Travel – Page 398 – Stuck in Customs

The Royal Stairs

Join us for the Online Class – it quickly approaches!

In a few weeks, we’ll be having this great online photography training event called Midnight in Paris. You’ll notice today’s daily photo is one of the ones in this little video-teaser below!

Daily Photo – The Royal Stairs

I imagine all sorts of royalty going up and down these stairs. I wonder what it was like, back in the day, when people would come over to the chateau… arriving on horse-drawn carriages and the like… coming in to ascend these stairs… I wish we had video footage from back then. It would be so interesting.

Maybe someone will invent a quantum-time video capture device. Then we could set it up on the stairs and dial it back to the mid 1800’s to see who went up and down the stairs.

This reminds me a little of what my little 7-year-old girl said. She was looking at some old photos from the 20’s. She said, “You know dad? Like in the olden days? Like when everyone used to dress in black and white?”

The Royal Stairs

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2012-11-08 13:17:59
  • CameraNIKON D800
  • Camera MakeNikon
  • Exposure Time1
  • Aperture8
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length14.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias-1

Comments

New Zealand Photographers more popular than the Prime Minister?

Rankings in NZ

This is a funny post from New Zealand photographer Jason Law:

NZ Photographers more popular than our Prime Minister on Google+…

Pretty funny to see that myself and a few other close photographer friends here in Queenstown/Central Otago are more popular than our Prime Minister.. Perhaps +Todd Sisson or +Stefan Haworth should run for Prime Minister next term?.. 😛

Check out www.circlecount.com for some interesting stats..
http://www.circlecount.com/nz/profileslist/

Daily Photo – Exploring the Medieval Mont Saint Michel

I think if you ever go to Mont Saint Michel that you should really try to stay up on the island. Hotel space is extremely limited, but it gives you the chance to walk around the old walled city deep into the night. All the tourists are gone, and the only people around are the supposed 46 people that live there, according to Wikipedia.

Here, an old man walks home after a day at work.

Exploring the Medieval Mont Saint Michel

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2012-11-12 21:44:29
  • CameraNIKON D800
  • Camera MakeNikon
  • Exposure Time0.5
  • Aperture4
  • ISO200
  • Focal Length14.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias-3

Comments

Summer Storm on the Remarkables

Snow on Christmas?

Even though it is the middle of summer here in the southern hemisphere, I’ve heard there has been snow here on Christmas… usually it’s in the 60’s and 70’s (18-22 Celsius) in the summer, but every now and then these storms come through and dump a bit of snow!

Quick Timelapse

For today, I’m did a very quick timelapse of two days in a row in Queenstown, looking out into my back yard. As you can see Day 1 was super cloudy while it was preparing to snow. Day 2 you can see the fresh snow on the mountains.

Comments

Coming Back to Australia

Coming Back to Australia – Where should I go?

Maybe we can even do a Google+ PhotoWalk somewhere, if you wanna! I’ll be coming there in about a week with +Tom Anderson. We land in Sydney, but then were going to rent a car and drive either towards Melbourne or Brisbane, stopping to take photos all along the way. I’ve never been to either place… and I know there are many Very Active Aussie photographers on here, so we value your advice!

Below is a photo that I took while in Sydney last time… I’m really looking forward to coming back – it’s just a 3 hour flight from here! 🙂

Daily Photo – Opera House and the Docks

I took this bright and early one morning when I forced myself to get outta bed and go for a walk. I was feeling particularly lazy that morning and was oh-so-comfy in bed. I was sharing a room with a friend, and I didn’t want to wake him up. It’s very difficult to wake up, get dressed, and get all your photo equipment together while staying quiet! The only thing I was missing was a cheery assistant there with a cup of coffee. Maybe I should recruit some Starbucks barista to be my assistant – they are always hauntingly cheery and near-coffee.

Opera House and the Docks

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2012-09-25 16:48:15
  • CameraNIKON D800
  • Camera MakeNikon
  • Exposure Time1/60
  • Aperture8
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length32.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias+1

Comments

Happy New Year – First Fireworks of the 2013!

Happy New Year!

Let’s have a great one together! 🙂

Fireworks Shooting Tips

What ya need:

– Super-stable surface
– Go into scary Manual mode
– Set your F stop to as LOW a number as possible
– Set your shutter to 15 seconds (but wait till the last bullet point!!)
– Set your ISO to, hmmm… well depends on your camera sensor… but let’s say 800.

Execution:

(also, play with your ISO and Shutter speed till you like what you see):

1) When you take the photo, you probably won’t have the camera on for a full 15 seconds. After you see a nice explosion, TURN OFF the camera. This will close the shutter. Most of my best shots are only 3-9 seconds… but leaving the 15 seconds there is like a buffer where you can decide based on the shapes in the air.

2) If you have a big-sensor DSLR, then ISO 200 may be okay. If you have a smaller sensor, keep trying 400, 800, 1600, etc until the light levels look good for your time of exposure.

3) Don’t forget to shoot in RAW so you can bring out all the final colors later! 🙂

Daily Photo – 2013 Fireworks in Queenstown

I decided to re-crop this photo at the last minute! If you dig around on Google+, you’ll see my first version. It was okay, but I think I like this square one better. Actually, I just can’t make up my mind. I feel like a woman trying on clothes, or, at least, what I think that would feel like.

2013 Fireworks in Queenstown

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2012-12-31 14:58:37
  • CameraNIKON D800
  • Camera MakeNikon
  • Exposure Time3.1
  • Aperture2.8
  • ISO800
  • Focal Length24.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments

The Glowing Louvre

My collected thoughts on Star Trek, especially the movies

I don’t know why you would care… but, if you like Star Trek too, then I know why! 🙂

– Star Trek V, somehow, has worse special effects than the first four.

– Star Trek III has some of the worst writing of any of them. I wonder if George Lucas used it as a model for Episode 1.

– Even-numbered Star Trek movies are generally better. This is, at least, until the average age of the original crew was 80+.

– There is no way a bloated captain Kirk could scale El Capitan freehanded like in Assassin’s Creed.

– Now that I know the truth, it’s easy to see the hints in the mannerisms of Sulu. Oh my.

– Picard is a great ENTJ. Did you know I spent several hours with Patrick Stewart on stage with two other theater students while he recited The Merchant of Venice? It was amazing… I’ll tell you the whole story some time.

– Uhura jumped the shark when she did that dance atop the sand dune. Those hips don’t lie.

– Scotty is too one-dimensional of a character.

– Klingons in silhouette while Birds of Prey blow up always look like an 80’s hair band on stage.

– While showing these movies to my son, I have to pause the movie for 10 minutes for a cold-war history lesson to explain why it is funny that Chekov says “Nuclear Wessels” on the streets of San Francisco.

– I need to show my son all the ST:TNGs, but I may start with season 2 or 3 when the Beard is in full force.

– Wesley Crusher did not annoy me as much as he seemed to annoy other people. He was my everyman, my Frodo, my me-aged-me on a starship and I thought he was over-achieving, Type-A, and likable. (I did!)

– Amazing that I originally watched all the TNGs without a laptop on my lap. I rarely watch anything any more without also having 15 tabs open in a browser.

– I think Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Kahn is still one of the best, and it holds up pretty well.

– I thank Star Trek for first getting me into sci fi… if you’re also into it and want something really advanced (and much more sophisticated, by a factor of 100), try Pandora’s Star, Judas Unchained, and The Void Trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton. Oh, and watch Firefly.

– I heard when Gene Roddenberry was alive that he refused to ever allow The Enterprise to be shown upside down. When JJ Abrams got ahold of it, he flipped that motha all ova the place. (sweet sweet JJ Abrams – thank you for saving Star Trek for all of us – we can’t wait for the next one!)

Funny TNG Videos!

That Jean-Luc Picard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf9oD_xl8mI

Bridge Buffoonery: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8aEhtJ-sgg&feature=relmfu

A Fistful of Explosions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnPIPOaRUFg&feature=relmfu

Uneventful Day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGvYIZppmQc&feature=relmfu

Beard on Beard (almost NSFW) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck-VIA1GUCY&feature=relmfu

Daily Photo – The Glowing Louvre

Here’s another photo from the amazing PhotoWalk in Paris. This was supposed to be the end of the walk, but it ended up being the halfway point!

