Matamata – Page 2 – Stuck in Customs
22
Jul 2015 : Wednesday
filed under  Matamata, New Zealand, Sony A7R, Travel

The Beginning of Lord of The Rings

Set Design

I don’t know how these guys come up with the idea and the know-how to actually build this stuff. It’s very impressive! You can see a little bit of that know-how at work in this video, especially with all the gardeners and everyone working to make things look perfect!

Daily Photo – The Beginning of Lord of The Rings

Remember this little road from the beginning of the first LOTR when Gandalf was on the cart along with Frodo? What a great scene… it brought back all the memories while walking around here. I can’t believe these places are real!

The Beginning of Lord of The Rings

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-05-08 11:29:30
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/200
  • Aperture9.5
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length24.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
15
Feb 2015 : Sunday
filed under  Matamata, New Zealand

Walking to the Green Dragon for a Pint

Another great pub

My favorite one is very near my home in Arrowtown, New Zealand. If you ever go there, be sure to find and enter the “Blue Door.” There’s no sign or anything. You may have to ask around. It’s in a tiny alleyway, and you’ll see, well, a Blue Door.

Daily Photo – Walking to the Green Dragon for a Pint

After a long day of photography, what could be better than a walk across this bridge here in Hobbiton to visit the Green Dragon for a pint of ale? Not much! And it’s all real. There are actual giant taps on the wall that pour actual stuff! Even better was having full run of the place while we took photos. But it’s actually something anyone can do. It’s part of the standard tour and they all end here for Hobbit-drinks and Hobbit-snacks.

Walking to the Green Dragon for a Pint

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-05-07 18:01:57
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/20
  • Aperture9
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length24.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias-0.3

Comments
4
Jan 2015 : Sunday
filed under  Matamata, New Zealand

Streamy, Dreamy Clouds over Hobbiton

14 Cold Nights in Antarctica

As my Antarctic trip begins in earnest, I decided to make a special Pinterest Board called 14 Cold Nights in Antarctica for inspiration!

Amazing Cloud Names

Do any of you know a good website that has a bunch of photos of clouds and their names? I’m not a big “this-is-called-that” kinda guy, but I would be interested to see, especially if there are little scientific explanations of how particular clouds are formed.

Daily Photo – Streamy, Dreamy Clouds over Hobbiton

I feel like I post too many photos of Hobbiton! But whenever I go to this spot on the north island, I just go a little photo-crazy. How can you not? These are some of my favorite sorts of clouds. I maybe only see them once a month or so? But they make for such a nice texture in the sky, I tend to go a little crazy no matter where I am!

Streamy, Dreamy Clouds over Hobbiton

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-05-08 11:21:17
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/200
  • Aperture9.5
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length24.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
7
Dec 2014 : Sunday
filed under  Matamata, New Zealand

Entering Hobbiton

Upcoming PhotoWalks

I’ll work on getting a page up soon that has a list of all the upcoming PhotoWalks… I’m thinking that Hong Kong, London, Berlin, and Venice are on the agenda for early 2015! 🙂

Daily Photo – Entering Hobbiton

You may remember a scene from Lord of the Rings when Gandalf is riding into Hobbiton in the beginning of the movie. He goes right down this little amazing rock-lined lane. It’s still here, and even more magical than in the movies. This is one of many ways into visiting the 44 Hobbit holes!

Entering Hobbiton

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-05-07 17:06:11
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/13
  • Aperture16
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length17.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias+1.3

Comments
29
Nov 2014 : Saturday
filed under  Matamata, New Zealand

Eating dinner in Hobbiton

Facebook Page

Don’t forget that we switched my account over to an official “Trey Ratcliff Facebook Page” – thanks for stopping by to “Like” it! 🙂

Daily Photo – Eating dinner in Hobbiton

Ahh, just another dinner here in New Zealand. We eat like this most every night around here…

I wish! Well, maybe sometimes we do… This is part of the grand feast they have on the Hobbiton Movie Set. If you sign up for the last tour of the day, then you can stay for this ridiculous dinner. I super-recommend it! At one point, there was a huge food fight!

