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

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

Tripod like a Marine

Have you seen those videos of Marines disassembling and reassembling their gun blindfolded? I can do this with my tripod and camera. It’s not nearly as cool or impressive, and I usually do it while I’m alone. It’s just really from habit, since I’m always opening and closing my system. It’s become more of a meditation than a hassle.

Daily Photo – Driving through Remote China

I took a six hour drive through part of the Hangzhou. At some point, it began to get very hilly and moody. The ride was a little rough, so I would pull over from time to time to take breaks.

One time when I popped out, I thought the road and the scene felt fairly cinematic. I went through the old routine of opening up the tripod for a shot…

Filed under the categories: China, Feng Huang, Hangzhou, Lijiang, Travel, Zhangjiajie

Five Tips for Photographing People

Here’s a link to the article in case you missed it the first time around!

Daily Photo – Girl Carrying Basket in China

These out-of-the-way places are some of the best for photography because the locals actually like photographers from the west. About 98% of the time they find us interesting and worthy of a smile. They seem to like the attention we give them with our cameras and there are many smiles to be had.

I don’t take a lot of photos of people smiling, because I like to take photos before people notice or right as soon as they notice. Usually though, everyone smiles after I take a few… I do a few facial maneuvers so that they feel more comfy.

Filed under the categories: China, Feng Huang, Guilin, Travel

YouTube Reminder

You can visit youtube.com/stuckincustoms and click “Subscribe” at the top.  Also, while there, you can dig around and find some older videos you might have missed.  Hope you have fun!

Daily Photo - Selling Flowers in South China

It was a wet, humid, but cool night when I was walking through Feng Huang.  It was one of those nights where you are not sure if you want to wear a sweatshirt or just something light.  Wearing something heavy holds the threat of getting moist and making you more uncomfortable… wearing something light holds the threat of keeping you too cold.

I saw this lady selling flowers on the side of the road.

Filed under the categories: China, Feng Huang, Travel

Renting a House in the Caribbean

I’m looking to rent a house for my family for a few weeks in April.   Any suggestions?

Daily Photo – Boat in Feng Huang

It was a cool and calm afternoon in the ancient and impossible town of Feng Huang. It’s an old town, wreathed in many legends.

On the old river, you can occasionally see a boat passing here and there. The boatmen come in all shapes and sizes, but many wear the same hat and style. It is absolutely like a warp of time…

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

Are you a boat person?

I think certain people are boat people… they really are into boats and often think about being in a boat. I’m not one of them… I wonder if it has to do with coming from an ancestry of seafarers or something.

Daily Photo – Still waters in the old town

Feng Huang in the morning is very peaceful. It might even be one of those towns were a lot of people sleep late, since I didn’t see many in the morning.

It was at this very spot that I bruised my ribs pretty bad when I fell down. It was one of those slick mud-covered concrete areas that doesn’t look like a slick mud-covered concrete area. But once you step on, it’s way too late to do anything about it.

There’s nothing that knocks the wind out of you more than falling flat on your torso with a Nikon D3S between your ribs and the ground. I still wince when I think about it!

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

Google+ Community Reminder

Looking for people to circle? See the Stuck In Customs community list!

Daily Photo – Adorable Chinese Girl

So, maybe the full title of this photo should be what I realized after I took the photo: “Adorable Chinese Girl OMG I Think She’s About To Pee On The Street”. But she didn’t. She was just in that position. And her pants are kinda funky. Or maybe those are leg-warmers or something. I don’t know… it’s all confusing. Her mom was right by her, sitting on a set and eating rice. She smiled at me, and was very excited when I was taking a photo. Or maybe she was laughing because she thought it was funny I was trying to take a photo while her daughter was about to go to the bathroom. I really can’t say!

But I did see lots of kids go to the bathroom in the street, on sidewalks, and this sort of thing. Not all the time, mind you, but they would just drop their business right there in the middle of a busy sidewalk.

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

Your Favorite Cultural Clothes

What country/culture has your favorite clothes? Is it something exotic like ancient China, or modern like stylish India? Or maybe it’s something more tribal or more formal… I think most people tend to like stuff that is quite far away from where they live… and the further, the better and more exotic! But, I wondered what your favorite was…

Daily Photo – Walking Across the Old Bridge

While in China, one of the small towns I visited had several little low walking-bridges across the river. It was the sort of river that was too shallow for boats, but good for fishing and washing clothes.

