Papua New Guinea – Stuck in Customs

Number 7

Daily Photo – Number 7

I thought it’d be fun to go through what turned out to be my top content on social media for the year and that continues today. Mainly I’ll focus on Instagram but I’ll drop in a few others towards the end as when they get traction (e.g. Flickr) the stats go crazy. So, here’s number 9 in my most viewed posts of 2023… does that make them the BEST? Not so sure, but for whatever reason they connected with people, or the algorithm!

I’ve had a lot of fun playing with AI in 2023 and this was the result of one such session, a collection of images from tribes in Papua New Guinea that do not exist… I think I made this one in MidJourney.

Number 7

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  • Date Taken2023-12-19 09:45:00
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Danger Adjacent

Daily Photo – Danger Adjacent

One of the many tribes in Papua New Guinea… that was one of the most dangerous trips I ever took. I didn’t get into any serious trouble, but I was definitely danger adjacent.

Danger Adjacent

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2023-10-13 17:07:45
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The Goroka Archives

Daily Photo – The Goroka Archives

Here’s one I don’t think I’ve ever published from my time visiting the Goroka in Papua New Guinea… awesome people.

The Goroka Archives

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  • Date Taken2023-09-27 23:02:04
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27 Tribes from Remote Villages in Papua New Guinea that No One Has Ever Seen

Follow my new @TraiRatcliff Instagram here!

This is the second in a series of mind-bending imagery, all created by an AI I’ve been working with. The first article explored art installations at Burning Man that do not exist and talks a little about how artists can team up with AIs in fun, inspiring, and innovative ways.

Here’s a few more too…

40 Street Photos From 4,000 Years of Time Travel
32 Nonexistent People At Burning Man
60 Stills from a Wes Anderson Sci-Fi Film That Doesn’t Exist
20 Entities I Encountered And Inspirations From DMT Reality
How Artificial Intelligence Interprets Bible Verses – 35 Holiest Of Holy Creations Of Artificial Intelligent-Design

I went to Papua New Guinea several years ago and I was so amazed by seeing so many different types of tribes (see my Original Photos Here). I found their customs and the way they decorated themselves to be mesmerizing. There are still many undiscovered villages in Papua New Guinea as well, so I decided to make that a theme here.

I used some of my images as reference and for many of these queries to the AI, I used “in the style of Trey Ratcliff.” Luckily, because I’ve uploaded so many “people” photos to the internet over the past 15 years, the AI can kind of figure out my style. For these, I did many different switches and adjustments on the types of images. Male to female, age 8 to 80 to see all the variations. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I did creating them!

























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Happy

Daily Photo – Happy

He certainly seems to be 🙂

Happy

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2015-09-13 09:35:33
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/800
  • Aperture6.3
  • ISO500
  • Focal Length157.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

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Looking Good

Daily Photo – Looking Good

How awesome does this guy look? I’d imagine that getting make-up/face paint perfect on a beard is super hard, but he’s done it, for sure. The rest of the look was fantastic as well!

Looking Good

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2015-10-13 13:25:03
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/3200
  • Aperture
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias-1

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Boy in Papua New Guinea

Daily Photo – Boy in Papua New Guinea

I imagine for these special ceremonies that the kids really like getting all dressed up like the adults for the festival. It’s considered a fun right of passage for kids to do this every year. What kids don’t like getting all dressed and gussied up? Well, I know Scarlett certainly does. 🙂

Boy in Papua New Guinea

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2015-10-13 12:21:48
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/3200
  • Aperture
  • ISO125
  • Focal Length
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias-0.7

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Sunglasses for the Headhunter

Daily Photo – Sunglasses for the Headhunter

Well, I don’t know if this guy is an actual headhunter or not, but let’s just pretend he is. I was afraid to ask… But you gotta admit, the addition of the sunglasses makes him seem extra badass!

Sunglasses for the Headhunter

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2015-09-13 09:43:19
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/2000
  • Aperture5.6
  • ISO800
  • Focal Length75.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
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The Festival in Goroka

Daily Photo – The Festival in Goroka

Here’s a cool photo that shows a little bit of the context of the amazing tribal festival in Goroka. All the tribes get together and festoon themselves in an entirely unique way. It reminds me a lot of the documentaries that David Attenborough hosts about the birds of paradise in the same area. Papua New Guinea has some of the craziest-looking birds and dances you’ve ever seen. It seems to me that the locals are following their lead.

The Festival in Goroka

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2015-09-13 09:51:20
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/2000
  • Aperture6.3
  • ISO1000
  • Focal Length139.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias+0.3

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Ladies in Papua New Guinea

Daily Photo – Ladies in Papua New Guinea

So this was a rather tense situation… This tribe in PNG has all the women who are the badasses and they outfit them with all the kind of stuff you see here. Not long after I took this, the national military group showed up and started shooting off tear gas before things got too out of control. Pretty much everyone here imbibes the psychoactive betel nut, which makes their mouths and teeth a dark, bloody red. Anyway, before things got too rough, I left to go back to where I was staying. They don’t really have hotels there, so I was staying at some compound that was built for diamond miners. There was this tough South African guy there that ran it… I’ll never forget when he told me about how much the locals are thankful for him, and, if they are not, he carries around a 1-meter copper pipe to make sure they do. Pretty rough place!

Ladies in Papua New Guinea

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2015-09-13 09:04:49
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/1600
  • Aperture4
  • ISO125
  • Focal Length24.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

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