I’m excited to go see the Flight of the Conchords here in Queenstown on Sunday night. It should be a great time… I don’t know if I can grab photos or not, but I’ll take my camera(s) just in case.
If Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement have a problem with me taking photos, I’ll just explain that, in real life, I’m not that different than Jemaine’s character in Dinner With Schmucks.
Daily Photo – The Black Void of Couches
This is the amazing little restaurant that was attached to the opera in Beijing. It was built inside of an ancient farmhouse that has been converted into one of these ultra-stylish modern restaurants.
By the way, this is one of my strangest photo titles ever… I was feeling a little weird.
A new article came out today in the Otago Daily Times about my recent move to New Zealand. I met the reporter, Christine McDonald, down at Motogrill where I pigged out during the interview. I asked her if it was okay if I ate while we talked. She said yes, so I really pushed that to the limits…
Daily Photo – The Valley Between Queenstown and Arrowtown
See that area down there? We’re in the middle of an epic house-hunting adventure right in the middle of it all.
I took this photo a few days ago on a drive to Wanaka. It was so pretty, I just had to pull over to take it! In fact, maybe I need to make this drive more often!
In the far distance is Queenstown, which is only about 15-20 mins from this spot. Down to the right, just beyond the edge, is nearby Arrowtown. I think there are about 1 million photographs somewhere in between.
What’s your Battletag? I thought it might be a fun way for you guys to play with other community members… put yours below, and then go add others! People around here are generally pretty cool… And yes, I’ve been enjoying the game a lot! I don’t get a lot of time to play…. but I do really dig it!
Daily Photo – Yosemite in Late Afternoon
I spent about a week in Yosemite, and every day had slightly different light. I was quite sad there was no snow the entire time, but I am excited to go back and see it!
Even though there was no snow, I was quite cold. I tried out a new set of gloves which were quite crappy. I think the only kind of situation I like when it is cold is those mittens that flip up so I can use my fingers. I had the perfect mittens, but then I lost one of them, so now I only have one mitten, and this is a sad thing.
I’ve been working on a new secret project for you all, and I had to go over to Wanaka to borrow some equipment from Tim, since my stuff is still in a container crossing the ocean! Gordon Laing recommended Tim, so I made an afternoon drive to go visit him. When I walked inside, he and Bel (his girlfriend) were doing all sorts of artistic things. I got a little behind-the-scenes info and wanted to share it with you!
First, Tim is amazing videographer (and director, artist, and so many other things). Check out some of his work at his site Zeros And Ones. Be sure to watch that video there! And…. look at his amazing list of clients.
Second, Bel Jones was a-busy making a new drawing when I went in. I looked for it on her website, but it isn’t there yet… but maybe it will show up in the illustrations area soon 🙂
Daily Photo – Lonely Tree Aflame
After having a great flat white with Tim and Bel, Abe (my intern for the winter/summer) and I went down to the lake. I picked out some trees I wanted to re-visit in the evening light. As I was driving around, I got an idea… it was dark and blue and I thought about what it would look like if the tree was instantly on fire… so I gave Abe some specific instructions and a secret signal.
I set up for the shot with the 14-24mm, prepared the timer, then made the secret signal to Abe. We gave it a few different tries until I felt like we had it right before driving back home over the crown range in the dark.
I was excited to hear that New Zealand has its own Father’s Day in September! So, this means I get two of them… Anyway, I was kind of surprised to hear this… why wouldn’t there be one universal Father’s Day? This is confusing to me… how could something like this have come about…
Daily Photo – Mountains at Lake Wanaka
Now that I am getting a bit more settled in New Zealand, I’ve begun to make a few short road trips. We haven’t found a house for sure, but we are getting pretty serious in that hunt! It’s a fun process, and we have many good candidates to choose from. Once the whole family gets settled, it will make everything a bit easier with the photography!
