Stuck In Customs

Japan Charity Week – Last Day

The bidding ends today. Thank you all for participating; and thanks for being interested even if you did not jump in. If your budget is smaller, you can always donate to the Red Cross directly, or, if generally in the charitable mood, join Team Stuck In Customs on Kiva, where we’ve raised over $10,000.

That’s the print that is on auction there to the right. We only do limited edition prints here, so each one is unique. This particular one is numbered 9 out of a series of 50. It’ll look great in your home or business!

Daily Photo – The Lights of Japan

One evening I was walking around Roppongi, taking in all the sights. There doesn’t seem to be a bad direction to go. Everything was alive and full of life.

Getting into this particular position took a few Cirque de Soliel moves that no one was around to appreciate (or warn me against). There is a pedestrian set of stairs that blindly switchbacks its way up an outside drum-tower of sorts. I had a feeling that on top of this little tower would be a good vantage in this particular direction, which I had not seen, but I had mapped out in my brain. I did one of those moves like children do when they work their way up a doorframe — but I did it in a narrow stairwell. It got me to the top, which was extra-difficult with the tripod! I ended up with a clean view of everything. But then, only then, did I start to wonder how the heck I was going to get back down.

I waited for a nice-looking stair-walker to pass by underneath, and then I handed down my camera before performing an unceremonious jump/fall.

Japan Charity Week Continues

Just around one day left, and we’ve broken $1,000 — great stuff. Now, get in there and bid! All the revenue goes to the Red Cross for Japan.

Daily Photo – Old Beijing in the Morning

I need some better photography-gloves, I came to realize on this particular morning. I’ve got some pretty good ones with the fingertips that flip up, but there are a few annoying things about them. I don’t want to bore you with all the details, but if there are ever any flaws, all you can do is think about them.

When I travel, I usually collect dozens (or hundreds) of textures from the environment. I like to re-constitute them back into the work itself from time to time. There’s no rhyme or reason for when I choose to do it… just whenever it feels interesting or right. Many of the textures I take don’t work or are not appropriate, but I do enjoy the process of going through them all.

Japan Charity Week Continues

Get in there and bid! All the revenue goes to the Red Cross for Japan.

On Twitter…

I know many of you follow on Twitter (@TreyRatcliff), and I do my best to sprinkle in inspirational or interesting stuff every day. if you sign up for our Newsletter (free), then I usually include the month’s best tweets in a list format… I thought I would put a few of them here for you, including this little thing to the right that I tweeted out yesterday. I decided to make a little square poster out of it! 🙂

So, here’s just a little helping of some recent tweets that you would probably like:

• Then and Now! A brilliant photo-project idea! – LINK
• Science just proved it takes 37 muscles to make a sad emoticon and only 22 to make a happy emoticon.
• Here is a photo of my fridge at home (it’s HEAVILY photoshopped) – LINK
• Amazing cello performance! See these guys do Smooth Criminal! – LINK
• Hilarious video (with great Typography!) … making fun of ppl that leave idiotic reviews enjoy @Abduzeedo – LINK
• With great f-stop comes great responsibility.
• Holy Electron Photography Batman! Look at these freaky things… I need to salt my skin more. – LINK

Daily Photo – Roman Baths in Nimes

When I arrived in Nimes to visit my friend Fabien, one of the first places we visited were the ancient Roman baths. The ruins here are better preserved than those in Rome!

Actually, I’ve heard that the best Roman ruins are along the northern coast of Libya. It will be a while before I can visit those, I’m afraid. I’ll have to strike Libya off the list for a few years until things cool down. Oh… Egypt too. That’s on the list but it has a little asterisk beside it. When you look at the bottom of the list it reads:
“*currently in the midst of a violent revolution – consider other areas for photography, like, perhaps, Holland.”

Japan Charity Week Continues

The bidding started at $49 and it goes up every day. Get in there and bid! All the revenue goes to the Red Cross for Japan.

