Thanks again Google Zurich

I do have a funny little story from the Zurich offices. We did a Google+ hangout from one of their special conference rooms. It was called “SkyNet”, and halfway through the hangout, the windows shades started to automatically close. It was really eerie and I made a joke about SkyNet, and there was nervous laughter behind me.

Daily Photo – The Secret Google Chilling Vat

On the tour around the cool Zurich offices, Brian White took me into this watery oasis. It is where euro-Googlers come to nap when they need a brain-break. I don’t know for sure, but I imagine them slinking around in here while wearing trendy euro-clubbing clothes.

There were soft water-sounds wafting about, and everything was very zen. You can choose whatever sleeping arrangement you like: the porcelain tub filled with red foam cubes, the leathery massage chair that doesn’t ask questions, or many more..

Filed under the categories: Nikon D3X, Switzerland, Travel, Zurich

Slowly getting through the Switzerland shots!

This batch is taking me a long time… plus there has been a lot of trouble along with a Drobo problem that gave me the blues… that slowed me down… and made me drop my faith in the Drobos one notch… I’m still using them, but I hold my breath a little more to be honest.

Daily Photo – Soft Zurich at Night

These slow-moving huge rivers make for some very nice reflections.

With HDR there is a problem of “ghosting” which is when the various frames show different things. I usually leave the water alone when it gets ghosted because it has sort of an impressionistic feel to it, I think. In a sense, it gives the “impression” of water, which is somewhere between a photo and our memory.

Filed under the categories: Nikon D3X, Switzerland, Travel, Zurich

More Switzerland Coming Soon

Sorry I have been so slow in posting Switzerland photos… this has been a very busy time for me, and I am slipping behind a little bit. But, I do have a master-plan to start getting all those photos in order and ready to post!

Daily Photo – Bridges in Zurich

I love these old cities that are centered around a river with dozens of little bridges that cross to and fro. It vexes me why Austin (or hundreds of other cities) have not centered the whole city around the river. Maybe it has something to do with flooding or something… I’m not totally sure. But whenever cities try to start a big development around the river later in the city’s life, it seems a little bit forced. There is something very organic around these older cities and the river that feels more right than a master-planned complex.

Filed under the categories: Nikon D3X, Switzerland, Travel, Zurich

Glacier Express

Thank you again for all the amazing suggestions for Switzerland. Obviously, I could not do all of them, but one of the great ones was the Glacier Express. Seven hours through the alps… it was amazing. And, it brought me here…

Daily Photo – The Streets of Zermatt

After dinner one evening, I went out with my iPod to explore the streets alone. There was a light cool rain, but it didn’t bother me a bit. It added to the mood and everything felt great. The warm cabins, the cool sky, the wet streets, people hurrying to and fro to get warm food and drinks… I do my best to capture this feeling all in one image.

Filed under the categories: Nikon D3X, Switzerland, Travel, Zermatt

Why I love the comments some others dislike

I wrote an article on Google+ entitled “Why I love seeing the “Nice shot” and “Wow” comments, and why some other photographers should stop complaining about it…”, and it was quite popular! In about 12 hours, it hit the max of 500 comments. Anyway, I thought you all might enjoy the article as well, since the same goes for here at the blog too!

And thanks again for all the adds and stuff. It looks like I somehow got in the Top 20 in Google+, so I’m very thankful to you all!

Looking for people to circle? See the Stuck In Customs community list!

Daily Photo – A great day at Google!

So, a fellow photographer at Google named Brian White contacted me through G+ and asked if I wanted to visit the Zurich offices while I was in Switzerland. It just so happened that I am flying out of Zurich, and I took a train from Zermatt yesterday afternoon to meet him.

I met all sorts of interesting people there from Google and from the Google+ team. To see everyone I met and circle them, see the Google+ post about this.

We did a live Google+ Hangout (see photo) from their offices and had people connect from all over the world. We even had a Vietnamese guy in Prague join and play us an acoustic guitar song! It was really fun…

After the Hangout, we went up to the Google library on the top floor of their offices to take this photo together. See those people there on the left? They mostly ignored us. I think this is because they were serious Germans playing a board game. Never play a board game with a German.

Filed under the categories: Switzerland, Travel, Zurich

This was taken in Switzerland and it shows a few landlocked glacial lakes and a few glaciers high in the alps. The clouds came out puffy with some nice shadows down below.

Filed under the categories: Musings, Switzerland, Travel