This one was in a residential and commercial area. Many of the women wore colorful dresses and walked back and forth across… it all seemed very nice and peaceful so I grabbed an image.

Filed under the categories: China, Feng Huang, Nikon D3S, Travel

Google + Invites

I’d love to invite the whole community here into Google+, and think I have a way. But, please, follow these rules otherwise things get messy.

Now, I handed out 10 invites yesterday, and I asked those 10 people to make a post on our StuckInCustoms Facebook Page once they were in. Then others could post below that and perhaps the first 10 or so (discretion and time of the inviter) can get in.

It was supposed to be simple, but it ended up in a bit of a cluster because everyone just wrote their own email address right on the wall, asking for an invite.

So, please follow these rules for an orderly pyramid invitation system for inviters and invitees.

1) Come to StuckInCustoms Facebook Page and see if you can find a thread that has remaining invitations. Put your email in that thread (not on the wall).

2) Accept your invite when it arrives, then return to the StuckInCustoms Facebook Page and pay it forward by saying, “I have 10-15 (whatever) invites for Google+ so leave your email below and I’ll get you in!”

3) To invite people in, create a new circle and fill it with email addresses that need access.

4) Share a post or photo with that circle, and it will ask you if you want to email people not in Google+. Say yes, and they will get an email invite!

And, if you are looking for me in Google+, here is My Google Profile.

Where do you keep your passport?

When you travel, where do you secure your passport? Now, I’ve taken to keeping it in my front pocket of my jeans or cargo shorts. I’ve stopped leaving it in the room after it was stolen in China (from a very respectable hotel). I used to sometimes keep it in a safe, but that is kind of a pain… so, front pocket for me. The back pocket is too dangerous because it can easily be picked. And I can’t bring myself to wear one of those things around my neck like I’m a 6 year old traveling alone on an airplane.

Daily Photo – Night Settles In Feung Huang

There is a general poetic peace when it begins to go dark outside and the town comes alight with shopkeepers and villagers come out to turn on the lights. If you look around, you can see them popping on, one at a time, like little fireflies coming out to play for the evening.

This area is no different, and it’s made even more magical by the little river that flows through the middle of it all. And then you are faced with all these nice decisions… where to eat? where to drink? where to find an inn for the night?

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

Part 3 of the Student Interview

And the African Queen of never-ending-turns-interview ends with this segment…

Daily Photo – The Old Waterwheel

Right after I arrived in Feng Huang, I went down by the river to walk up and down both sides… and I was drawn to this old waterwheel right away. It was all so quaint… here were old Chinese women washing clothes in the river, and it was all right out of a movie. I only got to spend a few days here… after seeing how wonderful everything was, it’s on my list to revisit some day…. I hope it stays like this.

Filed under the categories: China, Feng Huang, Nikon D3X, Photography Tips

Join me Live on Video on Mostly Photo Today!

Come to Live.TWIT.tv today at 1 PM PT (4 PM ET). We’ll be talking about photography and stuff, and more stuff like that.

Previous Videos

On the Videos page here on the site, I try to remember to link or embed previous videos, interviews, and all that sort of thing. Pop on over there, and you can see the previous episode of Mostly Photo that I was on where we talked about the following:

• How to share your photos online (I give some philosophical advice in addition to logistical, practical advise)
• Pricing your images and selling prints
• Getting inspiration from other online photographers
• SmugMug and how I use them  (see my full SmugMug Review here)

Thanks Om Malik and Mashable!

The new 100 Cameras in 1 with export-to-Instagram got some good press yesterday. Thank you to GigaOm and Mashable (and many others!) for the coverage.

Daily Photo – The Deep Indigo Night

Usually once it gets dark outside, I give it another half hour or so before I go restaurant-hunting. I like experimenting with new food while processing a few photos… It’s one of the greatest things… I usually have a table all by myself, and I get quite a large one so I can lay out all my stuff. I order all sorts of quirky foods, and I have a diet that would make Walter from Fringe happy.

But this night, there was so much strange ambient light that I decided to shoot for a few more hours. I worked my way up and down the waterside to find interesting sights. In these situations, I usually try to have at least one of my exposures be 30 seconds. That means the other four exposures are 15s, 8s, 4s, and 2s. That makes a good 59 seconds per session. I usually have my earphones on and I keep one finger on the tripod so I can feel the shutter click. I can tell immediately if my settings are off by the vibrations.

Filed under the categories: China, Feng Huang, Travel