A few days ago, we took a mini-road trip to Lake Wanaka. It’s only about 2 hours away, and the mountains are pretty crazy. This day was extremely windy, so it took all of my manly weight to hold down the tripod when I took a short mini-hike to get this shot…
We recently released WordPress for Photographers, a new eBook by Peter Adams. This is a step-by-step guide that will teach you everything about setting up WordPress, choosing a theme/design for your website, and adding content. Also included are advanced techniques for working with image galleries, importing image meta-data, optimizing image search, and a whole lot more!
There are many other new books over at Flatbooks as well, and I hope you’ll like them all!
Daily Photo – Waterfall of Certain Doom
This has become one of my favorite remote waterfalls in the world! Whenever I am taking photos of these places, I spend a lot of time there. I often imagine what it would be like to tumble over the edge… wondering various ways I could survive… if I’d get caught in a whirlpool underwater… or if I would just pop up like in the movies.
If you are ever near Akureyri, I suggest you visit this spot… if you are feeling bold, clamber down the side of the waterfall like I did here to get this shot…
Many Comments Yesterday – Responses (and an upgrade!)
The comments from yesterday got a little crazy, and I did my best to respond. You’ll also notice a massive-upgrade to the commenting system. What do you think?
Trey’s Variety Hour #39: Body Painting and Photography
Warning: If you are offended by nudes, watch the TWiT pixelated version in the podcast. Opportunity: If you can effortlessly handle the naked naked, be sure to watch the embedded YouTube below! 🙂
Artists Paul Roustan, Alexa Meade, and Daniel Ibanez join me this week and show us a bunch of their artwork and tell the stories behind them.
*Bonus Notes:
– Awesome time travel movie I recommend: “Primer”. Give it your full attention otherwise you might miss something 🙂
– Barry Glassman, a colorblind photographer, of bgphotos.net is looking to pay someone to help him process photos. Go check him out if you are interested!
Thanks to Leo Laporte, Tony Wang, and Dave Veffer for helping out with the whole production!
Option 3: Other subscription options avail on the TWIT page
Daily Photo – The Magical Cave
The Baths on Virgin Gorda are filled with many tiny little caves here and there. For some, you have to crawl through sand or swim to get there. This one was one of the tightest and one of the most awesome! I thought it would be a great place to take a photo… I first went inside here with Justin Troupe and it was so awesome, I decided to return inside with my camera!
Because the light levels were so extreme in here, I went with a 7-exp shot in this situation.
Let’s say you disagree with the negative nancy below and you don’t think post-processing is the devil. And if you want to join the cause to “hurt the integrity of photography” to learn great post-processing tricks, then use “STUCKONDAD” to save 20% on the HDR Video Tutorial. (The code also works for eBooks on FlatBooks.com which may or may not be injurious to the artform of pressing a button on a chunk of iron and glass.)
What do you think of this guy?
So, I wouldn’t necessarily call this guy a “troll” — but perhaps a hobgoblin or some lesser fantasy creature that you have to defeat 10 of before reaching Level 2. I find people like this endlessly fascinating, and I enjoy observing them like mold in a petri dish.
He’s been popping around the site lately, distributing comments on the “About Me” page and countless other places. Here’s a few little jewels that he has dropped. Emphasis is my own.
…your cliched travel images and horrendous post-processing combined with your unfortunate popularity has probably done more to hurt the integrity of photography than anyone else in the world in recent years. You have made it incredibly difficult for millions of honest photographers trying to produce honest images. Please reconsider the effect you are having on photography.
And sprinkled into my India photos:
Sorry but these are all pedestrian images that tell us nothing about India. There are so many hundreds of other photographers producing interesting, informative, beautiful images of India. Don’t be fooled by Photoshop.
Daily Photo – A Dishonest Image of San Francisco
And with this image, I am once again launching full-out-assault on the hallowed traditions of photography. You know what I did with this image? I post-processed it! Oh yes, I really did. And I had so much fun doing it… at least as much fun as Dexter in his kill room.
I guess if I was to be really “honest” and take a photo of San Francisco and keep with the tradition of the greats of photography, it would have to be black and white photo, right? I mean, the world really is black and white, isn’t it? Oh wait, no… it’s in color. Wait, now I’m confused.
Oh no, look what I’ve done now. I’ve gone and upset people that think one form of artistic expression is superior to another form of artistic expression. How could I be so callous and open with my thoughts and techniques?
I had a nice person break down the closing Google+ event with timestamps. I know some people have particular questions or interests within here… You can see them all below the video.
[0:00:00 – 0:10:27]
Slideshow Presentation – quality on recording is CRAPPY – best quality at http://goo.gl/fo4hm.
[0:10:41 – 0:12:07]
Scott Kelby opening remarks; Trey Ratcliff introduction.
[0:19:58 – 0:23:43]
Fast-moving technology, future of computational photography.
[0:23:43 – 0:25:38]
Post-processing images; photograph as a sketch; taking the shot is the beginning of the journey; some photographers’ resistance to post-processing
[0:25:41 – 0:27:20]
Trey’s recommended books… featuring one from +Patrick Rothfuss
[0:27:31 – 0:29:08]
Being alone with the music; enjoying the journey of post-processing; left-brained clever photographers and how to unlock the right brain; music making things cinematic.
[0:29:24 – 0:32:06]
New photography mediums; something beyond HDR; being pigeonholed as “HDR Guy;” Socratic reductionism; new kind of photo between a photo and a video; capturing fleeting moments.
[0:32:10 – 0:32:45]
What would superpower be?
[0:33:37 – 0:36:06]
Travel and family relationships; “strange brain” when alone; balance of art, family, business, friends.
[0:36:13 – 0:37:02]
New Zealand move and reasons.
[0:38:51 – 0:43:30]
Dealing with trolls and naysayers; strong-emotion people, extreme joy and extreme sadness. (Asked by Brian Rose).
[0:43:51 – 0:45:00]
HDR hate/love; photographs that shouldn’t be taken but justified through HDR.
[0:45:18 – 0:47:37]
Trey’s paintings; inspiration for painting; Impressionists; challenging status quo.
[0:47:54 – 0:51:16]
Replicating success; evolution vs. splintering of photography.
[0:51:24 – 0:53:21]
Mirrorless cameras.
[0:53:21 – 0:54:53]
Showing up to a paid gig with a small camera; selling clients on portfolio.
[0:54:55 – 0:55:02]
Clarification on still using D800; transitional hinterland.
[0:55:50 – 0:59:26]
What can we do together as a community going forward? Exciting time in history; best “NOW” ever; Internet like a brain; building out the right brain of the Internet and establish the art and culture of the Internet; Decade of the Artist;
[0:5
Daily Photo – Swabbing the Decks
The Disney Cruise aboard the Fantasy had deck after deck after deck – something was always happening – everywhere! It was pretty stimulating as a photographer to try to figure out where to be at different times.
This is the deck where the running track is. It goes around the outside of the ship, and I like to run so I was out there almost every day. I noticed around a certain time that these guys come out in yellow outfits to swab them down. So I made a point to get out there the next day and set up for this image.
Thanks again everyone who has been ordering prints! Whether you order from SmugMug or do a custom high-end signed piece on metal, I am appreciative!
I received an email recently from a gentleman who has been unemployed for a long time and is now selling off his possessions so he can pay his mortgage! A sad story… He emailed me, lamenting that he had to sell this print and he was heartbroken. This print is QUITE rare – it is numbered 1/50 in the series. These normally sell from $2,000 to well beyond. In fact, if you buy it, you’ll have the same print as +Mark Zuckerberg – only yours will be more valuable than Mark’s because his is higher in the series.
I was on Google+ and I saw Liz Quilty put of This NASA photo of New Zealand (Here it is in ultra hi-rez). Isn’t that cool? There is a satellite there that takes a new image every day. So I ended up bookmarking this site where I can go see the cloud cover, and even import it into Google Earth. Awesome dot com!
Daily Photo – Moonlight Clouds – Queenstown at 7:30 AM
The winter in these southern places make the sunrise rather late! I took this about 7:30 AM in the morning while the moon was still out over the sparkling Queenstown. I set up the tripod on my balcony, and this is our amazing view! I’m renting a Bach here called “The Nest” – and it has incredible views all day long… and all night long too, as you can see! 🙂
We recently released 