Taking Photos of Cars

It’s been months since I mentioned Joe Farace’s amazing eBook, so I wanted to mention it again! Even though it’s a car-centric eBook, you’ll find all kinds of useful things that apply to everyday photography as well. Pop over to Joe’s book on Flatbooks and have a look! 🙂

Daily Photo – Barcelona Airport

This amazing airport in Barcelona was my launching point for a very long flight through Helsinki to Berlin. I am actually the kind of guy that likes to get to airports super-early. First, I don’t like the stress; second I like to explore. A lot of these international airports are these architectural wonders. I think most people just drift through them, oblivious to how awesome they are… but not me. I love ’em!

Extra Photo – Upon Arriving in Beijing

Many many many hours later, after leaving this airport, I landed in Beijing. I was greeted by some great people that I came to know pretty well. First, the director of this special organization met me with a bundle of flowers. Next I met my assistant and my driver, who had to carry around all my stuff. I dumped my most of my luggage at the hotel and immediately went to the Forbidden City to take some photos. It was a long day. A very very very long day!

tutorial HDR in italiano

Parli italiano? Leggi il tutorial HDR in italiano! Grazie Marco Famà (@marcofama)!

Welcome to the International HDR Tutorial!

• Speak English?  See the fun HDR Tutorial.
• Vous parlez français? Bienvenue sur le Tutoriel HDR en français.
• Parli italiano? Leggi il tutorial HDR in italiano!
• Fala Português? Confira o Tutorial HDR em Português.
• Hablas Español? Clic Tutorial HDR en Español.
• Mluvíte ?esky? Pokra?ujte zde!  HDR Tutoriál v ?eském jazyce.

Even better, it’s the 150-year celebration for Italy today – good timing! 🙂

Japan Charity Week!

The bidding started at $49, and now it’s up to over $600. Get in there and bid! All the revenue goes to the Red Cross for Japan.

Daily Photo – Girl in Japan

While walking down a busy street in Kyoto, most of the people were in regular clothes. And, by “regular clothes”, I mean that the Japanese are often quite stylish dressers. There is something unique about the Japanese style that varies from other Asian cultures. They have a different kind of fashion sense, and it’s usually very smart. They dress in a lot of layers, fine cloths, nice textures, and somewhat fanciful. Maybe you know what I mean.

On occasion, I would see traditional girls wearing kimonos, drifting in and out of various shops. This girl was taking small steps while leaving the shop.

Girl in Japan

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2010-04-08 08:29:16
• CameraNIKON D3S
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/2000
• Aperture1.4
• ISO400
• Focal Length50.0 mm
• FlashNo Flash
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

Video of the PhotoWalk

Thanks to Pinhead Doll Productions for this great video !

Recap of the PhotoWalk

One of our coaches made a nice writeup of the event – see James Brandon’s Blog. There are dozens more out there, but I wanted to mention another random one here by Jackie Danicki.

The Flickr Group for the PhotoWalk

Want to submit some photos from the walk? Visit the PhotoWalk SXSW Flickr Group! There’s also a great discussion area. For example, go read all about the coaches on the PhotoWalk – I thank them very much for their help. Also, the sponsors who are giving out amazing prizes to winners of the contest!

The PhotoWalk Group

Thanks to Mike Connell for taking this photo. An amazing group of hundreds, and we picked up more on the way!

Daily Photo – The New Austin

I don’t think I can do a better job of a writeup than many of the other attendees, so here’s just a quick recap. We began the PhotoWalk by walking down 6th street down towards Momo’s, where we met Leo Laporte and Lisa Bettany for a quick hello. After that, we weaved through the streets together, talking about all sorts of things. I also made about five other stops where I talked through my setup and my shots. On my final shot, we were working our way back towards The Driskill when I took set up for the scene below.

It was a standard HDR with five exposures. I was having some trouble grabbing an autofocus spot, so I just went to manual focus just to be sure the lens didn’t try to re-focus on the multiple exposures.

Thanks again to everyone that came out! It was great getting to know you during the walk, and after the walk back at The Driskill.

