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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.
Home of the Tree Samurai This was my second trip to Kyoto, and I decided to return to this amazing treetop temple. At night, the delicate lights turn on and everything comes alive. It's really brilliant... one of those scenes that makes you think the world is really a wonderful place.This was right in the peak of the cherry blossom season. The soft pink of the blossoms grabs and reflects the light into an unbelievable prism. It's all like something out of a dream, and I've done my best to bring it back to life here ...- Trey RatcliffRead more, including some exciting info on the upcoming Burning Man photowalk here at the entry at stuckincustoms.com.
The Nikko Waterfall from Afar I’ve been pretty lame, frankly, in finishing up my Nikon 18-200 Review. But, this is a photo that I took with that lens when I was in Japan. I wanted to show the vast range of the lens, and this is the “zoomed out” view. In coming weeks, I’ll post the “zoomed in” view, so you can see the tremendous range. Yes, it’s a cropped lens so I can’t use my full-frame, but it’s not really the end of the world. It’s light, cheap, and very flexible… these are some nice plusses!I had never gotten to a waterfall in such a unique way! I started at the top of this thing and took an elevator DOWN, hundreds of feet. I then went through about a quarter-mile of caves to emerge at the bottom, where I got this perspective. It was really unique and messed with my whole sense of location. I’m so used to taking the elevator “up” to get somewhere interesting. I had to put on my earphones to listen to some unique music to get my bearings back before shooting this photo.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Icy Part of the Waterfall This waterfall was enormous! I've never been to Angel Falls in South America, although that is on my list. I know that these places are extremely difficult to photograph. Luckily, for this one, I had a good vantage point at the bottom that let me zoom in.I took this photo in the very early spring, during cherry blossom season in Japan. There is still snow and ice in the highlands, and you can see a small pack of it here behind the waterfall. I also have a "zoomed out" version of this on the review page mentioned above. - Trey Ratcliff Read more here at the Stuck in Customs blog.
1,000 Red Gates What a wonderful and unique place on earth this is! In Kyoto, Japan, there resides the unique shrine of Fushimi Inari. It consists of thousands of red gates that wind up and down the mountain. I walked through it deep into the night…. I was the only one around and it was downright eerie. Every now and then, the gates would stop and there would be a mini-shrine off to one side or a graveyard to another. Both of these added to the creep factor.I had a serious worry about an hour into the hike through these gates — what if they turn off the lights? I had no flashlight! I considered my two options — I could strobe my SB-800 to find my way out, which would be a totally surreal experience through these gates. Or, I could do what one of my Israeli hiker friends did in Argentina, use the back of my camera display for light (he actually used his to set up his tent)!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
A Silent Evening in Kyoto Under the Cherry Blossoms The beautiful white cherry blossoms were in full bloom and their gentle petals would fall down like snow, collecting on the ground.To get here to Kyoto, I took the bus from Osaka — and this was not the most simple thing in the world. I’m used to traveling in strange places and getting around confusing transport systems, but that doesn’t mean it is always easy! The Japanese transportation system is particularly perplexing. The train system is the easiest to figure out. The bus system is second. The subway is last — dead last.Many of these places I end up have no one that speaks English, so there’s a bit of guesswork involved. After I’m on a bus for 5-10 minutes, I start to have a sneaking suspicion that perhaps I am on the wrong one! With no one to ask or no one to call, it’s a bit more uncertain than I prefer it!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Lake at Nikko This place was Cold with a capital C, as you can plainly see. And worse, I had forgotten my special little gloves with the flip-up fingertips. So I was goin' finger-commando while trying to line up this shot. The wind was pretty stiff in my face. The wind always seems to be against you, eh? I think I just never notice it when it comes from any other angle.By the way, there is only one place that is convenient to quickly warm up your fingers ... - Trey Ratcliff Read the rest at the Stuck in Customs blog!
The Lamps and the Sakura Sakura is the Japanese word for the Cherry Blossom. I don't know if I can explain how crazy the Japanese people are about this yearly bloom! For one thing, every local newscast has a big "Cherry Blossom" report that has in-depth descriptions of exactly where the trees are blooming in the country and upcoming predictions. The wave sweeps across the island of Japan and rich graphics cover the screen like a cold front, assaulting the countryside.I took this photo with the Nikon D3S. I've recently taken to carrying two cameras with me. I take the Nikon D3X with me, and it's usually attached to the tripod. This is the one that I use for 90% of my landscapes. While I carry that, slung around my neck and shoulder, Chewbacca-style, is the Nikon D3S, which I use for people shots, DOF shots, and videos.This was taken at F/1.4 with a 50mm prime lens. The shutter was 1/8000 and the ISO 200. As always, this "EXIF" information is available on the SmugMug site if you click through and do a tiny bit of investigative clicking!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Sleeping Snow Monkeys This was not an easy place to find! I've always wanted to come see the wild snow monkeys... and so I just decided to make it happen this trip. Way up in the mountains of Japan, near Nagano, there is a troop of several dozen wild snow monkeys that roam all around a set of mountains. I didn't know if I'd be lucky enough to catch them or not... some say it is hard, and some people say it is easy. But you never really know! I set out to do my best and see what I could find.Towards the very top of the cold mountain, there is a hot spring that churns out super-heated water that smells of sulfur. It fills this little pool and the monkeys come down during the day to lounge about, play, rest, eat, and all kinds of other wonderful things.I spent two days on this mountainside. In the evening, I slept on the floor of a nearby ryokan, which is a traditional Japanese inn. There are about 30+ more stories about things that happened here, including eating crunchy crickets, but I will leave those to accompany future photos.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

The Lamps and the Sakura


Sakura is the Japanese word for the Cherry Blossom. I don't know if I can explain how crazy the Japanese people are about this yearly bloom! For one thing, every local newscast has a big "Cherry Blossom" report that has in-depth descriptions of exactly where the trees are blooming in the country and upcoming predictions. The wave sweeps across the island of Japan and rich graphics cover the screen like a cold front, assaulting the countryside.

I took this photo with the Nikon D3S. I've recently taken to carrying two cameras with me. I take the Nikon D3X with me, and it's usually attached to the tripod. This is the one that I use for 90% of my landscapes. While I carry that, slung around my neck and shoulder, Chewbacca-style, is the Nikon D3S, which I use for people shots, DOF shots, and videos.

This was taken at F/1.4 with a 50mm prime lens. The shutter was 1/8000 and the ISO 200. As always, this "EXIF" information is available on the SmugMug site if you click through and do a tiny bit of investigative clicking!

- Trey Ratcliff

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

I took this photo with the Nikon D3S. I've recently taken to carrying two cameras with me. I take the Nikon D3X with me, and it's usually attached to the tripod. This is the one that I use for 90% of my landscapes. While I carry that, slung around my neck and shoulder, Chewbacca-style, is the Nikon D3S, which I use for people shots, DOF shots, and videos.

This was taken at F/1.4 with a 50mm prime lens. The shutter was 1/8000 and the ISO 200. As always, this "EXIF" information is available on the SmugMug site if you click through and do a tiny bit of investigative clicking!

- Trey Ratcliff

Click here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog." href="javascript:openLB(850226561,'',XLarge,'',511,768);">The Lamps and the Sakura Sakura is the Japanese word for the Cherry Blossom. I don't know if I can explain how crazy the Japanese people are about this yearly bloom! For one thing, every local newscast has a big "Cherry Blossom" report that has in-depth descriptions of exactly where the trees are blooming in the country and upcoming predictions. The wave sweeps across the island of Japan and rich graphics cover the screen like a cold front, assaulting the countryside.I took this photo with the Nikon D3S. I've recently taken to carrying two cameras with me. I take the Nikon D3X with me, and it's usually attached to the tripod. This is the one that I use for 90% of my landscapes. While I carry that, slung around my neck and shoulder, Chewbacca-style, is the Nikon D3S, which I use for people shots, DOF shots, and videos.This was taken at F/1.4 with a 50mm prime lens. The shutter was 1/8000 and the ISO 200. As always, this "EXIF" information is available on the SmugMug site if you click through and do a tiny bit of investigative clicking!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

The Lamps and the Sakura


Sakura is the Japanese word for the Cherry Blossom. I don't know if I can explain how crazy the Japanese people are about this yearly bloom! For one thing, every local newscast has a big "Cherry Blossom" report that has in-depth descriptions of exactly where the trees are blooming in the country and upcoming predictions. The wave sweeps across the island of Japan and rich graphics cover the screen like a cold front, assaulting the countryside.

I took this photo with the Nikon D3S. I've recently taken to carrying two cameras with me. I take the Nikon D3X with me, and it's usually attached to the tripod. This is the one that I use for 90% of my landscapes. While I carry that, slung around my neck and shoulder, Chewbacca-style, is the Nikon D3S, which I use for people shots, DOF shots, and videos.

This was taken at F/1.4 with a 50mm prime lens. The shutter was 1/8000 and the ISO 200. As always, this "EXIF" information is available on the SmugMug site if you click through and do a tiny bit of investigative clicking!

- 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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