Stuck In Customs

I’ve only spent one night in Dunedin, which is on quite far south on the South Island of New Zealand. This train station is very famous and quite beautiful. There was a crazy sunset this night, and there was no train traffic at all, so I felt pretty safe running all around the tracks and jumping up on the train cars to get direction. Actually, jumping around train cars is not very easy. It looks like it might be easy, but everything is just beyond an easy jump or an easy boost!

The Train Station in Dunedin

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2013-01-05 12:13:08
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/15
• Aperture8
• ISO100
• Focal Length16.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-1

I tried to make as much as I could out of this amazing sunset! I swapped lenses, tried every possible angle, aimed every possible direction — I knew how rare a sunset like this was. This is a often a very exciting (and fun!) time… when you sit through dozens of mediocre sunsets, you get overly excited when one goes off the charts like this. It must be a lot like a good day of fishing, but I would not really know, since I’ve never had one of those. Well, hehe, that’s not true… I was in Alaska as a kid with my dad and I caught like 70 fish in a day! But I was just a kid… and I could not really appreciate how lucky that was.

A Pink Sunset in the Fjords

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2012-08-08 03:02:26
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/8
• Aperture5.6
• ISO50
• Focal Length18.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

These are the kind of situations that really call for a wide angle lens. It takes every single line and makes it 2x as extreme. When you walk around with your “wide-angle” mindset, you start to pay special attention to high contrast lines. Lights, stripes in the streets, car streaks, and anything else starts to take on a new sense of drama. If you’re looking to make your photography a bit more exciting and see things in a new way, go borrow (or rent) a wide-angle lens and give it a try! 🙂

Hat Store in San Francisco

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2011-10-21 22:06:13
• CameraNIKON D3X
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time0.7
• Aperture8
• ISO100
• Focal Length14.0 mm
• FlashNo Flash
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias+2

The entire time I was in Hakone, it would not stop raining. This is not a great thing, when you finally make it to a place you are very excited about and there is a torrential downpour. So what to do? Well I didn’t want to walk away empty-carded (new word I just made up – feel free to use it!), so I lugged out the umbrella and took a stroll to see what I could find. And now, I’m happy I did.

The Lamp in Hakone

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2009-10-02 05:11:14
• CameraNIKON D3X
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/30
• Aperture2.8
• ISO1600
• Focal Length28.0 mm
• FlashNo Flash
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

I found this place thanks to my friend Vic Gundotra. I was searching for local places to eat on my phone, and I saw that he recommended it. If it’s good enough for him, then it’s good enough for me!

Actually, I think I kind of like this new way of searching. I like that my friend’s recommendations are pushed to the top of the algorithm. It’s a much more interesting way to search… I’m trying to think of examples when it would not work, and I really can’t. Well, one example is I do have this one friend that has HORRIBLE taste in movies. I am kind of worried that if I search for a movie to watch one night that his ridiculous suggestions might come out on top!

Dinner in Carmel

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2013-04-24 07:03:18
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time4
• Aperture6.3
• ISO250
• Focal Length16.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias+1

I can’t wait to go back to this place! I really hope that I do. This amazing island-monastery has various degrees of “islandness” depending upon the time of day. I think next time I go I will plan out the tides even better so I am sure to get more shots from various angles.

I also read on a few sites that there is “quicksand” out there… and if you go the wrong way to take a photo, you can get stuck in the quicksand! I think that sounds like one of the worst possible things in the world… so I was a little scared to go try. There was no one to throw me a vine, like in the cartoons…

Mont Saint Michel in Repose

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2012-11-13 21:36:59
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time30
• Aperture5.6
• ISO200
• Focal Length170.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias+3

I was near Moeraki and taking photos at sunset. This was the only night I was there, and I was excited to eat at this legendary place I keep hearing about called “Fleur’s” — so I was extra-bummed to find out it happened to be closed on that one night in particular. What a bummer. But I walked around the back side to explore and saw this boat up by this tree…

Old Boat by the Seashore

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2012-11-27 10:59:24
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/8
• Aperture16
• ISO100
• Focal Length24.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias+1

Here is one of my favorite images from China. I can still hear the Kublai Khan beating the enormous drum inside to call his soldiers near… This temple sits in the Inner City to the north of Di’anmen Street.

The Drum Tower

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2011-09-15 00:00:00
• CameraNIKON D3X
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/90
• Aperture5.6
• ISO100
• Focal Length14.0 mm
• FlashNo Flash
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias+2

I usually don’t do this – post photos of a similar subject matter within the same week, but I thought I would show you another angle of the same place at night. Remember that “bakery” shot from a few days ago? This is basically the same spot (you’ll recognize it) much later at night.

This was another one of those cases where I was not quite used to the 10-18mm lens. I normally walk RIGHT to the spot I want to be in then pop the 14-24 on my Nikon and fire away. But now, I’m always off by a few steps with the NEX-7! But, I quickly re-adjust then shoot. If you have shot with a wide angle lens, then you may know about this concept of picturing things from that vantage before you even do it!

More Beijing at Night

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2013-05-28 10:23:06
• CameraNEX-7
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1.6
• Aperture13
• ISO100
• Focal Length10.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-0.3

I’m experimenting with this style of city photography. I like this idea of reflection that is imperfect. I shot this from the top of one of the only television stations in Beijing. It was a perfect night without any wind. There was a lot of pollution, so the warm city lights cast a red glow into the ether…

The Sprawling City

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2013-05-25 09:48:20
• CameraNEX-7
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time6
• Aperture8
• ISO100
• Focal Length10.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias