I’ll be going back to Montana towards the end of the month, so I decided to process this shot from Glacier National Park.

I took my wife and son down to the edge of the lake, and there were these giant granite blocks on the perimeter. The regular freezes and thaws around the lake created these right-angle cuts. It was nice to have them there with me… they got to hear me drone on and on about rocks and whatnot. I used to have a double-major in Geophysics and Computer Science, so I know the sorts of things about rocks that only come in handy when you have a captive audience like a family stuck on one while you are taking photos.

I ended up dropping the Geophysics part of the double-major after an ideological fight with a professor. That’s a longer story.

Filed under the categories: Glacier Natl Park, Montana, Nikon D2XS, Travel

I found this woman outside the train station in Hangzhou. She was sitting by herself waiting on someone or something. Like most Chinese, she didn’t speak a word of English, and none of my international gesticulations seemed to trigger a response. Except, that is, for the one when I asked if I could take a photo. She nodded happily and sat serenely while I grabbed a shot. I walked on, and turned around to wave. She gave me a little nod.

There are a lot of the older generation in China that I am sure are completely amazed by what is happening of late there. I wished I could have asked her a few questions, but my Mandarin is woefully inept. My 8-year-old son is taking lessons… maybe I’ll have to take him with me next time to act as translator!

Filed under the categories: China, Hangzhou, Nikon D2XS, Travel

India is full of timeless slices of life like this.

I set up for this shot and then sat there for a while.  I had heard some sort of aviary commotion and hoped that creatures would come streaming out at some surprise moment.  I kept my finger over the trigger just in case, and then, like magic, they all came ripping out with quite a commotion.  After this, I packed up my tripod and decided to head towards this little temple to see what was inside.  I’ll be sure to put those up in coming weeks…

Filed under the categories: Delhi, India, Nikon D2XS, Travel

I wish I could walk to dinner every night and find little places like this along the way. Since I carry my tripod and camera just about everywhere, I’d always be ready in case something like this pops up!

This was shot in Halle, Germany, just a short train ride from Leipzig. I love how these old churches are often lit with orange lights… I think it always makes them look nice against the blue dusky skies.

Setting up the tripod for these evening HDRs always allows you to set the ISO as low as possible, and in aperture priority mode, the shutter will stay open for a long time, letting those clouds drift by and drag light across the lens. It gives a nice feel to the shot and makes the church look even more timeless and solid.

Filed under the categories: Germany, Halle, Nikon D2XS, Travel

If there is one thing that is almost as cool as being deep in the Himalayas, then it’s being at Disneyworld after dark near the Expedition Everest ride. This is probably one of my favorite rollercoasters, and I endeavored to stay here late one night to try to grab the moon in the right spot. The whole area is riddled with excellent little Buddhist offering temples, where you can submit fruits of offering in exchange for the blessing of not tossing your lunch right before the Yeti takes a swipe at your runaway train.

I also got a very nice Twitter message yesterday from a dad who was excited that his kids were getting him my Textures Tutorial for father’s day. I thought that was kind of cool and I was flattered! Of course, that means he’s going to have to use the techniques to make some memorable photos of his family… This is something that I always hear too… that I don’t take enough photos of the family, but I do I do! But I don’t think that the grandparents can ever be happy unless I have a webcam on them 24 hours a day like a non-stop grandchild Truman show.

Filed under the categories: Disney World, Florida, Nikon D2XS, Orlando, Travel

This is an old library found in a remote temple complex in the wilds of Cambodia.

It’s hard for me to imagine what a library was like back then.  A library in the 12th century must have been very interesting.  Almost 1,000 years ago, I imagine it was probably filled with all sorts of fascinating scrolls and documents.  Without the Internet, it must have been the most interesting thing to do on a boring day.  I wonder what it would be like to rip back in time and show them the iPhone and then show them some ancient-scroll app from the App Store.  I’m pretty sure the AT&T connectivity would be about as good as it is in 2009.

Filed under the categories: Angkor Wat, Cambodia, Nikon D2XS, Siem Reap, Travel

See how cool American cars used to be? And then they started getting designed by committees and focus groups and marketing experts… Did anyone see that Simpsons episode with Poochie the dog? I think about that episode a lot whenever I see a boring product flounder its way onto the scene.

Anyway, none of that has anything to do with anything… other than just as a talking point when looking back at old American cars and how much personality they used to have. This was shot at a classic car show here in Austin, which is always a great place to take the tripod for some HDR goodness…

Filed under the categories: Austin, Nikon D2XS, Texas, Travel

Angkor Wat was built to honor the god Vishnu and his shrines fill many of the hallways and crossroads within the temple complex.  This was shot in the inner part of the temple, where the walls came together to form a quincunx.  The symmetry of this place was wonderful, as you can tell, so it was a real joy to move around and get a bunch of compositions that made good mathematical sense.  This is something I think about a lot when I shoot…  taking the entropy of the world and reducing it something that is mathematically idealized inside of the frame dimensions.

In other news, we have two Stuck in Customs Newsletter (sign up here – it’s free) styles for you to choose from!  We have Choice 1 and Choice 2.  Which do you like better?  I’m curious to know your thoughts…

Filed under the categories: Angkor Wat, Cambodia, Nikon D2XS, Travel

Although Indonesia was quite a beautiful place, it was also incredibly poor. Every country has its Hans Rosling (see his amazing TED video here) predictable bell curve of wealth distribution, and Indonesia has so many people in it (almost as many people as the US), that a lot of people end up over on the left-hand side of the curve.

While walking around one of the cities there, I went off-track and ended up in a small settlement underneath a bridge. This family had set up here, found old couches and bits of refuse to build their home. This little girl was outside playing, arranging scraps of trash on the ground in interesting patterns.

I stopped and talked to the family for a short time. They were nice and didn’t mind me taking photos. The mom seemed a little suspicious but then calmed down when she saw I was good with kids. The dad did not speak a lot of English, and I indicated to him that his house looked pretty sturdy compared to some of the others. He pointed to one across the river, which you can see in the upper part of the photo, an, in broken words, said that part of it had recently washed away. The dad was pretty happy with what he had built. He motioned to the little fence and then motioned to his little girl.

Filed under the categories: Indonesia, Nikon D2XS, Travel

There is a perfect stream here on the edge of Montana that backs onto a ranch where I have stayed a few times. At night, you can hear the stream rushing by while you sleep. Sometimes, in the morning, you can see a bit of steam coming off it as the air adjusts. In the middle of the day, the fish are biting and there isn’t another fisherman for miles.

It looks like it might be easy to cross, but, believe me — it isn’t. There’s a few deep pockets in there that you won’t find until you’re one step too late. I’ll never forget the time my chest waders started filling up with cold river water. Once a little bit starts, it’s a slippery slope!

I also ended up doing a bit of tubing down this river too… which I’m sure was completely confusing to the fish underneath.

Filed under the categories: Montana, Nikon D2XS, Travel, Wyoming, Yellowstone

I tried to give this one a very Twilight Zone feel to it. The whole ride at Disney World is filled with Rod Serlingesque treatments, so I thought it would be a fitting adjustment.

This ride is pretty freaky, and I totally recommend it!

Filed under the categories: Disney World, Florida, Nikon D2XS, Orlando, Travel

I was lucky enough to get a tour of the Memphis Grizzlies home stadium when there was hardly anyone around. The Fed-Ex Forum is an amazing facility. I think it looks like a great place to go watch games. The surrounding downtown area is also very cool… seems like it would be a great way to spend a night out. I’ve never been in Memphis on game night, but I’ll be sure to make that happen some time!

Also I got to go back in the locker room and meet some of the players. The guys were so nice and affable… I couldn’t get over it. I don’t know what I expected, but they were just all really young nice dudes. And then I saw this little underwater rehab/training facility. It was really wide and had this conveyor belt that ran under water. I asked why it was so wide and was told it was originally used for horse rehab! Crazy…hehe…

Memphis finally got a good pick in the draft… #2! That’s great for those guys… go Grizzlies!

Filed under the categories: Memphis, Nikon D2XS, Tennessee, Travel