Stuck In Customs

Have you ever had a close encounter with a snake?

Tell me your story! Mine is probably not so great… but, it is a “snake story”.

Daily Photo – The Rest of the Chinese Snake Story

I had climbed up and down the spires of Zhangjiajie twice, which is twice more than my legs wanted to go.

I foolishly went up one of the spires at sunset trying to get a photo. I got to the top, and there was no good sunset. It was still awesome and everything — just no sunset photo. And getting up is not easy. There are little stairs caved into the sides of the mountain that spiral up and through inlaid cave systems. There is occasional ducking and a lot of worry about slippery bits.

So the time had come to descend. It was dark. Bear-den dark. I had a little light on my camera strap (not really a full-on flashlight like I should have had). I kept it on as I walked back. It was about a four kilometer back through these spires alone. I never saw another human, and I didn’t expect to see anything — until I almost stepped on this snake.

There he was, thick and sinuous. He was right in front of my path, and there was no way around him. I tried my best to ascertain his attitude, and I was pretty sure he simply wanted to rock my face off.

So I kept the light on for a while and wondered what to do. It was super-jungly around me and there where no rocks or any decent projectiles. I could have thrown a granola bar, but maybe he would have thought it was just an appetizer before me.

I started getting my tripod ready and fully extended so that I could just flick him out of the way. No, this didn’t seem like a good idea at the time either.

I got it fully extended, but I was still a pretty long way away. I was trying to figure out how fast the snake could go, and I envisioned many possible routes that involved the tripod, my feet, jumping, and escape vectors. All of them had this questionable (but important) variable of SnakeSpeed.

While I was running through a scenario, the snakes head popped up and he flew across the path faster than a cheetah. I mean — this snake was so goddamn fast that I could not believe it. It was like a fully-loaded slingshot released black bolt of shadow across the path.

I waited another few seconds before continuing on, feeling very foolish for even considering any of my previous scenarios…

Thanks again!

Several months ago I asked for recommendations about places to visit in Switzerland, so I wanted to thank you again for your input… it really helped us to have a great trip!

Daily Photo – Zurich at Sunset

We had a great evening in Zurich. We found a lovely little Italian food restaurant and everything was wonderful. Our meal finished just as sunset sprang upon us, so we had a nice walk through the city to find this spot to watch the sunset.

Subscribe to my Facebook Page

I maxed out on about 5,000 friends a while ago on Facebook, but now you can Subscribe to my Updates. The new look/feel of Facebook is coming soon. I think you will like it!

Non-Photography Pockets?

I notice that as I move around China that there are not many photographers. It’s not like the US or Europe where you occasionally see a few people out and about with a DSLR — but not in China. I think it is part of a more general sense of art being less important there. Or, maybe “less important” is not the right thing to say. Perhaps artists are just not encouraged as much here… this seems to be the sentiment I hear when I talk to lots of Chinese people here.

Daily Photo – Shopping in Beijing

Megamalls are everywhere here. And many of them are as beautiful and ornate as this one. In some ways, i think it is kind of cool that everything is ultra-modern and slick… in other ways, it’s not because it feels like I am back in Dallas or something… know what I mean?

Who knows… the Chinese people seem to love it… who am I to say….

An offer to buy blog posts

If you try to buy blog posts on here, you will fail miserably… I think people and companies that offer this do not know me. The most recent example (it happens quite a bit) is from Tamron. You can read the post/discussion here on Google+.

A Photo of Me!

Hehe… I usually don’t post these, but I thought my friend Scott Kublin grabbed a nice one. I guess I could throw in more photos of me, but… I figure that there are many things out there that are much more interesting to look at!

Daily Photo – Shooting the Matterhorn

Scott and I had just come from France together, and we were excited to be up in the mountains. The conditions were pretty good, so we were trying to get as many shots as possible while the skies were interesting. This isn’t even an HDR shot, and you can see how strange the clouds were! I have not yet processed my own shots from this event… but I look forward to it very much.

What is your eye drawn to?

When you are walking around a city, what is your eye drawn to most often? Is it clothes (textures or colors)? Is it architecture? Is it faces? Is it all totally equal, or does one take precedent over another?

Daily Photo – Outside the Restaurant

To me, it depends on my mood. My eye is often drawn to what appears to be a mistake at fist glance — or something confusing. In this case, I saw the red pants and the red lights in a strange configuration. And then, a micro-moment later, I saw the girl they were attached to. It all lined up so nicely that I grabbed a photo the second she noticed me.

Almost Getting Caught

When you are somewhere taking a photo, do you keep taking photos until you get caught? Or do you just take photos and then retreat away before you get caught? As for me, always the former.

Daily Photo – The Light

La Sainte-Chapelle is really an amazing place. I can’t believe it took me so many trips to Paris to finally see it. It wasn’t exactly a blind-spot, but I knew it was some place that I had to visit at some point, and I finally got there.

Tripods were forbidden, so I decided to use a tripod to get a shot.

I did manage to squeeze off several rounds until security came up to make me stop. Of course, the only reason I ignore their rule is because I think it is does not have a solid foundation in logic or rational thought. I wasn’t bothering anyone. I wasn’t going to trip anyone because of the configuration of my tripod and body. Everything was cool.

Are you a boat person?

I think certain people are boat people… they really are into boats and often think about being in a boat. I’m not one of them… I wonder if it has to do with coming from an ancestry of seafarers or something.

Daily Photo – Still waters in the old town

Feng Huang in the morning is very peaceful. It might even be one of those towns were a lot of people sleep late, since I didn’t see many in the morning.

It was at this very spot that I bruised my ribs pretty bad when I fell down. It was one of those slick mud-covered concrete areas that doesn’t look like a slick mud-covered concrete area. But once you step on, it’s way too late to do anything about it.

There’s nothing that knocks the wind out of you more than falling flat on your torso with a Nikon D3S between your ribs and the ground. I still wince when I think about it!

What Languages do you know?

I barely know enough French to get by… and I know smatterings of a dozen other languages… but I don’t have full command of any of them. How about you? I get the feeling there are many multi-lingual people around here!

Daily Photo – Flying in France

I remember when I was learning French at Jesuit. I took four years of it, and one of the first things I saw was a little cartoon in a book. It was two little French girls on a ride just like this. One was saying to the other, “Aiiyeeeee! Sylvie! Tenez!!!!”

Anyway, I always think of that when I see little French children on a ride. I feel like calling it out, but it always seems a little creepy for a stranger to say such a thing.

Things you don’t see

So, I’m always taking photos… usually more significant ones in a grand scale… I spend all day making these… but maybe I will start sprinkling in other little bits from time to time… like this one.

Daily Photo – Alone in a Foreign Taxi on a Rainy Night

Many of my travel nights end with a taxi ride back home. I’m usually exhausted after a long day. I may have a snack or a drink that I pick up from a little store… munching away in the back seat… my eyes dart this way and that… not used to moving so fast… and I see little things like this.

SmugMug Video

Did you all see the cool SmugMug video on the SmugMug Review page? Maybe you missed it last month… if so, it’s worth a look!

Daily Photo – Mystery Location – guess guess guess!

Well, the hint is that this is in Beijing. You guys are all so good at finding these secret spots that I probably didn’t even have to give you that hint!