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Once You're Dead, it's Too Late I don't know why I enjoy visiting cemeteries so much. They are great motivators for me, really... to get out there and start doin' stuff.I try not to let things I really want to do go by the wayside, but some things can't be controlled, I assume. I certainly go through life with a no-fear attitude, and I guess I shouldn't expect everyone around me to be exactly the same...Anyway, maybe cemeteries only make me think this way about stuff, especially desolate, remote cemeteries like this one in the cold windy plains of southern Iceland.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Place in Texas Where They Found the 17 Bodies Now this is a proper Texas ghost town! It was always one of those things that fascinated me as a child. Pretty much anything with the name "ghost" in it was cool back then, including my "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. I remember there was one called "Deadwood" or something like that, which always had a creepy ghost town feel to it.Anyway, this is a strange abandoned town outside of Brenham, Texas (Home of Blue Bell Ice Cream!). And no, 17 Bodies were not found here... just being a bit dramatic. Or maybe there WERE 17 bodies here but the authorities are just covering it up. It's all true. I heard Alex Jones say it.Last, I have updated my Nikon 14-24 Review and my Nikon 24-70 Review with new photos and the like. I know that only about half of our audience is photographers, but some people are looking to get into it more seriously, so maybe those will be helpful to you!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
La Recoleta - The Crypts of Buenos Aires We are getting ever-closer to the release of the new Stuck In Customs Textures tutorial. The video is now over 90-minutes long and it's full of all sorts of examples and new techniques that I've figured out over the past few years. I'll go ahead and post the results of one of the finished products. I recorded video live of all these things... didn't know how they would turn out before I started. I kept it live and voiced aloud my "thinking process" around accomplishing these images.Everyone who has bought a previous Textures Tutorial will get a coupon for either the same level of product or an upgrade to a new "Ultimate Package". The coupons will be very fair because we want to take care of all previous buyers.This shot is another from the outdoor crypt area of Buenos Aires called La Ricoleta. The airlines lost my bags, so I did not have my tripod! I had to walk around this awesome place without a tripod. So I had to do everything I could to wedge myself against statues and scary-spikey-gargoyles to try to stay stable.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Church in the Wilderness before an Icelandic Summer Storm I drove from one end of Iceland to the other by myself, going down almost any road except the main one. I traveled down a little gravel road for a long way until I found this tiny church and graveyard. I jumped out to shoot this before the afternoon showers came down.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Dante's Gates of Hell This is Rodin's huge famous La Porte de l"Enfer, also known as the Gates of Hell. I found it off to the side of the Musee Rodin in Paris while I was in a tempestuous mood. The sculpture depicts a scene from Dante's "The Inferno". It contains over 180 of his finest sculptures. If you look closely towards the center of the top, you can see "The Thinker", one of his most famous.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Skeletons at Sunrise At one point when driving through Yellowstone a few weeks ago, I got out of the car and started walking right into the forest on the edge of the road. There was a thick fog and the morning sun was low, creating an unexpected box of light. I kept walking and walking until I found this area. It just felt right for whatever reason, so I set up to take this HDR.In other news, I found out today the exact meeting location for our upcoming PhotoWalk at Sunset here in Austin. We will be meeting in the Victorian Room inside the Driskill Hotel on 6th street to gather before the walk. It's nice and air-conditioned in there, so we can save all the fun summer Texas sweatbox for the walk itself! Feel free to gather there between 7 and 7:30 PM on Thursday evening, August 6th. Once we're all gathered, I'll set the groundrules and then we'll be off! By the way, a few people have asked if they can bring their kids, and that should be just fine... no problemo.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Midnight Adventure in the Japanese Cemetery The night had been dark for many hours by the time I hiked to this point. It was raining and somehow the wetness seemed to make everything even more black. There were old and new crypts, spider webs, lonely rotting wood, creaking trees in the heavy rain, and more strange sounds from the woods. Talk about eerie! Japanese cemeteries are not places that people visit very often. It’s bad luck. Naturally, I don’t believe in any of that, so it was my good luck it was empty for photography!Of all the spots around Kyoto, this is probably my favorite. There is an area of 1,000 Red Gates that flow up and around a picturesque little mountain. This cemetery is about halfway up the trek and it shoots off to the right. It is both great and annoying to shoot in the rain. I had to carry an umbrella, tripod, bag of camera goodies, and the like, and everything gets all jumbled up when it comes time to set up for a shot. I need an assistant!How did I do this one? There were three exposures +1, 0, -1. Normally I do 5 from +2 to -2, but in this case, it was so dark that the shutter speeds were outrageous enough. I kept the ISO at 200. The 14-24 lens was at 15mm (on a D3X). It was aperture priority at f/5.6. The three shutter speeds were 2/4/8 seconds. If you zoom into the Original size on Flickr – you can see all kinds of details.Here is one special thing I did on the last exposure. It was DARK out there. And I mean DARK. I had my SB-800 in my bag. On the last exposure, I ran over behind the gate to the right like Carl Lewis, and jammed the “Test” button about 5 times in every direction to light up that area. I almost slipped and died… I have no idea what a police investigator might assume if they found me in the morning.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Stuck in India - Humayun's Tomb If you want to see how I made this (and how you can too!), visit my HDR Tutorial. I hope it gives you some new tricks!This is a picture of the Tomb of Humayun in Delhi. I arrived during Diwali, the biggest annual festival that involves a burning a lot of things. Most of the tombs, mausoleums, temples, and the like were surprisingly empty, giving me clean access to cool places like this without dopey tourists getting in the way of sweet photography.It is the next morning now and the air in Delhi is covered with the smoke from last night's festivities... There is this acrid smell of stale carbon and it's not exactly like a trip to Sedona. Luckily, I am getting out of the city today because my hosts have been kind enough to give me a ride up to Agra to visit the fort and Taj Mahal... more pictures coming soon, so stay tuned!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Once You're Dead, it's Too Late


I don't know why I enjoy visiting cemeteries so much. They are great motivators for me, really... to get out there and start doin' stuff.

I try not to let things I really want to do go by the wayside, but some things can't be controlled, I assume. I certainly go through life with a no-fear attitude, and I guess I shouldn't expect everyone around me to be exactly the same...

Anyway, maybe cemeteries only make me think this way about stuff, especially desolate, remote cemeteries like this one in the cold windy plains of southern Iceland.

- Trey Ratcliff

Click here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Click here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog." href="javascript:openLB(815029882,'',XLarge,'',1024,561);">Once You're Dead, it's Too Late I don't know why I enjoy visiting cemeteries so much. They are great motivators for me, really... to get out there and start doin' stuff.I try not to let things I really want to do go by the wayside, but some things can't be controlled, I assume. I certainly go through life with a no-fear attitude, and I guess I shouldn't expect everyone around me to be exactly the same...Anyway, maybe cemeteries only make me think this way about stuff, especially desolate, remote cemeteries like this one in the cold windy plains of southern Iceland.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Once You're Dead, it's Too Late


I don't know why I enjoy visiting cemeteries so much. They are great motivators for me, really... to get out there and start doin' stuff.

I try not to let things I really want to do go by the wayside, but some things can't be controlled, I assume. I certainly go through life with a no-fear attitude, and I guess I shouldn't expect everyone around me to be exactly the same...

Anyway, maybe cemeteries only make me think this way about stuff, especially desolate, remote cemeteries like this one in the cold windy plains of southern Iceland.

- Trey Ratcliff

Click here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
See photo in original gallery.
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