it into the American consolate in Wellington, but not too sure! Getting visas is still such a pain… the cost isn’t the annoying thing as much as the time and procedures associated.

Daily Photo – Birds in the Nest

This is the famous “Bird’s Nest” building from the Olympics in Beijing. After the Olympics are over, these special buildings all seem a bit lonely. I know they still hold events in them from time to time, but that seems more like the exception than the rule. Also, this location is so far away from the center of the city that it is extremely inconvenient. Once you arrive to have a look, you are interested, but always thinking of getting back to the main part of the city… this gives it even more of a forlorn feeling… but maybe that is just me.

Filed under the categories: Beijing, China, Nikon D800, Travel

Chook Update

In addition to our new dog, my wife has also found it necessary to get three chickens. We built a special coup and stuff. And then after we built it, she decided she wanted it on the other side of the house. The chooks did not help with that move. And here we are, about 15 weeks into it, and these chooks have only laid THREE eggs. She says it’s because their too young… I don’t know what to believe any more with these damned things.

Daily Photo – Feeding Chooks in Feng Huang

When in Feng Huang, I decided to go down to the river to take some photos. There was a direct way, but I thought it might be more interesting to zig-zag my way there through alleys. One of the most wonderful things about China is how safe it is. I never had any fear for my life or anything as I move around these places. It’s so safe, in fact, that it’s almost eerie! But, eerie in a good way, of course…

Filed under the categories: China, Feng Huang

Selling Cans of Fresh Air in China

Related to today’s post, I saw that some people have taken to selling cans of fresh air! Remember Spaceballs?

Actually, I have a fairly pragmatic view of all of this… All industrialized nations go through this pollution curve until the society becomes efficient enough to take care of its own environment. Things don’t get worse and worse. They get pretty bad, and then it ramps back down. Most western societies went through this curve already… I think it’s extra bad in China because they have 10x as many people as any Western civilization that went through the same curve.

I’ll be back in China in a few months… I’ll see if it is really worse than previous years.

Daily Photo – A moody evening at the Great Wall

One of the good things about the haze around parts of China are the moody sunset hours. You rarely get those epic cloud-sunsets, but instead things drift away into black through a myriad assortment of colors.

Filed under the categories: Beijing, China, Travel

Reminder for the Stuck In Customs Community

If you’re looking for a place to share your photos, have discussions, get feedback, and this sort of thing, we have a wonderful Stuck In Customs Community that you can join for free. Hope to see you in there! I don’t always get a chance to comment, but I do scroll through there and see everything ! You might be surprised at the number of views you are getting there even if you are not getting many comments or +1′s. I picked a random shot with no comments and grabbed this screenshot (this photo is by Scott Stringham). You can see it has over 200 views!

Daily Photo – Random Sighting in Beijing

I was walking around the arts district in Beijing and saw this cute girl posing up against a wall for her friend. After I was sneaky and took this photo, she looked over and gave me an even bigger smile! hehe… I notice sometimes that girls over there take a lot of photos of each other and act silly. And then, whenever I swoop in and take a picture, they get even sillier. It’s a very strange phenomenon but it’s always fun.

Filed under the categories: Beijing, China, Travel

New updates to OnOne Software

In case you missed it, there are new updates to OnOne software that you may enjoy! It’s one of the tools in my arsenal… along with Photomatix and many more. I keep my latest, most used tools up to date inside the HDR Tutorial.

Daily Photo – The Commune, China

This is a really cool place near Beijing!

It’s an expensive resort, but really quite unique. They had a series of architects come in and create very modern “houses” that are scattered across the hilly countryside. Then, they “repeated” those designs and created many little “rooms” inside each of the houses where you can stay. One of the other great features of the resort is that you can begin a walk up an old river bed for about half a mile before reaching a forgotten, abandoned part of the Great Wall of China.

Filed under the categories: Beijing, China, Travel

Updated Camera Reviews!

We have updated the Good / Better / Best recommendations on the Camera Reviews page. I’ll paste them below for you, although that linked page has even more information included recommended lenses, software, and more.

Good Camera

Panasonic Lumix GX1

Priced at about $499, this Panasonic camera is highly recommended if your budget is keeping you at around the $500 level.

• Check current price of the Panasonic Lumix GX1 on Amazon
• Check current price of the Panasonic Lumix GX1 on Adorama

If budget is not a concern, I suggest you jump down to the “Better” or “Best” recommendations. However, if budget is your principle concern, then no worries! This Panasonic will serve you well! It has a 16 megapixel sensor and is based on something called the “Micro Four Thirds” standard. This means that there many different lenses you can attach to this camera, which is something you can add over time. If you’re just getting started, there is no need to worry about lenses, since it comes with a servicable 14-42mm lens that will allow wide-angle shots and a little bit of zoom. It also has a slick 3″ touch enabled LCD screen.

Better Camera

Sony NEX-7

Starting around $1,300 which includes an 18-55mm lens.

• Check current price of the Sony NEX-7 on Adorama

See my full Sony NEX-7 Review. In short, this is really a great camera. I carry it! It is compact and powerful. It can be used it almost any photographic situation and is one of the best models available in this class. I use it to take photos of everything, from kids to landscapes to architecture to objects. This tiny 24 megapixel beast has a thousand other features that those clever Japanese crammed inside… see the full Sony NEX-7 Review for more information and sample photos.

Best DSLR Camera

Nikon D800

Starting at $3,000 for the camera body.

• Check current price of the Nikon D800 on Adorama

See my full Nikon D800 Review. This is currently my main camera. I also carry the Sony NEX-7 above as a second camera to get quick shots here and there. But this Nikon D800 is a bigger, traditional DSLR camera. It shoots a massive 36 megapixels and has all the professional-level features associated with high-end DSLRs. For me, I prefer this over the Nikon D4 which is almost twice as expensive. You can see many sample photos and read more in my full Nikon D800 Review.

Daily Photo – The Hypercity of Shanghai

When you are up in one of the taller buildings in Shanghai, you can look in almost any direction and see a Blade-Runneresque view. It’s always staggering. I’d love to see a time-lapse of Shanghai being built up over the last 30 years… that would be amazing.

Filed under the categories: China, Shanghai, Travel

Black Friday Special and Super Duper Photomatix Coupon

Here’s some good deals for you if you’re looking to expand your photography hobby a bit! Use the discount code “BlackFriday30″ to save 30% on all of our Photography Tutorials, Lightroom Presets, and eBooks over at Flatbooks.com!

Also, have you been waiting for Photomatix Pro? They gave me a code of TREY2012 for 25% off. When this coupon expires, the normal 15% discount for the code STUCKINCUSTOMS will continue. This is the software I use in the HDR Tutorial here on the site (in case you are new!).

More from The Opposite Hotel

This is the second photo I have posted from this hotel – you can see the other one here: The Opposite Hotel.

Daily Photo – Awesome Lobbies of Beijing – The Opposite Hotel

Everything about this hotel was pretty funky. Yes, they were trying too hard to be edgy-funky, but that’s okay, because it kinda worked. I guess what I’m trying to say is that there was subtlety here in the funkiness. The decision to be bold and different was evident in every little detail of the hotel.

Even if you don’t stay at the hotel, make sure you stop by and have a look inside!

Filed under the categories: Beijing, China, Travel