Update on Pricing and Availability

A recommended Lens

If you click up there on the top to see Trey’s Gear, you’ll see I have a bunch of different recommended lenses. One of them I used for today’s shot – the Sony 55mm FE f/1.8 lens. It’s really been quite remarkable and fun! It’s nice to have a full-frame lens like this with a great depth of field for shots of this nature (if you forgive the pun!).

Daily Photo – Lavender in the Fields

While driving up towards Mount Cook, I finally saw my first endless field of lavender. I’ve seen these before in photos and thought it would be fun to walk amidst them, which I then ended up doing for about an hour. I got all sorts of shots, from the close-in stuff below to wide vistas. I’ll publish some of those soon as well!

Lavender in the Fields

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2014-01-05 12:36:40
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/500
• Aperture2.4
• ISO100
• Focal Length55.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias+2

All About the New Stuck In Customs!

Here’s a quick video I made that talks about some of the new features around the site here. Enjoy! 🙂

Daily Photo – A One-Man Roadtrip

I took a very nice photo road trip up to the north for a few days recently. I was lucky with the weather, except for the time I decided to sleep outside and got rained on at 3 in the morning. That’s about the worst time to get rained on, btw. I was so confused!

Anyway, there was no rain here, as you can see. If you look into the far distance, however, you can see some moisture beginning to boil over the mountains and coming my direction…

A One-Man Roadtrip

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2014-01-05 14:35:10
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/500
• Aperture8
• ISO100
• Focal Length16.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

Free “Organize Your Photos!” Giveaway Event for local camera clubs!

I’m so excited about the re-design of this website that I wanted to do a big giveaway of a video+eBook for you all! You’ve been so supportive over the years, so I wanted to do something to give back! 🙂

As many of you know, I’m a HUGE fan of local camera clubs that help encourage members to get better. I always do giveaways when I speak at them, so I came up with an idea that I thought would scale well! Sometimes in camera clubs, they have special giveaways, raffles, or prizes to give to members. If you belong to a local camera club and want to do one of those with “Organize Your Photos! The Three Level System” video and eBook — well, this is your chance! Even better, you’ll get a copy yourself that you can review before the giveaway so you can tell others about it!

To get a free copy of the video and eBook, just do this:

1) Post a comment below with the name / location of your photo club.
2) Email [email protected] with their name and contact info.
After Luke sets you up, you’ll be able to use your account at store.StuckInCustoms.com to download the hour-long video and eBook! 🙂

I hope you have a great time with it! Give everyone in your camera club a high-five for me! 🙂

The ALL NEW Stuck In Customs!

Wow, well what has changed around here? So much! Here’s just five of my favorite new things!:

• Totally responsive and mobile-friendly – scales to any phone and tablets in any orientation! The menus flex and change and everything
• Randomised images on top of the homepage that auto-rotate and slide away upon scrolling
• Mouse-rollever EXIF info. Awesome! You can also share from there.
• Infinite scroll… scroll down forever and ever and ever! 🙂 You can still click on categories if you want to pop to a certain location!
• New, streamlined organization. See the menu at the top for all the goodies!

A BIG thanks to the whole team that made this happen! Let me know your thoughts — what you like or don’t like!

Daily Photo – The Clay Cliffs

If you come to the South Island of New Zealand, please don’t fly from Christchurch to Queenstown — drive!

The drive is absolutely beautiful, and along the way, this is one of the stops. The Clay Cliffs take a little bit of a drive (30 mins out of the way from Omarama), but they are really worth it. There is just a short hike to get this view, and you can even get up in there and walk around inside. It’s enchanting, and you may recognize these from a few scenes in LOTR.

When you take the little hike, you can bring a wide-angle lens and maybe something a little tighter, and you’ll be set and ready to go!

The Clay Cliffs

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2012-12-05 04:39:01
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/1000
• Aperture4
• ISO71
• Focal Length28.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

Blowing up around the world! Live interview soon!

Join us Live early next week in a G+ Hangout!. We just opened the doors less than two days ago, and we already have applications from so many countries around the world for The Arcanum. I am shocked! Here’s just part of the list: Afghanistan, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Barbados, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Serbia and Montenegro, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the US. Crazy! Even more crazy is how many we actually got from Afghanistan — that really surprised us!

I’ll be going on live with Frederick Van Johnson and Peter Giordano to answer questions. I am glad so many other people also love the idea of an artistic Master & Apprentice system that creates cells and self-replicates in a fun environment.

If YOU have questions, click on the event link below and let Frederick Van Johnson know on the event page! You can also click on that link to see the local day and time when it will be live.

Behind the Scenes at Lake Tekapo

Today’s photo below was taken here in New Zealand at this awesome place called Lake Tekapo. I took a few versions of this photo, and here is the latest one. If you want to see what it was like to take the photo, change lenses, etc etc, here’s a little video!

Daily Photo – The Blues of Lake Tekapo

I wished I lived closer to this lake so I could go out there more often to see all the pretty sunsets across the glacier-fed blue water. Whenever I do drive back and forth to Christchurch, though, I usually stop here for a bit! It’s actually one of the reasons I prefer the 4 hour drive to Christchurch from Queenstown rather than the 30 minute flight… there are so many places to stop and take photos!

The Blues of Lake Tekapo

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2012-12-07 11:50:59
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/15
• Aperture5.6
• ISO200
• Focal Length28.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

The Galaxy S4 Google Edition

I recently bought this phone and I really love it. Whenever people get an Android phone, I always recommend the pure Google edition because it is generally better. It gets updates right away to the software and it doesn’t have the strange UI skin that so many manufacturers annoyingly put on top of Android.

Daily Photo – Across Central Otago

One evening I was in Tekapo and considering waiting on the sunset there. I decided to drive to Pukaki to check it out, but I stopped halfway when I saw this aqua fog roll in across the fields. I ended up spending my time in this field all the way through the darkness. The fog was very deceptive because it seemed like it was moving slowly, but it did change form and shape quite a bit.

Across Central Otago

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2013-06-12 02:07:26
• CameraNEX-7
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/1000
• Aperture5.6
• ISO1600
• Focal Length120.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

A bunch of Sony NEX-7 Shots

I hope you don’t mind if I post a lot of recent shots with the NEX-7. I uploaded a lot to use with the newly updated Sony NEX-7 Review, but I didn’t end up using them! I love them (obviously), but I didn’t want the review just to have 50+ photos in it! I include a ton of photos in my reviews already, but I feel like there is a point where it is just tooooo much and it becomes overwhelming. I don’t know where that spot is, but, anyway, I end up having to leave a few shots behind, like this one. It doesn’t mean I love it any less… but you know that old question where you are on a sinking boat and you can only save a few kids – which ones do you choose? It doesn’t matter! 🙂

Daily Photo – The Trees Peak Through The Fog

I was waiting in Tekapo with my son for my wife to arrive. We had just finished spending the day shooting the Loon Balloons from Google X, and we were going to meet Tina and the girls in Tekapo. Since they were arriving after sunset, I wanted to find a good place to watch the sun go down. I could not decide between Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki, which are very close together. So, in between the two, I saw this fog rolling in and decided to stop and take this photo.

The Trees Peak Through The Fog

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2013-06-12 02:14:39
• CameraNEX-7
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/25
• Aperture6.3
• ISO100
• Focal Length210.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias