Shots from Inside the Googleplex After I was done with the speech, I gave an workshop to some of the Google employees. It was very fun and stimulating... but, while waiting on that to begin, I went around to grab images from inside the Googleplex. These have all been approved by corporate communications, so I can release them!Herein, you will see one of the mysterious hallways of Google, the new Google Holodeck (well, pseudo-holodeck), which is showing Google Earth on the moon (you can zoom in, spin around, etc etc), and the last is Spaceship One, which has been lowered through the roof. Awesome, eh?- 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

gallery pages: << < 24 25 26 27 28 29 > >>

< Prev 395 of 1446 Next >

StuckInCustoms > The Glorious Church at Stanford During our amazingly fun Stanford photowalk, our entire unit crashed into into the church like the Allies setting up barracks inside a French cathedral.Right before we went in, as I climbed the stairs, one of the more nervous-types that was on the photowalk said, "Uhhh, I don't know if they will let us in because they are about to close." I said something to the effect of, "Who cares, we're going in anyway until they come tell us to leave!" And with that, we blew in through the front doors and spread out far and wide. I set up my camera and gave a little talk about my settings for the shot. I mentioned that in dark situations, you don't want your multiple exposures to all be 30 seconds. You need to widen your aperture and increase the ISO so that your all your exposures get finished, with the final one at 30 seconds. In this situation, I shot 5 exposures at 1 step increments with my 5 respective shutter speeds at 2 seconds, 4 s, 8s, 15s, and 30s.Oh, btw, now that I am one with sweet sweet SmugMug, click on the photo below to see it big and bold and proper. At the top, you can select whatever size you wish.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The Giants in the Muir Woods When I was in California recently, I left Leo Laporte's cottage to take some photos of the Muir Woods. If you have never been here, it's a must!Did you know this is where they filmed that speeder scene from Return of the Jedi? Very cool. I did not see any Ewoks in the forest, nor did they try to trip me by making me roll my robo-angle on strategically-placed logs. Those Ewoks... so small, crafty, and flammable.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Building 43 at Google Wow I had a great time at Google! The guys and gals there I met were very nice and cool... After my Authors@Google talk, I stayed around for a while to take photos while waiting on the workshop to begin. There are sensitive areas of Google, of course, and I didn't even try to take pictures of any of that stuff... Building 43 is the central building of the whole Googleplex. It houses the offices of Marissa Mayer (who did not show up for my talk *ahem*), Larry Page, and Sergey Brin. I wanted to pop into their offices and make unique photos of their offices for fun, but I did not want to ask on my first visit. Wouldn't that be one of the most interesting things in the world? To see the offices of all these people? They don't have to be awesome and all James-Bondy -- even something mundane would be interesting, if captured in the right way. But I do picture Sergey stroking a white cat...- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Shots from Inside the Googleplex After I was done with the speech, I gave an workshop to some of the Google employees. It was very fun and stimulating... but, while waiting on that to begin, I went around to grab images from inside the Googleplex. These have all been approved by corporate communications, so I can release them!Herein, you will see one of the mysterious hallways of Google, the new Google Holodeck (well, pseudo-holodeck), which is showing Google Earth on the moon (you can zoom in, spin around, etc etc), and the last is Spaceship One, which has been lowered through the roof. Awesome, eh?- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The Great Room at Hearst I was able to get up through a somewhat secret door into the upper area of this room. It was a little sketchy up there with a sharp dropoff, so I had to keep my wits about me!The greatest challenge at Hearst is getting set up, composing, and executing all the shots before the next wave of tourists come through. I was usually able to get this done, and there was always a gentle pressure to shoot fast and then move on! One time, however, I just could not finish in time.They strode in and began randomly shooting away. I think it is so interesting (and somewhat depressing) to watch how tourists take pictures. Really, they are just "documenting" and "collecting". Why? This is an interesting question! These people are not dumb or vapid… They are not doing it because everyone else is doing it. But I do think people like to softly record their lives. They do the best they can, and I guess that is okay. I do get flummoxed that people don't go out of their way to take "better" pictures. They seem satisfied with lackluster, predictable, "scientific-documentary" shots that are just not interesting. Not that every photo has to be a work of art, but why not try a little? Why not do a few things here and there to improve your personal photography. It's not that hard to improve, and anyone can improve! I suppose I just get bummed out that people don't even try to improve… they just expect and then become satisfied with mediocrity.Also at Hearst there is a "no flash" rule. Thank goodness! Of course, they do it to protect the works of art there, but I am happy that people do not use their flash because I normally see people do it in silly conditions. As far as I know, this "no flash" in Hearst Castle (and other museums) is a good policy. I always hear that flashes can damage paintings and whatnot -- is this scientifically true? Maybe it is. I know if you leave art in bright light all day that it can become discolored… but are a bunch of instantaneous flashes the same thing? I don't know… I'd love to see a full study on it if anyone has a link. As with all things, the policy certainly sounds solid, but I am skeptical about "common wisdom".Personally, I would institute a "no Dumb Use of Flash" rule, which would tell people not to use their flash to take photos of things that are over 15 feet away. Like, for example, did you see the opening ceremonies of the Olympics? Thousands and thousands of clueless people using their flashes! Aren't any of those thousands of people somewhat curious --- wondering if the flash actually does anything? Or maybe this mass flash-delusion is only negatively reinforced by seeing all the other flashes going off? I don't know…. but it is interesting to think about.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The Harmony Garden
Kyoto was filled with thousands of these tiny gardens with ponds and little rivers. Which one to take photos of first?!?None of them seemed to have artificial pumps that moved the water around. I always think of that whenever I see little gardens with water features in the states, or like they sell at Sam's. Somehow, it seems, Japanese garden-masters are able to constantly refill their ponds by keeping the appropriate amount of dew forming on surrounding leaves, which then drips into the pond, which then goes down a perfect little waterfall, and ends up at another perfect pond about 50 paces away.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The Hellenistic Ruins For our weekly photo mystery, which is, mysteriously, neither weekly or all that mysterious, is up again! Who can tell me where these strange ruins are from? Or, maybe, at least, some creative guesses?- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Fog in the Fishing Village You all know that I hate waking up early in the morning. This is very true. A lot of my somewhat older friends say that as you get older, waking up early comes naturally. I look forward to this day. For now, it's all hard work... but I know that is when the light is interesting and the weather patterns can be unexpected.This is very early morning with a dense fog over this little harbor. I loved the details on these bits, so I did my best to capture them in the morning wetness. In the distance, you can see the anchored boats. This is also from the little bay of Portofino -- the same location as the photo I posted a few days ago.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The Tunnel to the Singularity While getting lost on purpose in the streets of Tokyo, I decided to head up into one of the buildings to wander about. It led to one hallway, which led to another, another, and then to this amazing place. I'm not sure I could ever find it again, so I was sure to take way a photo as a keepsake. Sometimes special things like that happen, and I am sure to appreciate it at the time. One part of me thinks, "Oh, no worries, you'll be back here again some day." The other half worries, "Okay, maybe not, you better fully appreciate it!" And I did!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The Gentle Bridge If I could only clone myself, just for dusk! After that, all the clones could die off, like in The Prestige. They could die off in a less-violent way, however...Usually, when I scout a location (let's say case the joint), I wind up finding a number of spots to take pictures at dusk. Then, that high-pressure 10 minute-period hits and I run around trying to squeeze them all in... and it's never easy with five exposures each!This little bridge is at Horseshoe Bay in Texas. Everyone likes bridges, eh? Like cute kittens and Yourube videos when dads get hurt in the crotch, they are universal favorites.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The River Through Petaluma A few days after the talk at Google (I think the Authors@Google *LINK to video are adding subtitles now, for those of you that have trouble hearing), I went up to Napa to visit my mom and my grandmother. Besides getting a bunch of homemade fudge (which I brought to the Stanford photowalk), I also stopped on the way back south in Petaluma at Leo Laporte's "cottage".I've always been a big fan of Leo's! Beside just seeing out of one eye (a strange bond I feel with him), I've really gotten a kick out of the way he approaches and discusses technology. In fact, I listen to his podcasts so much that my wife often says, "If I have to hear that Leo ONE MORE TIME, before jamming the radio to get off AUX to FM."Leo was in the middle of a podcast when I walked in to watch his operation in person. We didn't really get a chance to talk, but he was gracious and said hello quickly while in the middle of the broadcast. I think he's very clever with his media powerhouse there. I was fascinated seeing the operation -- everything from the logistics to the electronics - smart.His whole team was out in the front part of the college, and, while there, I also met Dr. Kiki (Dr. Kirsten Sanford is probably what it says on her degree). She was as nice as I expected as well - her show is called "Dr. Kiki's Science Hour" -- another nice podcast for your lineup!After leaving, I stopped in downtown Petaluma to grab some lunch and some internet. Whilst there, I went over one of the bridges to grab this shot. I don't know if the water is always this brown and muddy, but it certainly was this day!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Shots from Inside the Googleplex

After I was done with the speech, I gave an workshop to some of the Google employees. It was very fun and stimulating... but, while waiting on that to begin, I went around to grab images from inside the Googleplex. These have all been approved by corporate communications, so I can release them!

Herein, you will see one of the mysterious hallways of Google, the new Google Holodeck (well, pseudo-holodeck), which is showing Google Earth on the moon (you can zoom in, spin around, etc etc), and the last is Spaceship One, which has been lowered through the roof. Awesome, eh?

- Trey Ratcliff

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