The Amazing HDR Workshop Results!

I told the HDR Workshop class last weekend, very sincerely, that I was quite impressed with their progress. It’s my first workshop, and I love teaching people, but I did not expect them to make so much progress so quickly. Mind you, we already had a few people that were already quite good, but even they picked up a bunch of new stuff. Without further ado, here is a random selection of some of the resulting shots from their newfound skills!

(and yes, we are making an HDR DVD of the workshop for those that could not attend the event!)

• A shot from Cliff Blaise of the Driskill Piano, The Pennybacker Bridge, and see his recent Textured Shot (everyone got a copy of my Ultimate textures set) too – nice!
• Michael Steighner is a wonderful guy and artist.  Look at this recent shot of his of a Peaceful Evening.  And see his photo of the Oasis. AND his latest of an incredible shoreline.
• Wes Browning took this STUNNING HDR from the first day, and also said nice things about the workshop – thanks Wes!
• Michael Paolini was a heck of a nice guy and took this shot of Yours Truly hanging out over the railing at the Oasis.
• Eivind came all the way from NORWAY for the event!  See this great 6th Street shot he took during one of our photowalks.  He is just 20!
• Frank Jaquier really picked up everything well as you can see from this Driskill photo he took on the first day!
• Mark Interrante did a great job capturing our evening at The Oasis, where I took the group on a bus to capture the sunset.
• See this pretty sunset from Mark Schaffer, who is taking photos for all the right reasons… he loves it!
• Steve Popkin took this killer shot inside the Driskill on the first day!
• Ken Liu was a cool guy that came in from LA for the event – I enjoyed him very much and he got this sunset shot.
• Tim Donar came in from Arkansas for the event…. and I told him I was jealous because he got a better picture of the Frost Tower than I ever have!
• MOST IMPROVED -  She flew in from Hawaii and won a great prize for it! Diana Hudson, Before the Workshop and After the Workshop – awesome!

Also, a very special thanks to John P from One Man’s Blog (and especially Cali Lewis for the introduction!), Scott Kublin from ScottyCentral, and Alex Suarez, one of the aliens from Galaxy Quest.

Thanks Frederick Van for the Interview!

Hey that was a great interview! Hehe…  I just listened to it and forgot about all the HDR Controversy we addressed therein!  You can listen to it also from Frederick Van’s blog.  Thanks again for all the kind tweets and emails about the interview.  Even though I went out on a limb in many areas, I think they struck a chord… thanks again y’all.  And when I say “Internet” – I mean YOU!

Daily Photo – Templestorm

It’s hard to keep up with my students!  I feel they are catching up and surpassing me!  I won’t have it!  Hehe…  no no… my theory is that HDR will begin to splinter into a million different shards.  I can’t wait to see where each of them take the artform.

This is just outside of JogJakarta, Indonesia at an ancient temple called Prambanan.  It was the kind of place that has been sitting there waiting for me to bring my story-telling-machine there.  You have seen a few of my other shots of this place perhaps, just after the storm hit.  As I was leaving, I looked back over my shoulder to see this.  I sometimes forget as I walk away from things to turn around and look back, and I can see things I don’t expect.

Filed under the categories: Indonesia, Jogjakarta, Travel

This is from an awesome monument in Indonesia called Borobudur. There are about five ways to spell this temple, at least when I spell it. But, you get the general idea.

I’ve re-mastered this one by using the textures from the Textures Tutorial. This one is actually featured in the video. I have a non-textured version of this which is also interesting… and I think I explain in the video that the use of these textures doesn’t necessarily make something “better”, but what it does do is make something else that is equally satisfying in a different way. So then, at the end, you have two photos, rather than one, each one different and nice in its own way (if that makes sense!).

Filed under the categories: Borobudur, Indonesia, Jogjakarta, Travel

Just outside of Yogyakarta in Indonesia are the ruins of Prambanan. Getting to this place is a long way from home, so we tried to take advantage of everything in and around the city. Prambanan is a Hindu temple that was first built in 850 CE.  It began a painstaking reconstruction in 1918.  I can’t imagine what difficult work that must be.