Eating dinner in Hobbiton

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-05-07 20:38:23
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time5
  • Aperture10
  • ISO200
  • Focal Length16.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
22
Nov 2014 : Saturday
filed under  Matamata, New Zealand

Stars over the Party Tree in Hobbiton

A little behind-the-scenes

Here’s a fairly random video that we shot while on the Hobbiton Movie Set. We were doing a few videos for The Arcanum! It also shows some other random stuff during a little New Zealand adventure…

Daily Photo – Stars over the Party Tree in Hobbiton

I know I post a lot of photos from Hobbiton, so you gotta give me a break! haha… It’s so pretty there. On this particular night, we were out very late shooting… it turned out to be kind of a small photowalk! A few people from a tour spotted us and came over to say hello, so we invited them right along. Whenever I do shots like this, it makes me wonder why I don’t go out every night!

Stars over the Party Tree in Hobbiton

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-05-07 20:02:11
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time30
  • Aperture5.6
  • ISO1600
  • Focal Length14.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
21
Nov 2014 : Friday
filed under  Akaroa, Arrowtown, Auckland, Christchurch, Cromwell, Dunedin, Franz Josef, Glenorchy, Lake Tekapo, Lindis Pass, Matamata, Milford Sound, Moeraki, Mount Cook, Nelson, New Zealand, Paradise, Queenstown, Rotorua, Saint Bathans, Te Anau, Wanaka

The Beauty of New Zealand

A New Video!

A New Photo-Video for you – All New Zealand awesomeness…

I have a Landscape Photography Tutorial based here in New Zealand available over at https://stuckincustoms.com/landscape-and-travel-photography-tutorial-new-zealand/

Animation/Slideshow – more info at https://stuckincustoms.com/links/animoto — or see my review at https://stuckincustoms.com/animoto-review/

Amaze-maze music by the New Zealand band, Arma Del Amor – see more at https://www.facebook.com/ArmaDelAmorNZ

Comments
13
Nov 2014 : Thursday
filed under  Camera Gear, Matamata, New Zealand

The Behind-the-Scenes with Air New Zealand Video hits tomorrow!

Update: Released!

Here’s the video. If you wanna see the full 40-minute loooong version, just go sign up here StuckInCustoms.com/Hobbit (it’s free, and merged into our normal monthly newsletter).

Bilbo's Hobbit Hole in Bag End

Hobbiton in the Morning

Inside The Hobbit Hole Of Bilbo Baggins

The Seats on Air New Zealand

Exploring the Hobbit Holes

The Clouds Of Hobbiton

Comments
30
Oct 2014 : Thursday
filed under  Camera Gear, Matamata, Model, New Zealand

Air New Zealand, Behind the Scenes

Want to see the Behind-the-Scenes video?

I did a fun photoshoot with Air New Zealand, and some of the photos are just now starting to come out. We also made a cool behind-the-scenes video there, which we will release for free to newsletter subscribers (which is also free!)


HDR Photo

Here’s one of the unofficial, behind-the-scenes photos I took in between scenes… That’s Rosanna there – I love the elf ears!

rosanna1

Daily Photo – The Seats on Air New Zealand

I set this shot up in New Zealand… it was pretty challenging to shoot, but you’ll see more in the behind-the-scenes video! But I’m very happy with the way it turned out…

The Seats on Air New Zealand

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2013-10-17 18:59:44
  • CameraNEX-7
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/400
  • Aperture8
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length12.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias-1

Comments
5
Sep 2014 : Friday
filed under  Camera Gear, Matamata, New Zealand, Sony A7R, Travel

An amazing meal in Hobbiton

An Older Interview You Might Have Missed

Here is a very fun episode I did with Leo Laporte!

Daily Photo – An amazing meal in Hobbiton

If you go on the tour of the Hobbiton Movie Set, be sure you go on the last one of the day and stay for this dinner. It is absolutely NOT to be missed… man it was good. I ate so so so much — it was really redonkulous. And, as you can see, the view cannot be beaten!

An amazing meal in Hobbiton

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-05-07 20:27:17
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1.6
  • Aperture8
  • ISO200
  • Focal Length15.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments