The City of Lights Oh God I didn’t want to go up the tower… but a strange thing pulled me up there… it sure wasn’t the crowds… And, by now, you know I’m not one of those people that just does things because everyone else is doing them… but I thought just maybe I could get a good shot.I think the best shots come from the lower-tier instead of the upper-tier. It’s hard to say… although I don’t think I would ever be willing to stand in that line again.By the way, in case you were wondering, using a tripod up there was not a problem for me. I was fast… but no one ever stopped me or gave me the business.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog. - Trey Ratcliff | Stuck In Customs

Thank you again for all the comments and feedback - much appreciated and I read them all! A lot of requests come in for my tutorial about how I do these shots - you can find it here: HDR Tutorial

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StuckInCustoms > Grey London in Color
It's so hard to carry a tripod with a big camera AND an umbrella. The number of ways you can severely pinch yourself must be in the thousands.

There is the right-hand-hold-the-umbrella-and-camera-together method. This keeps the left hand free to zoom, but there is no hand left to secure the ballhead. So, that only kinda works, but you have to do the strange reach-around. It's about as much fun as using your left hand to get exactly 45 cents out of your right pocket.

Another method is using your neck to secure the umbrella, but that gets out of control very very quickly in the wind.

The last method is usually the one I do -- and that is just to let myself get soaked. I feel only a tiny bit miserable, but I can sometimes be so focused that I can push that discomfort away while I'm focused on the photography bit.

- Trey Ratcliff

Read the rest here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The Towering Rice Field
Once again back in Zhangjiajie. These spires are murder to walk up and down. I thought I was in reasonably good shape, but these things will suck the life out of you!

At the top of one of them, there is this lonely rice field just on the edge of a 1000+ foot drop. The whole place is beautiful, old, and beyond belief.

- Trey Ratcliff

Read the rest of this entry, which includes a story about how I got into China to take some of these shots, here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Orange Light in Queenstown
I was driving back to the house we rented in Kelvin Heights, a little peninsula that sticks out into the lake, and I saw the potential for this light. I've only seen it about a dozen times in my life. It happens when there is a localized area of flat-white clouds but a perfectly clear horizon. It means the sun will dip below the clouds and cast an interesting color up on the bottom of the clouds. The reason this doesn't usually happen is because an overcast sky will continue on for so many miles that the sun will have no angle of incidence.

Anyway, I got lucky and the prediction came true. I was able to be ready with my tripod just in time.

- Trey Ratcliff

Read the rest of this and tell me what your favorite cloud type is here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Adorable Chinese Girl
So, maybe the full title of this photo should be what I realized after I took the photo: "Adorable Chinese Girl OMG I Think She's About To Pee On The Street". But she didn't. She was just in that position. And her pants are kinda funky. Or maybe those are leg-warmers or something. I don't know... it's all confusing. Her mom was right by her, sitting on a set and eating rice. She smiled at me, and was very excited when I was taking a photo. Or maybe she was laughing because she thought it was funny I was trying to take a photo while her daughter was about to go to the bathroom. I really can't say!

But I did see lots of kids go to the bathroom in the street, on sidewalks, and this sort of thing. Not all the time, mind you, but they would just drop their business right there in the middle of a busy sidewalk.

- Trey Ratcliff

Read more here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Eclectic BBQ With Neal Stephenson

My plane arrived in the evening, and I went out immediately to start taking photos of the city. Just as I was getting into a groove, I received a text to come over to Neal Stephenson's house to help build a unique steampunk BBQ Grill. To this, I cannot say no.

Here is a photo of the actual creation. You can see the pigs hanging in the middle as the fire spins around the outside. To the right is Chris Young and to the left is Neal Stephenson.

There was something new and hypnotic while the fire spun around the pig. I think maybe it was so foreign to our pleistocene brains. We're just not used to seeing fire spin around while the meat is still ...

- Trey Ratcliff

Read the entire long-form blog entry here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Daily Photo(s): Eclectic BBQ With Neal Stephenson

My plane arrived in the evening, and I went out immediately to start taking photos of the city. Just as I was getting into a groove, I received a text to come over to Neal Stephenson's house to help build a unique steampunk BBQ Grill. To this, I cannot say no.

