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Sailing Away to Akaroa Thanks again for all the recommendations! So many of you recommended that we visit Akaroa on our visit to New Zealand, and it was a great suggestion.You can walk along and see most of the commercial part and the harbor in less than an hour. One end is a long dock where they launch a few ships per day. Just as I got out to the end, this sailboat was pulling away from the dock.This photo came from a single RAW file. There was way too much movement to let me do a multiple exposure in this one.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post, including info on the podcast, at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Remarkables If these mountains don't have the coolest name ever, then I don't know what does!The mountains border the lake in Queenstown, but right before they dip into the deep water, a gentle dollop of green hills present themselves. They are those soft kind of New Zealand hills - the kind that look like you could just take a giant thumb and mush them around into one shape or another.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog. There's also some info about my house in Austin for sale!
The Long Road to New Zealand This is one of countless beautiful roads that crisscross New Zealand. I'm afraid I've forgotten exactly where I was when I took this photo! I know that is very lame, but I bet people around here can help me pinpoint the area.As far as the camera settings, this is the kind of shot you can get with something called "compression," a method where you use a zoom lens and zoom in quite far. It takes images in the distance and makes them larger than life.- Trey RatcliffRead more here at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Beautiful Akaroa This is a great town over on the coast of New Zealand. I only spent a short time there, but I'd like to get back. I think it was one of THE most recommended places in NZ, and that's saying a lot, because the recommendations come fast and furious there. Read more and talk to me about Minecraft here at the Stuck in Customs blog.
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.
Tree at the Serene Lake Queenstown, I miss you! The summer here in Texas has been bitter-hot. I remember the long run I had along your shores... comparing that with my 100-degree run here in Texas that just makes me want to curl up into a fetal ball and cry... When I was there in Queenstown, I took to waking up about an hour before the sunrise and brewing a whole pot of coffee. And then, I would just the take the POT in the car with me and drive around. The lake can be pretty still in the morning, and that is when I grabbed this one... I'm jealous of my friends Gordon Laing and Eden Brackstone who get to spend almost every day in these environs! - Trey Ratcliff Read more here at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Coming Home to the Inn After Dinner This is a nice feeling -- this idea of walking to dinner and arriving back at the inn with family and friends just before it gets dark. I don't know how to explain it, but perhaps you have experienced this too.This is in the far northern part of the south island if New Zealand. The town is named Nelson, and I think it is one of the five biggest on that island. But all of New Zealand only has four million people, and the vast majority of those are on the north island. I wonder what has happened to towns like Nelson since the big earthquake in nearby Christchurch. Maybe some of our NZ community readers can fill us in with some on-the-ground info.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Soft Hills on the way to Paradise, New Zealand Just beyond Glenorchy, which is just a shade beyond Queenstown, lies a little place called Paradise. The road gets tinier and tinier as you get closer. A few miles before the road becomes all dirt, I pulled over to these soft rolling hills. They were covered with little sheep families, walking to and fro.One the rare occasion when I am in the field with students, I have them notice a bunch of things. I've touched on this before, and this is another good example. It has to do with the location of the sunlight. There are three elements that can be lit here - the hills and/or the mountains and/or the clouds. Every combination looks dramatically different in the final shot. When you are there on the scene, the light changes so gradually, you don't notice. So you have to teach yourself to be mindful of the untimely flow of light. - Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
A Gentle Stream Through New Zealand All this news out of New Zealand is still upsetting. I've got a lot of contacts and friends down there... and I know it's a rough time. Not much I can do... feel a little useless... so about the best I can do is post some serene and gentle photos of the nicer side of nature. I hope all my friends down there find it gets a little easier as the days move forward.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

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.
here at the Stuck in Customs blog." href="javascript:openLB(1414255183,'',XLarge,'',1024,647);">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.

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.
See photo in original gallery.
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