The other day I mentioned an upcoming press interview and here it is in web form.
I shared an image from one of the Ritz-Carltons in Bali the other day. Here’s one from the resort I mentioned in the Sphere article, Mandapa – A Ritz-Carlton Reserve. My favorite hotel.
I was having to think back a bit into my travels for an interview I was doing yesterday, and it sent me down a rabbit hole that ended in Bali. Here’s one of the Ritz-Carltons over there and the view I had from my room. Hopefully I can share that interview next week, it was quite fun. 🙂
There is a beautiful cliff walk in one of the more rugged areas of Bali that features this simple but iconic temple. There were a bunch of tourists around, so this isn’t usually my bag, but I figured: why not? So I spent a few hours walking around this area preparing for the final shot… I’m actually not 100% happy with the composition of this shot, but it’s the best I could do. If I could go back, I’d take my quadcopter and try a few different looks.
I had to look up in the metadata where I took this photo! Man, my memory is terrible! Anyway, I zoomed into Smugmug to check the tags and realized it was in Bali. I hate having to look it up because it makes me feel dumb… and this one should be easy to figure out because one rarely sees camels by the sea.
Oooookay… welcome to my favorite Machine Elf fractal animation so far! This one explores an infinite poly-helix of DNA as it transforms from one form to the next. You’ll see many patterns in here that remind you of things… I won’t tell you what they are, as they are your own memory patterns. Enjoy! And be sure to check out our new Machine Elf website below. There are many more Machine Elf creations in the works!
There are a few of these Ritz-Carltons where you walk into the lobby and you are completely blown away. This is probably one of my favorites in Bali. There are actually two different RCs in Bali. One is a “Reserve” which means it’s “extra special” where you get a butler and stuff. But, both of them have a stunning entrance lobby like this!
I had an amazing time in Bali, but I didn’t actually get out to see much of the island. This is the most popular area along the coast for photographers and I only made it there with a few days to spare. It’s actually quite difficult to get a shot here, so I walked around for a few hours trying to find the best place to set up for the big sunset image.
Sometimes I tell people I’m a pretty good drone pilot, but I’m nothing like this guy. This guy makes me feel like I can barely operate a tricycle. Check out this video below!
Here’s a shot of the rather remarkable Mandapa, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve. The hotels are nice enough on their own, but these “Reserve” locations take everything to the next level. This photo was taken as a “vertirama” where I stitched together a few vertical photos.
If you want to see this same location from above, jump forward to the Bali location in one of my favorite videos below!
Man, this guy was so fit! I spent a few hours in some of those tapered rice fields in Bali, and this guy was all over the place. It was hot and muggy and I felt like a chubby blob rolling around the fields, and this guy was chopping and carrying rice like a man possessed. He must have been in his late fifties but he was in amazing shape. It made me think I should really do a lot more hard labor and not be in front of a laptop right now writing about it.
Lisbon was the first stop in our tour across Europe and it did not disappoint. We had a big enthusiastic crowd show up for the photo walk. Along the way I provided some tips for Street photography. I hope you enjoy and learn something new!
Here’s a view from one of the rice fields I worked while staying at this hotel! This is the Ritz-Carlton in Bali (there are two… I stayed at both- this one is the Mandapa Reserve. Anyway, they had a “fun” (actually it was fun) thing you can do there where you plant rice with local farmers. So I put on my Thai fisherman pants, plopped off my shoes, ripped off my shirt like rice-farm-baywatch and got to work! You can see some of my amazing rice-planting here in this photo… I was a natural!
Oh, trivia first! Do you know why there’s all that water in rice fields? I only just found this out! I thought, before, it was obviously because the rice needs lots of water! But then, when you think about it, the rice grains are actually pretty small, and there’s really no need for THAT much water. Well, here comes the reason: the water keeps the weeds from growing! Mind-blowing, eh?
If you click on the “Bali” category, you’ll see I have a few different rice field shots – I think some of the from the drone are my favorite.
This was my first time ever to shoot these terraced rice fields. I saw a few in China, I guess, but they weren’t nearly this pretty. I thought shooting these would be easier than it was… I found a bit of difficulty in finding the best angles and compositions! I’ve heard some of the best rice fields and in the Philippines, so that’s definitely on my list!