Actually, it was quite nice to get out of the crowded city.  Will and I had spent a long night walking around down near the markets.  The streets were so crowded in the busy night streets that it was unbelievable.  I had always known that Indonesia had hundreds of millions of people, but when stuck in the throngs, you can really feel it.  Also, that was a disconcerting night because it was the first time I stepped over a dead body.

I have a few new reviews for you too! These were mentioned in the most recent newsletter that went out a few days ago.  Both of these are short and sweet, since they are simple but great products.   The first one is for sharing large files with others and moving files around between computers easily. It’s called DropBox and you can read a short DropBox Review here.

The second tool I’ve been using is for backing my files up onto the Internet (the cloud). This gives me peace of mind in case there is a fire and my local backups are also destroyed. Even if you don’t have a ton of photos and just want to back up your family digital photos, it’s a smart idea. And it’s super-cheap. You can read more at the Backblaze Review page.

Filed under the categories: Indonesia, Jogjakarta, Nikon D2XS, Travel

So, many of you know that I am represented by Getty and also do a lot of direct licensing. Because my work is Creative Commons (means you can use it for free for personal use on blogs/wallpaper, as long as it is not for commercial purposes), it gets spread all over the diaspora of the Internet, and companies contact us on a regular basis to license photos commercially for one use or another. Even in a bad economy, this is doing very very well. In fact, every month continues to get better, even as traditional travel magazines like Conde Nast are losing advertising revenue. Although, I am sure this is not a surprise to any of us that use the internet so much to get info nowadays!

One thing we always ask for, as part of the deal, is for the companies to send us a copy of the final product. So we get several of these kinds of things a week, and it is always cool! I get excited and giddy to see my work used in creative ways across many mediums. Here is one we recently got of a poetry book that used on of my Indonesian pics on the cover. I put the orig below, along with a few other shots from that temple.

I end up throwing all of this stuff into these giant boxes in my office. I don’t know what I will do with them! They just kinda pile up… I should have a giveaway some day!

Filed under the categories: Borobudur, Indonesia, Jogjakarta, Nikon D2XS, Travel

Can you believe that I looked at that pool every day and I never got in? It was there day after day… alluring and perfect… looking warm and fun… I would walk around it, admire it, take photos of it, pass it on the way to the spa… I did just about everything to that pool but get in. I thought about it a lot, for whatever that’s worth (a lot, actually, I have an active imagination). But next time I get there, I’m goin’ in… I think about what those little tiles will feel like slippin’ around under my toes… It’s gonna be great!

Filed under the categories: Indonesia, Jogjakarta, Nikon D2XS, Travel

I arrived at the temple of Borobudur a little after 4 AM. I had a tiny disposable flashlight, and, other than my driver idling about a mile away, I was the only person here. In fact, it was my second day in a row to do this, since I had so much fun the first. I was there with my friend Will, and he decided to sleep in the second day… but I had a few shots in mind I wanted to grab before the sun came up.

There were these strange argon lights around the temple to light up areas of excavation. They cast a gloomy and surreal light on the Buddhist reliefs that make concentric circles up to the top. I was able to get about 45 minutes of nice darkness with unexpected light until the sun started to appear over the nearby volcanoes and jungle mist.

Filed under the categories: Borobudur, Indonesia, Jogjakarta, Nikon D2XS, Travel

I look forward to many more adventures with you this year and in coming years. We have a lot of things to do, don’t we? Mais oui!

Change and tumult and highs and lows will come and go with the winds, but I will always be here, ready to take you on fun new adventures with unexpected discoveries. This year has had a lot of unexpected things happen in all corners of life, and I don’t expect the next to be any different. In the end, I’ll do my best to keep pushing forward and exploring the world and the world of ideas with you.

If life gets kind of confusing or you get down, come visit to take your mind where it would rather be anyway. At best, it will be a deep experience, and at worst, it will be a pleasant distraction. I’ll take the worst if that’s the best I can get!

For the last photo of the year, I hope I have selected a great one to set the tone for the next year. I’ve been in artful concert with this one for what seems like ages. This happenstance scene is from a remote Hindu temple in the Indonesian jungle. It was a horribly stormy day and I could have easily found myself quite miserable… but I had seen this before, seen these patterns, and I knew I’d have the chance to see the sun again. Just for a few moments, the sun appeared there, and it was timeless. I didn’t think about the future, I just sat there, unconsciously moving around the temple and capturing the moment forever.