For Japan!

Bid on this print of The Bamboo Forest now. It is numbered 9 out of 50 in the Limited Edition series on high-white gloss aluminum. This print is 36″ across and, well, it’s impossible to describe how incredible this new printing technique is. These come out looking literally like giant high-def monitor displays.

Even better, shipping is free, and they arrive ready to hang on the wall.

We will have the auction run for a week, and I’ll take all the proceeds and donate them to Red Cross for Japan. Stay tuned for the latest price on the eBay page!

The Print – The Bamboo Forest

I took this photo on one of my many trips to Japan. Regular readers know how much I love that country and the people inside. I’ve spent time all over, taking trains far and wide, and there is something universal and timeless about bamboo across the land. On this particular day in Kyoto, there had been a morning rain. The sun came out, but the tops of the bamboo forest still held the water. It misted down through the forest as the sunlight shone through.

Signed / Numbered

Down in the lower right hand corner, everything is signed and numbered in the series

Don’t Forget the Free eBook!

If you go over to Flatbooks.com and sign up on the right hand side, you get a free eBook called “10 Principles of Beautiful Photography.” I added a little bit more to the end of this book… as a bit of a bonus.

Share your Austin PhotoWalk Photos!

Be sure to put your favorite shots in the Austin SXSW PhotoWalk group! I’ll post mine as soon as I get a chance to process ’em ! Amazing prizes — will list them out soon. The judges (not me) will be picking out about 20 or so of the most interesting to win prizes.

Daily Photo – The London Eye

I took this on the last PhotoWalk in London, so it’s about time I post it! I won’t be able to process the Austin ones for a bit… this is a busy time for me… you’ll have to forgive me!

Half of the fun of the PhotoWalk is people posting and sharing photos after the event. Even though everyone is taking photos of the same stuff, it is cool to see so many different perspectives. I’m pretty sure we all took photos of the London Eye on that evening, and this is the one that I made.

The Austin PhotoWalk

Get all the PhotoWalk Details on Plancast. See you at the Driskill at 6:30 PM ! 🙂

Join us Live on TWIT

I know most of you don’t live in Austin or are not visiting for SXSW, so you can see part of it live on TWIT. We should be on live there about 7:30 to 7:45PM (CST) or so. Leo is broadcasting from Momo’s, which is down 6th street, and it will be one of the stops along the photowalk. He’s going to pop out of his studio and come into the street to say hello to all of us. It won’t be long, but you’ll get a little hint into the action.

World Record – Single Location PhotoWalk

I really have no idea how many people will show up, but on Saturday at the Diggnation party, I met with a couple of judges and officials that keep track of this sort of thing. We came up with a way to count everyone, and then we’ll submit it all to the official body. So, if you come along, you’ll get on Leo’s live TWIT show and be part of a world-record event – cool!

Submit your PhotoWalk to Flickr

Half of the PhotoWalk is sharing and commenting. So, get your stuff up on our PhotoWalk SXSW Flickr Group! Thank you to Tom Hall for setting up that group!

Daily Photo – Inside the Driskill

Well here it is, the awesome hotel where we are having the event. Many people agree it’s the most beautiful hotel in Austin and is over 100 years old. They’ve always been very kind to me — we had our workshop in there, a book signing, and all other sorts of events. One little thing that most people don’t know — the 4th and 5th floors have beautiful paintings and art hanging on all the walls of the hallway. It’s worth a trip up there just to wander around the halls and see the art!

I did a long-form article for My Modern Met. Do you know this site? It’s pretty cool — run by a friend named Alice Yoo. They feature many different artists from various disciplines, and we decided to do this thing together!

So I wrote an article called, “Nine Things For Your Photo-Brain To Consider“. Jump on over to read all the details.

Also, they are giving away a $1,000 prize in their own photography contest (link), so you may wish to enter!

Selected Photos

My Modern Met also made a selection of some their favorite works to include with the article, and I will put a few of them here for you!