from the blog www.stuckincustoms.com
The Endless Night Streets of Tokyo
The streets are like this all night long.  So, how can you possibly go back to the hotel room?  There's never a good breaking point.  It is very very hard on my body here, actually, because I usually go back at the point of sheer exhaustion or hunger-breakdown.  The last thing I am thinking about is eating or sleeping... but then, once I give in to my body, that's ALL I can think about.

- Trey Ratcliff

Read more, including some info on the SXSW G+ Photowalk, here at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Japanese Cemetery I do love Kyoto and the quaintness of Japanese design. Of course, cemeteries all over the world are different, and each one is kind of like you expect. I don’t really know what I mean by that, since you don’t know what you will see. But it is never surprising when you finally lay eyes on it. Of course, you don’t know what any of it means, or the traditions involved, but you can sort of intuit the inner meaning of it all. And that is kind of nice.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Alone in a Foreign Taxi on a Rainy Night
Many of my travel nights end with a taxi ride back home.  I'm usually exhausted after a long day.  I may have a snack or a drink that I pick up from a little store... munching away in the back seat... my eyes dart this way and that... not used to moving so fast... and I see little things like this.

- Trey Ratcliff

Read the whole post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Work in Tokyo
I set up here for an HDR multi-exposure shot, but then people started running into the office.  I thought their running was so nice that I made sure to change my settings around a bit to capture the rush of it all.

I didn't intend to spend so much time around this office building, but I ended up there for about an hour.  There are so many nice lines and compositions with the sort of ultra-modern architecture you get in modern buildings...

- Trey Ratcliff

The rest of this entry is here at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Snow in Nikko It was a freezing cold morning when I woke up to explore this temple area of Nikko. Luckily, I was the first person to arrive, and I was pretty much alone for this early morning because of the snow. It gave me a peaceful period to explore with my music on… taking my time and moving around the temple to take in the big picture and all the nice little details.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Hare in Harajuku
Every time I go to Tokyo, I try to spend some time in Harajuku.  It's one of the wildest and most unique places in an already unique city.  It's the sort of place where you take a people-shooting lens because of all the various types of people you see walking through the streets.  And even more unique than the people are some of the shots and the decor, as you can see here...

- Trey Ratcliff

Read more here at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Snowy the Snow Monkey
This little guy and I had a little friendship after a few days.

I spent time all over the hills and rivers here outside of Nagano taking photos of these snow monkeys. And you get to know them after a while... there are a few that you see over and over again. I started giving them names... the same way my daughter gives names to everything... and all the names were quite childish... Like I called this guy, "Snowy." It wasn't very creative, but he didn't seem to mind.

He followed me around morning and night. And he posed... oh how he loved to pose. Some other monkeys I got too close too and they gave me the wide-mouth attack move.... but I never got too close to Snowy. I didn't want to ruin the little grizzly-man thing we had a-goin' on.

- Trey Ratcliff

Read more (including my tips on managing airports) here at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Gentle Path to the Beyond The little train that carried me into Hakone started winding through misty mountains.  The trees were thick and a fog was rolling in.  I had a feeling that it would stay wet, moody, and fairly perfect.  It had that heaviness that made you feel like it would remain like that for a few days, and it did.Before I get on train rides, I have a wonderful but dangerous habit of loading up with pastries.  Train stations seem to have nice little selections of all sorts of foreign twists on the usual subjects.  And, since I consider myself an explorer, I thought it would be good to get a TON of pastries and try them all.  It's very nice... sitting there... looking out the train window at a new land... rain falling... eating pastries...  (and I'm only a little ashamed to say that, upon arrival, my pastry bag was empty.)- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Work in Tokyo


I set up here for an HDR multi-exposure shot, but then people started running into the office. I thought their running was so nice that I made sure to change my settings around a bit to capture the rush of it all.

I didn't intend to spend so much time around this office building, but I ended up there for about an hour. There are so many nice lines and compositions with the sort of ultra-modern architecture you get in modern buildings...

- Trey Ratcliff

The rest of this entry is here at the Stuck in Customs blog.
here at the Stuck in Customs blog." href="javascript:openLB(1443940324,'',XLarge,'',1024,683);">Work in Tokyo
I set up here for an HDR multi-exposure shot, but then people started running into the office.  I thought their running was so nice that I made sure to change my settings around a bit to capture the rush of it all.

I didn't intend to spend so much time around this office building, but I ended up there for about an hour.  There are so many nice lines and compositions with the sort of ultra-modern architecture you get in modern buildings...

- Trey Ratcliff

The rest of this entry is here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Work in Tokyo


I set up here for an HDR multi-exposure shot, but then people started running into the office. I thought their running was so nice that I made sure to change my settings around a bit to capture the rush of it all.

I didn't intend to spend so much time around this office building, but I ended up there for about an hour. There are so many nice lines and compositions with the sort of ultra-modern architecture you get in modern buildings...

- Trey Ratcliff

The rest of this entry is here at the Stuck in Customs blog.
See photo in original gallery.