Remote Vision, Ravens, and Glass

Here’s a snippet from the latest tutorial for you. This is the part we filmed when we were up close to the North Korean prison here in New Zealand. I talk a bit about expanded visual consciousness…

Daily Photo – Entering the Dungeons

Here’s the dungeon from under that French chateau that we visited several months ago.

I can’t imagine actually living in a house with a dungeon. I mean, it would be pretty dang awesome, but you would also feel like you’d have to put the place to good use. I guess I have a few enemies that I could capture and put down there, but that seems a bit extreme. Maybe just have parties and stuff. Or maybe a studio for processing down there. It’s hard to say… it all seems a bit dreary.

Maybe when I get some miner-bots, I’ll minecraft up a design under my existing house and send them on their way. I can carve something out down there. Well maybe I better do it beside the house so my bad designs don’t make the whole house collapse.

Filed under the categories: France, New Zealand, Paris, Queenstown, Travel

Newsletter Special

Those of you that sign up for the free Newsletter not only hear about specials, but you sometimes get to see videos early! Like this one below… Happy subscribers got to see it first!

Behind the Scenes in the New Zealand Forest (silly video warning)

I ran around in the forest in New Zealand with Curtis, Karen, and Scott. We decided to make a video after we got to a stopping point… Anyway, here’s something fun (and maybe a tad useful) for you

Daily Photo – Exploring the old Village

If you ever get to Mont Saint Michel, give the whole place a full circle on the curtain wall. It’s easy to get up on the wall (and quite safe to walk on… even though walking on a wall sounds dangerous). There are stairs to get up there and everything. Anyway, the wall circumnavigates about a third of the old village and monastery. There are countless good angles. It’s also worth walking this route at least three times – Sunrise (or sunset), mid day, and night!

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

Reminder on The Stuck in Customs Community on Google+

Last week I mentioned the Private Clubhouse that people can access when they purchase one of the tutorial products. But, also, there is a public Stuck In Customs community where you are welcome to join, share your photos, and see a bunch of other work from fellow community members! It is a fun way to get to know more people from around here!

Daily Photo – The Lonely Chair

This is a nice little object here, yes? I think it’s hard to find things that stand by themselves in the middle of an area that is normally cluttered.

The chair was found in one of the many decrepit and ghostly rooms inside that chateau I mentioned a few days ago. I tried to squeeze my way into every possible room, but some were too full of junk to get around. This one was well lit and ideal!

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

The Midnight in Paris Tutorial

I’m afraid I’ve given the recent video series from Paris short shrift with all the emphasis on the New Zealand tutorial. It’s called Midnight in Paris (store link), and I think you will really enjoy it. It’s heavy on the post-processing and the instruction. Plus, you’ll learn all kinds of tricks from Miss Aniela that you never would have learned from me… so it’s like two in one!

Daily Photo – The Dramatic Chateau

I took photos of this side of the chateau twice. Once in the morning when the clouds were heavy, and once again in the afternoon when the clouds parted. I ended up liking this cloudy one better. There was a bit of a natural vignette, but I decided to enhance that a bit in the post processing.

Filed under the categories: France, Paris, Travel

Looking at a new camera or lens?

I am always adding to the Reviews section of the website, which I heartily recommend if you are looking for a new camera or a new lens. I don’t review a ton of things, but I do try to review all the stuff I actually use on a regular basis.

Now, you’ll only see a few lens reviews there on that page. For the rest, just scroll down the right side.

If you’re thinking about the lens I used below, check out the Nikon 16mm Lens Review. I love it! It’s a strange lens because the first time I used it, it didn’t really float my boat. But now, I really enjoy it… I’m using it quite a bit to re-invent a lot of shots and be creative. It’s also come in really handy the past few times when my 14-24 lens has been broken.

Daily Photo – Fun with the Fisheye in Paris

This is a close up of one of the two chandeliers in the entry way of my hotel in Paris. I was still getting used to the fisheye at this point, so it took me about five shots to get this exact one I wanted.

By the way, I like how Paris likes to fill “empty space” with red velvet. It’s like the go-to thing for interior designers there…

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

Downton Abbey

This is a pretty good show. I recommend it! I feel like I’m watching Masterpiece Theater, and that makes it sound rather boring, but it is not. Every one of the actors on here is very good… anyway, give it a chance if you want to watch The Most British Show Ever Made!

Daily Photo – Mont Saint Michel at Sunset

Oh my god getting to this location at the last second was difficult and lucky.

I started the wild car ride about 30 minutes beforehand inside that walled city. I looked on Google Maps to figure out how to get to this exact spot. Now, I had no mobile internet, so I basically had to memorize the way here. It required going through, and I kid you not, about seven different roundabouts, each one exiting in a strange, non obviously spot. Anyway, to my and Tom’s surprise, I exited each one perfectly and made it here with ZERO mistakes. Note that I am not nearly always this flawless, but it worked out and we got here just in time for sunset!

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

Amazing Small World Story about Flatbooks.com

Justin Balog wrote an amazing little story on his blog.

Justin is one of the authors over at Flatbooks.com and he was randomly down in Belize. A local named Marvin walked up to him and they started talking about cameras. Marvin then actually mentioned the book that Justin had written! It is a small world!

And, as a bonus, Justin also wrote a story “Why Flatbooks Will Make The World A Better Place” !!

Daily Photo – Frogs in the Paris Opera

Can someone explain this to me? I cannot figure it out. Maybe they are just being quirky.

I took this with a fisheye lens inside the Paris opera. I can’t imagine what the internal bureaucracy is like within the Paris Opera for various art displays inside. And I can’t figure out how this one got through. But maybe there is a major art meme that I missed that includes well-dressed amphibians.

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

Fun Show Last Night!

Last night’s show was a lot of fun. Be sure to check out Kate Russell from the BBC, Thomas Hawk, Brian Matiash, Don the Snowflake guy, Ollie Dale, and Gino Barassa… and Dave Veffer as always! We do the show every Monday night at 7 PM PT, 10 PM ET !

If you come here to the website just before the show, you’ll see the embedded player up and ready to run… and you can see last night’s show in the post below this one! You’ll even see a sneak preview of a documentary that I am in from Ollie called “Virtually Famous”.

Daily Photo – The Towering Medieval Hotel

I’m sure Europeans find this kind of architecture to be quaint and banal, but I rather like it. In fact, I’d say it’s just about one of my favorites! Whenever I see old buildings in this style, it makes me a little bit happy.

This one was in the village of Mont Saint Michel. It was one of very few hotels that are tightly woven into the old medieval walled complex. I didn’t go inside, but it felt like it was right out of Skyrim!

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

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

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

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

Paris Tutorial Videos Now Available!

Want to learn more about my post-processing and follow me around on a shoot in Paris? Even better, you get to see the same thing from Miss Aniela! Pop over to the Midnight In Paris video in the new store… I think you’ll love it – especially the post-processing bit. And, as always, if you don’t mega-love it, you can have all your money back – no worries

Daily Photo – The Ceiling of the Paris Opera House

I stole this photo-taking idea from Matt Knisely! At first, I would lay down on my back and try to get the shot. But that was frustrating and bothersome. Then I saw Matt just put his camera on the ground with a timer then run away! So that’s what I did to get this shot… although it took a few takes to get it to line up right…

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