In post-processing this one, I made the Louvre feel a little more warm and inviting, while the outside stayed a bit more cold and foreboding. I edited this one in front of a live class in Christchuch… I hope people enjoyed that bit ! 🙂 Not all of my edits were successful that day, but I think this one turned out alright.

The Glowing Louvre

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2012-11-07 20:11:16
  • CameraNIKON D800
  • Camera MakeNikon
  • Exposure Time1/4
  • Aperture8
  • ISO50
  • Focal Length14.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias-1

Comments

Evening in Santa Cruz

Fox News Central Park Bit Part 2

When I mentioned this on Facebook, everyone started coming out with their hot-news-opinions about Fox News! All you have to do is just put those two words together, then everyone will tell you want they think… and, they seem to simply assume that you care about the intricacies of their opinions. Hehe… it cracks me up… hey, I know some people take what people say on the news to be very important, that’s fine…that’s fine… Over here in New Zealand, the news mostly talks about horses when the best week to put blankets on them for the winter.

Daily Photo – Evening in Santa Cruz

I really rushed here at the last minute for this photo! I arrived just as the sun was setting to get some shots from above, then came down to the beach to take some more of the reflection off the wet sand. It was so perfect down there, and it lasted for a good thirty minutes after sunset, which was quite convenient!

After I was done taking these, a gentleman came over that recognized me from the website. It was good of him to do this – we talked for a little while – I always enjoy meeting new people, so if you see me, don’t be afraid to come say hello! 🙂

Evening in Santa Cruz

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2012-02-20 21:01:16
  • CameraNIKON D3X
  • Camera MakeNikon
  • Exposure Time0.3
  • Aperture8
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length40.0 mm
  • FlashNo Flash
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias-1

Comments

Driving Home…

Get a new Camera for Christmas?

Here’s a little interview I did on Fox News with Clayton Morris. It might help answer a few questions about your new camera!

Daily Photo – Driving Home…

As you approach Lake Tekapo from the East, you pass through an interesting set of geology. The mountains are rolling one second and ragged the next. I’ve noticed that some days also feature very strange light patterns, with heavy clouds overhead while shafts of evening light slice through and light up parts of the hills. I was able to capture this little scene, which only lasted about sixty seconds.

Driving Home…

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2012-12-07 11:27:57
  • CameraNIKON D800
  • Camera MakeNikon
  • Exposure Time1/4
  • Aperture8
  • ISO50
  • Focal Length98.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias

Comments

Burning Through the Deserts of Death Valley

Keep Sharing Your Photos in the Community!

The Stuck In Customs Community on G+ is a GREAT way for you to share your own photos and get to know other people in the community too! So, thanks for all the activity over there – I hope you are enjoying yourself! 🙂

Daily Photo – Burning Through the Deserts of Death Valley

This was my first real experience in a proper desert. The thing that surprised me most was the blast of hot air that kept rushing into my face. I was only here in Death Valley for a few days, so I’m not exactly an expert in deserts. But, while I was there, a nonstop wind full of hot, wet, heat that was pounding into me. The “wet” part was the most interesting… it did not feel as dry as I expected.

The other thing I noticed is that walking up these sand dunes is not as easy as it is in video games.

Burning Through the Deserts of Death Valley

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2012-08-25 10:49:52
  • CameraNIKON D800
  • Camera MakeNikon
  • Exposure Time1/125
  • Aperture8
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length92.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias

Comments

Sheepstorm

Many New Books on Flatbooks.com

I know many of you go to www.FlatBooks.com to have a regular look at the latest offerings, but let me go ahead and give you these three in case you missed them!

from Trey Ratcliff at www.stuckincustoms.com

Daily Photo – Sheepstorm

On the drive down to Te Anau from Queenstown, you pass countless fields of sheep with dramatic mountain backdrops. I think sheep in fields are already pleasant enough to look at, but it gets even better when there is drama in the mountains and drama in the skies!

I’m not exactly the Sheep Whisperer yet, but I have noticed that you have to be quiet as a mouse when approaching a fence to take a photo. If just ONE of them gets scared and runs, they ALL get scared and run.

Sheepstorm

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2012-10-27 02:00:17
  • CameraNIKON D3S
  • Camera MakeNikon
  • Exposure Time1/8000
  • Aperture2.8
  • ISO200
  • Focal Length110.0 mm
  • FlashNo Flash
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias-2

Comments