EXIF Info

Don’t forget you can see the EXIF info by 1) on the web, mouse over the photo or 2) on mobile, you can click through to the Smugmug version and click the “i” to get all the camera/exposure info! 🙂

Daily Photo – Sunrise in Fort Lauderdale

Two Ft. Lauderdale shots in a row! This is one of the amazing sunrises there. I don’t like setting alarms (the only time I do is when I plan a wake-up call to catch a flight), so I would sleep with the curtains open so the morning light would wake me up. It works 80% of the time. Anyway, it worked this day, and I was able to zoom in tight and get the sun rising up through stormy clouds.

Sunrise in Fort Lauderdale

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2017-01-09 20:26:32
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/800
• Aperture6.3
• ISO125
• Focal Length115.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-1.3

Funny Story

Look, I’m really not the kind of guy that says bad things about other people or teases them, so this is not really a story about that, just noting a WEIRD situation. It’s related to today’s photo. So, across the hall from me was these newlyweds. They saw I had a camera, and they asked if I would take a picture of their beautiful baby. I was like, well, I don’t really do that sort of thing. And then he said, well let me get your email and I’ll keep asking. Every few hours, I got another email, offering me money and everything, telling me how amazing his baby is and how I simply must take pictures of the baby. They would find me in the lobby, restaurant, everywhere, asking me to take photos of their baby and showing me other photos of how amazing this baby was. It looked like a regular wrinkled up baby to me. Anyway, I kept saying no, I don’t really take portraits of people or anything. WELL, fast forward a few days later, and I’m taking photos of my friend Katie Ann at the pool below. Well, wouldn’t you know it, the newlyweds were at the pool. The wife came over to me and said, “I thought you didn’t take photos of people!” I was like….uhhhhhhh….

Daily Photo – Katie Ann headed to the hot tub

When I was in Ft. Lauderdale, I called my friend Pascha (who helped me with the cancer charity event) and his model girlfriend Katie Ann. They came over for a few hours for a fun photo shoot. I wanted to get a little “gal in Ft. Lauderdale” feel for my shots. I don’t do a lot of this sort of thing, but it’s fun to experiment and try other things. We were shooting this at this pool and everyone was watching us like it was some kind of an official shoot or something… If I explained how casual and organic the shoot was, they probably would have been disappointed.

Katie Ann headed to the hot tub

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2017-01-11 02:47:44
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/8000
• Aperture
• ISO50
• Focal Length
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

Fasting Time

I ate and drank so much on my 60-day trip around the world that I added a few LBs! You may remember one point in Grand Cayman where I gained Many Pounds in just a few days. Yes, that was an all-time low. Rock bottom. Anyway, now that I am home I just finished a 3-day fast and am going 0-carb for a few weeks to reset the system. In general, I’m enjoying being a human except for that bit! 🙂

Special Bonus Passport Stuff

Oh, today has more behind-the-scenes stuff for Passport Members at the bottom of this post!

Tips and Tricks from the beach in Naples

Here are some tips and tricks I shot for you while on the beach… It was this same evening, I believe.

Exclusive content for Passport members

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Daily Photo – Last Ones Out of the Ocean in Naples

Here are my two lovely daughters (not screaming at one another for once!) coming out of the water at the end of the day. This was their saddest time, when the mean parents made them come out of the ocean to go inside and get ready for dinner. Two little water-bugs, I tell ya! 🙂

Last Ones Out of the Ocean in Naples

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2017-01-04 06:46:09
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/40
• Aperture6.3
• ISO640
• Focal Length42.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias+0.7

Rick & Morty Suggestion

I can’t recommend this new show any more. It’s so funny and smart… Yes it’s a cartoon, but you gotta watch it! 🙂

Daily Photo – Sunset Storm over the Atlantic Ocean

While in Fort Lauderdale, we had some crazy storms roll in across the ocean. It turned out great for photos! I admit I probably stayed on the balcony too long to take photos… I went down to the beach to get a bunch too, but the ones from up here seemed more dramatic.

I wanted to fly my quadcopter here too but there was a mix-up with the baggage! It’s too bad because the beaches in Fort Lauderdale are amazing.

Sunset Storm over the Atlantic Ocean

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2017-01-09 06:40:08
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/40
• Aperture4.5
• ISO125
• Focal Length24.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-1.3

Thanks again Pascha!

So Pasha brought his gal (pictured below) over to the Ritz-Carlton in Fort Lauderdale for a fun day of photography. Pascha is also the guy running our big charity event for my wife’s cancer situation. You can Download the Android version or the iOS version right now. After you get it, find me there in the app and join in! 🙂 The winner gets a 30 minute facetime with me to talk about whatever you like! 🙂

Daily Photo – Playing on the Beach in Fort Lauderdale

Here’s one of my favorite shots from my 2-3 hours shooting with Katie Ann, and there were a lot of good ones to choose from. She was really embarrassed and thought should would look stupid jumping because she hadn’t done gymnastics since high school. I asked her if that was last week.

Playing on the Beach in Fort Lauderdale

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2017-01-11 02:16:58
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/4000
• Aperture6.3
• ISO800
• Focal Length24.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias-0.7

Passport Plug

I recorded a special behind-the-scenes while here for Passport members. it shows a bit more about how and why I composed the shot. I ended up with two different compositions I really liked, and this is one of them.

Animal Kingdom Tip

And here’s the behind-the-scenes for the photo below – enjoy! 🙂

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Daily Photo – Adventuring on Everest!

Here’s a photo I got smack dab in the middle of the day while at Animal Kingdom at Disney. What a day! My son and daughter had just joined me for that crazy ride there. It’s one of my favorite roller coasters in the world. It’s WAY too scary for Isabella, but Scarlett absolutely loved it! Not long after this, we went to go to The Lion King where the girls were selected to come dance with the troupe! It was another great family day at Disney! 🙂

Adventuring on Everest!

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2016-12-30 02:05:11
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/1600
• Aperture5
• ISO200
• Focal Length38.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-0.3

The next stop in our crazy family trip around the world was was Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Lots of photo tips as well a model shoot that I typically don’t do. Thanks again to The Ritz-Carlton Resorts for hosting us at these amazing locations!

Vertirama Tip

This is actually a vertirama made up of 3 vertically stacked photos. Whenever I stitch them together in Lightroom, the sky is always overexposed (and unrecoverable with sliders in LR) – the only way to make it look decent was to process each on in LR individually then open them all up in PS for an auto-align with manual blending. It’s kind of a chore to do all of that, and I don’t understand why LR can’t do it on its own.

Daily Photo – Morning from our room

Here’s the view from our room here at the Ritz-Carlton in Fort Lauderdale. I’m not a morning person for sure, so I have to sleep with the curtains open so I wake up more naturally. There’s nothing worse than getting that wake-up call! Plus, I don’t want the whole family to wake up and have screaming kids while I’m trying to get a sunrise photos!

Morning from our room

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2017-01-07 20:44:40
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/80
• Aperture16
• ISO160
• Focal Length24.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-1.3

We’ve decided to take the videos in a bit of a different direction, hope you like them! 🙂

We had a great time in Naples! In each of these videos, I try to add a few photo tips and tricks as well as show you behind-the-scenes stuff of our family trip around the world for this year. Lots of fun and funny things happen… trying to keep everything in balance! Our first stop was here in Naples Florida. Thanks again to The Ritz-Carlton for hosting us!

Special new Video for you!

In the middle of the 60-day around the world trip with my family! Here’s highlights from the first 30 days – enjoy!