Okay, so… moving into left-brain mode now (getting practical logistical things done…), there have been a number of changes to the site!

1) I updated my HDR Tutorial ! It has become almost completely revamped… I have a few minor things to fix – let me know if you see any typos, because, as you know, I am horrible at catching my own… (anyone want to be my editor out there?)

2) A new Header Photo and CSS Background! Hit Refresh on your browser in case you don’t see it

3) A new “Reviews” section. You can see that over on the right.

4) A new “Popular Articles” section to catch some of the cool stuff that is now buried deep in the blog

5) Minor fixes: Comment font sizes, Comment entry box streamlining, Safari problem where the fonts were huge for single posts…

6) Enabled comments on “Pages” – things like the “About Me” and “Camera Equipment” pages did not allow comments before

Filed under the categories: Indonesia, Jogjakarta, Nikon D2XS, Travel

I am sure cramming three or more people on a motorcycle looks surprising, but, surprisingly, my surprise began to subside after just a few days. I think the MOST I saw on a motorcycle was 6 people… a mom and dad and 4 kids squnched in between. I never got a great shot of that…

…as I was walking around Jogjakarta, I did find this young mom and her two kids off on their daily errands.

Filed under the categories: Indonesia, Jogjakarta, Travel

I must have walked 10 miles in Jogjakarta that day. There were so many things to see… interesting people, clothes, etc etc. I saw this guy a few times, and I decided to take a shot on the third time. He regarded me with a cool one-eyed stare and didn’t give much reaction one way or the other. I’m pretty good at getting the vibe if someone does not want their photo taken… I got no vibe from him. Actually, I got no vibe at all.

Filed under the categories: Indonesia, Jogjakarta, Travel

Each of these “bells” is really a stone cage that houses a seated Buddha statue, facing outwards. At this time in the morning, you can take little flashlights and peer inside the cages. It’s all very eerie and fun…

In the distance, you can see a few volcanoes poking through the mist.

Filed under the categories: Borobudur, Indonesia, Jogjakarta, Travel

This was one scary place in a storm. I can’t overstate that. The whole place felt alien and ancient… there was hardly anyone at this remote temple, and then pretty much everyone left when the storm hit. Between squalls, I took some quick shots as the sun went down, using a rainsleeve over my camera to try to keep it as dry as possible.

Filed under the categories: Indonesia, Jogjakarta, Musings, Travel

I have been working on a new batch of shots from Indonesia which will be coming up soon, but in the meantime I was looking at how dramatically the light changed on one day I was there in particular. These two shots below are from different parts of the country… One was taken around 3 PM and the second was taken around 7 PM.

Filed under the categories: Borobudur, Indonesia, Jogjakarta, Travel

The morning in Indonesia seemed to change every 5 minutes from blue to pink to purple then back to blue again. I could hardly figure out where to point… Framing these Buddhas in the bells at Borobudur was a fun exercise in composition and patterns.

Filed under the categories: Borobudur, Indonesia, Jogjakarta, Travel

This girl had traveled from a remote part of Indonesia to visit Borobudur. She had never seen a white guy in person before… I told her that I might be kind of a disappointment since I am a fairly average white guy. She saw the freckles on my arm and asked if I had a disease…

Filed under the categories: Borobudur, Indonesia, Jogjakarta, Travel

The density of the homes was remarkable, everyone right on top of the next. We walked down through the little houses and got a hundred good shots… each one was brightly and individually painted and festooned.

Filed under the categories: Indonesia, Jogjakarta, Travel

Sujatmi’s dream is that her grandkids grow up to be brave and smart.

She is currently sitting in a makeshift annex area in a bustling riverside community in Jogjakarta, Indonesia. Dozens of tiny thatched and improvised houses are cobbled together and brightly painted. There are kids running around and other adults running after them, trying to get them to sit still so they can begin school. I’ve accidentally interrupted the whole affair while getting confused in the tiny alleys, no wider than a set of shoulders. She’s thrilled by the excitement as she looks on, nodding at me and the kids.

If you are into this portrait series (not all readers are… I think most like the landscapes!), then you can see more by clicking here.

Filed under the categories: Indonesia, Jogjakarta, Travel