So I arrived and then spent about four hours with Neal, Chris Young (master chef who wrote Modernist Cuisine), Nels Peterson (paleontologist++), and a few other people to build a crazy BBQ setup. Neal has this crazy BBQ every year and they try to do something off-the-wall. For this one, instead of spinning the pig over the fire, it was decided that the fire should spin around the outside of the pig.

Many hours later, the creation was assembled, and we turned it on to watch the giant columns of metal begin to spin around the central base. It felt a little like a wormhole generator that would enable fully cooked pigs to come into our world.

Then, the next day, when the BBQ officially started... here is a photo of the festivities.

- Trey Ratcliff

Read the entire long-form blog post here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Superquad
It was an amazing turnout! After the Google talk (which is being editing now), we all went over to Stanford for a mega-photowalk. Towards the end of the PhotoWalk, we ended up in this amazing area... here is my photo that I took... I think it was one of my last of the evening. Thanks again to everyone that came along :)

- Trey Ratcliff

Read more here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The Streets of Zermatt
After dinner one evening, I went out with my iPod to explore the streets alone. There was a light cool rain, but it didn't bother me a bit. It added to the mood and everything felt great. The warm cabins, the cool sky, the wet streets, people hurrying to and fro to get warm food and drinks... I do my best to capture this feeling all in one image.

- Trey Ratcliff

See the rest of this blog entry here at stuckincustoms.com.

StuckInCustoms > Approaching the Forbidden City
These are the kinds of clouds I love... these high icy clouds that are pulled apart by fast winds like long, sinuous strands of silk. When the sun starts to go down, it makes them even more silky...

- Trey Ratcliff

Read the rest of this entry here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The City of Lights Oh God I didn’t want to go up the tower… but a strange thing pulled me up there… it sure wasn’t the crowds… And, by now, you know I’m not one of those people that just does things because everyone else is doing them… but I thought just maybe I could get a good shot.I think the best shots come from the lower-tier instead of the upper-tier. It’s hard to say… although I don’t think I would ever be willing to stand in that line again.By the way, in case you were wondering, using a tripod up there was not a problem for me. I was fast… but no one ever stopped me or gave me the business.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Is this France or Spain? Okay you guys… help me out here. I just can’t remember where this is. I know I have France tags in the photo, but that may have been a mistake. Part of me things it was Spain. I was sick while I was there, but I was still out shooting all the time, running my body into the ground. I think this is one of the reasons my memory is failing me… or something.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Tiny Tea House
Once it got to be quite dark outside, I was dog-tired, so I retreated back into this little tea house to relax. There were so many ornate details and nic-nacs everywhere... It was very nice to zen-out, eat tea and snacks, and just sort of look around at all the little nooks and crannies. After about half an hour, I had regained my wits and decided to set up for this quick shot to share it with you.

- Trey Ratcliff

Read more here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The Bullfighter
I arrived in Nimes a the day before the Sting concert, and I wanted to get a few shots of the old city right away. The weather and light cooperated!

Maybe this is the best preserved Roman coliseum in the world? I don't know that for sure, but it's the best one I have seen. And, even better, it's still in good enough shape that they use it for concerts, bullfights, and even swimming events!

In front of the coliseum is this grand bullfighter. It's kind of the main "meeting place" for many people in this area, so I had to be extremely patient waiting for people to clear the area so I could get a shot!

- Trey Ratcliff

Read more here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

The City of Lights

Oh God I didn’t want to go up the tower… but a strange thing pulled me up there… it sure wasn’t the crowds… And, by now, you know I’m not one of those people that just does things because everyone else is doing them… but I thought just maybe I could get a good shot.

I think the best shots come from the lower-tier instead of the upper-tier. It’s hard to say… although I don’t think I would ever be willing to stand in that line again.

By the way, in case you were wondering, using a tripod up there was not a problem for me. I was fast… but no one ever stopped me or gave me the business.

- Trey Ratcliff

Click here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.