Lines of Tokyo To go with the video theme of the day, here is a new photo in Tokyo. This was taken near the Akihabara area, not too far from the subway station. There is a kind of "sterile" feel to a lot of the modern, well-architected areas of Tokyo. I don't mind this non-organic sense sometimes, but it is not always comforting. All of the lines, shapes, and angles make for some fun photography, though! - 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 > The Capital Museum in Beijing And look - another amazing super-structure in Beijing! Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I've had a lot of family in town and been showing them all my unpublished stuff from Beijing, including this photo. They all remark on how impeccably modern and impressive the city has become. From what I understand, they have started bringing in more and more western architects to design innovative structures. I'm not sure who the architect here is... but it's very well done. See that giant red velvet wall to the right? It's hiding a new display that's currently being built. I've never seen such an elaborate "under construction" wall! - Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The Louvre Ahhh... the Louvre! It's one of the greatest in the world and always fun to explore. You gotta be kind of into museums, I suppose... the vastness of it is beyond words. You really don't get it until you've spent several hours inside.- Trey Ratcliff Read more here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Icelandic Docks in the Afternoon I arrived in Isafjorder in the middle of one afternoon, and my schedule was all askew. I had driven all night, taking photos along the way. I usually tried to arrive at the hotel by 11 AM or so, because that was my bedtime. If I didn't hit the sack each day at 11 AM and wake up at 6 PM, then it threw everything off for the next cycle!The skies were so interesting when I arrived, I decided to spend a few extra hours visiting the docks to explore. This is a famous fishing town in the far northwest part of Iceland, so the docks had a nice sense about them. I was so dog-tired that I was just kinda going through the motions. But it did keep me in that sleepy dream-state that helped everything flow easily.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Carmel in the Evening I took a California road trip up Highway 1 from Los Angeles to San Francisco. On the way is the famous little town of Carmel. It's right by Pebble Beach, 17-mile drive, and a bunch of other amazing little places. The town is very quaint and cool... a lovely place to walk around and explore with your camera!This was my last shot of the night. After this, I stopped in a small Italian restaurant to eat some tasties while I edited some photos. This is one of my favorite things to do after a day of shooting... just relaxing... having someone bring me coffee and snacks... headphones on... editing away. Good times!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The Peking Opera This opera is like nothing else in the world. This was my second visit to an authentic performance, but the first one in this grand palace of opera. I understand that it had been closed for a long time. I felt honored to be invited to attend the opening night performance of the Peking Opera.The opera is mesmerizing and confusing event. I had a wonderful assistant with me, and she was able to translate the essence of the story to me. The plot was a classical tragedy told in dance and other-worldly sounding voices. Also I was very fortunate to have carte-blanche and was allowed to take photos anywhere. I used this as much as possible, trying not to make myself an annoyance. - Trey Ratcliff Read more here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Arles and Van Gogh We rented a tiny car in Montpellier and decided to spend a while randomly driving around the south of France. Regular visitors know that I'm enamored with the impressionists of the late 19th century. Even though I have yet to embark on the full tour of the homes of my favorites, I did make a point to stop in the hometown of Vincent Van Gogh for a quick look.This is Arles, which is only a short drive from Montpellier and less than an hour from the Côte d'Azur. The streets are quaint and quiet. There are a few tourist areas, but after a few steps in a random direction, you're back in the old streets. I needed to stay for longer for more exploration (!), but I did my best to make use of the short time I was there.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Information in Tokyo I was navigating a complex series of catwalks through a beautiful building in downtown Tokyo. I got so busy looking around at all the amazing structures that I almost forgot to look down. Upon doing so, I saw this, or close to this... after a few minutes of walking around, I found a angle that seemed to make special poetic bits of my brain happy.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Beautiful Feng Huang at Night This was a beautiful and relaxing night for me. I strolled up and down the banks of this old river-town. All the houses up on stilts were so charming... the little boats motoring around... old ladies still washing clothes deep into the night... young lovers skipping along the opposite bank while I set up for shots... After a few hours of shooting, I stopped at a small family-run restaurant that overlooked the river. I pulled out my sketch pad and started drawing the scene around me for a few hours while the nice mom inside brought me all kinds of mysterious hot foods, teas, and little cookies. It was a very peaceful and nice night...- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Lines of Tokyo To go with the video theme of the day, here is a new photo in Tokyo. This was taken near the Akihabara area, not too far from the subway station. There is a kind of "sterile" feel to a lot of the modern, well-architected areas of Tokyo. I don't mind this non-organic sense sometimes, but it is not always comforting. All of the lines, shapes, and angles make for some fun photography, though! - Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The Range at Night I drove to Glenorchy (a not-bustling suburb of Queenstown) late in the afternoon. After doing a bit of shooting and snacking, I took a perfect little road back to Queenstown. It runs along a long and perfect lake. The sun had dropped to an interesting spot, and I could see the heavens were boiling away... so I pulled over to take this quick shot.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The Steampunk Horse I was in London and found this place just after my wife and I had a lovely dinner with Matt Ridley (have you seen his TED Talk on "When Ideas Have Sex"?) Visit my Best TED Talks page to see it... right there at the top! He's a great guy and his TED speech did not mention why ideas would come together to make a steampunk horse. We passed a gallery in a nice part of town that was totally dark and mysterious -- except for this wonderful creation inside. I could not resist and had to whip out the tripod to make it happen!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Pretty Girl in Cherry Blossoms I started riding the wave of the cherry blossom bloom in Osaka before ending up here in Kyoto. All the news stations in Japan have a long nightly report that shows a fluttering line of pink cherry blossoms that flow across the map from the west to the east.It's a huge national celebration -- and it's really fun to be part of the sensation. There are hundreds of tiny and large parks all over the country that have cultivated gardens of these special trees. I visited a few dozen, and I enjoyed wandering around taking photos while the blossoms fell down like gentle pink snow. Millions of Japanese people also go out to enjoy the event. This girl was standing alone under a tree, taking photos and just sort of smiling, enjoying everything. I gave her the international sign for "mind if I take a photo???" She gave me a little bow along with a mouth-covering giggle before relaxing into a smile.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Big Sur Morning I had spent the entire previous day at Hearst Castle in California -- all the way until the sun went down. That messed up my plans a bit to drive up Highway 1 and take in the sites with my camera. So I drove just about an hour or so north and found a little lodge right on the rocky coast. It was one of those mysterious late-night checkins where you can't see what's around you, but you have a feeling it's kinda awesome. The next morning, I woke up early to see this! I hopped over a fence and hiked along the top of the cliffs to see the various views... Just as the sun was coming up, I grabbed this one from under a tree.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Lonely in London I flew to London directly from Burning Man. I was tired, dirty, very tired, and very dirty. But that didn't stop me from adventuring out! It was still a bit before my friend Scott arrived, and still many days before my wife and others arrived... so I spent some time wandering the London streets at night. You never know when the muse is gonna visit, so you have to go out and wander when she does!These red phone booths are perfect little specimen for photography, no? I'm trying to remember the first time I ever saw one. It was probably when I was a kid, watching Monty Python with my dad on PBS. Speaking of that, I recently listened to the Michael Palin autobiography on Audible (try them out - I love Audible!). I didn't realize the show was kind of floundering in the UK when it really hit big in the US. It sounds like the whole crew was surprised how popular the show was in America. All I can imagine is that their behavior must have just seemed perfectly mundane and normal in England.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The Market at Night I arrived in Barcelona very late. Actually, this may be the only time in which Barcelona even exists. There is a fabulous market right in this very location that is apparently open in something called the 'daytime". The "daytime" is a mystical time that most people in Barcelona don't even know exists. I know this for sure because the next morning, at 9 AM on a WEEKDAY, I could not find any place open to buy coffee. People sleep in until approximately 3 PM. They then roll around in bed, thinking about getting up until 4 PM. They then get up, have some chocolate and churros, and then take a quick nap before it gets dark. And then they party.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Lines of Tokyo

To go with the video theme of the day, here is a new photo in Tokyo. This was taken near the Akihabara area, not too far from the subway station.

There is a kind of "sterile" feel to a lot of the modern, well-architected areas of Tokyo. I don't mind this non-organic sense sometimes, but it is not always comforting. All of the lines, shapes, and angles make for some fun photography, though!

- Trey Ratcliff

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