HDR Workshop Registration Open – $999 per person – Edit – SOLD OUT

Edit: The HDR Workshop sold out in 11 minutes. Crazy! First, you guys crashed the server for 45 minutes!!! And then we went live at 12:46 AM. By 12:57, all the slots were gone.

We will have an HDR DVD of the Workshop. I think it’s gonna be really good. To stay on top of that and see when it is first avail, be sure to sign up for our free newsletter!

New York Times Article

Did you guys see the New York Times article online about Stuck In Customs and HDR Photography? Cool! John Tierney wrote a great little piece and asked if publications like the New York Times should consider using HDR Photos. They have an open commenting system over there, so pop in and give them your two cents (the newspapers need it!).

Daily Photo – Crossing the Bridge into Old Lyon

This was a pretty tough shot to get! This was a little pedestrian bridge that crossed from the new part of Lyon, France, into the older part. It swayed and buckled in the breeze. Plus, it was night, so you kind of have to leave the shutter open for a long time. I hate to crank up the ISO, but I had to so everything would stay sharp.

That night I walked around for about five hours deep past midnight. It was just me and my Russian friend… walking around… solving the world’s problems… while he gave me all kinds of hard-ass Russian advice on how to solve my own!

I love a scary cathedral. They can put you in such a melancholy and gloomy mood if you want them too. You can feel the overbearing saints from above judging your moves, and giving you a few bonus points in the big game if you light one of the votives. In a scientific study, it was proven than a votive makes a prayer 35% more likely to be granted.

The second photo below is of a vampire in a different cathedral in southern Italy.

Hiking to the top of this beast with my camera and tripod was a lot tougher than it looked!

I saw this area from the train as I came into Lyon, and I was bound and determined to get to the top before dark. As I began the switchbacks, the darkness was falling, so I had to switch my iPod over to some upbeat music to drive me to the top in time. As soon as I got up there, the ferris wheel lit up and the city came alive with light. Like a marine with his gun, I assembled the tripod, ran through my settings on the camera, and fired away.

Is there anything cooler than the old architecture throughout Europe? I say there is not.

In this upcoming article that I’m working on for Smashing Magazine, I mention a membrane between fantasy and reality, and, for whatever reason, seeing things like this help me drift back and forth between what is real and what is not real. I know critics typically get caught up in reality; I get caught up in fantasy. I can’t be in places like this without thinking of the Game of Thrones.

Isn’t this just the sort of thing you expect to see in a small streetside window in France? Well it’s exactly what I saw so I had to grab a shot… Yes – I know it’s busy… but that’s kinda the point

It was a perfect, although slightly cool, evening as everyone was streaming out of the theater. It seemed like the sort of thing that someone should be taking a picture of… so I am glad I was there to do it!

I always wanted a good ferris wheel shot! It’s surprisingly hard to shoot these things. You would assume that it’s just a slam dunk with a long exposure and spinning lights… but it’s not that easy! I’ve thrown away hundreds… until finally it worked out magically one night in Lyon.

It is my favorite thing in the world to wander around foreign streets at night… all alone… just me and my iPod. I’m much too weak to avoid passing by these little creperies without stopping in for a fresh French pastry… I mean, who in their right mind could avoid that?

I walked around Lyon at midnight with a Russian friend. We were so busy at the conference most of the time that the first chance we had to shoot together was when the streets were almost empty and the river was black.

He saw me walking with my camera attached to my tripod and the strap hanging down. He winced, saying he saw one of his friend’s cameras just drop off the head and crash to the ground. He forced me to wrap the strap around the tripod just in case… and I still do that to this day, thinking about is disapproving Russian scowl. I don’t need to see that it my mind’s eye…

I was in the back alleys of Lyon, the old district, when this little fortune teller in a purple box appeared. The machine was making rather scary ambient droning sounds intermixed with a screeching mechanical whirring that rumbled from the inside. I was rather nervous while taking a shot of it, but I kept my wits about me then moved on.

The interior of the Notre Dame was vast, golden, and could not possibly fit through the eye of a needle.

Seen at the cusp of night in Lyon.

Every year around this time, Lyon lights up with a festive light celebration. All over the town, they erect unique light sculptures, torches, lasers, candles, light shows, projections, strobes, and anything else you can think of.

This shot is very unusual and the light did unexpected things to the lens, but I quite like it!

I went out to dinner with a bunch of cool Russians after the conference on Tuesday. We went down one of the most popular streets in Lyon to have some seafood. Afterwards, the founder of this other company and I went out to shoot photos.. I think we walked the streets for about 3 hours until 2 AM. It was a big mistake since my flight left early the next morning! Although, it is better than going out drinking with the Russians…

I arrived in Lyon today for an upcoming game conference and went to the old medieval section of the city to grab some shots before dinner. This is the interior of the Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvre. It is probably the most lavish and beautiful cathedral I have ever been inside. It beats the other Notre Dame in Paris by a mile. I’ve never been in the Sistine Chapel, which is probably more lavish. I was going to visit it on my last trip to Rome but the Pope died the day I was there… so that one was… busy.

My method for getting tripods into cathedrals and shooting is this:

1. Go in the exit and act like you are lost if someone asks

10. See #9. It’s your duty to stop tourists from using flashes… next thing you know, they’ll have their flash on when shooting the Eiffel Tower at night.