Houston at Dusk I've had (the pleasure) to go to Houston a few (too many) times this year.  I always end up staying downtown, which affords me some good opportunities to take photos at dusk.  Usually I am busy (being drained) and can't actually get out to shoot at sunset, so whenever I have a chance, I do my best to get a good one.This was shot from the top of the Magnolia Hotel, which is a very cool place to stay, if you ever make it down thataway.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Secret Emerald Lake I saw the craziest and most unbelievable things in Patagonia.  It was like nature rewrote its own rules to build this place.  I'd like to make a reference to the ill-fated Genesis project in Star Trek II, the Wrath of Kahn, but I won't.I came across this shockingly clear and mysterious green lake.  The water magnified the pure green algae that covered every strange underwater formation.  There were also fish swimming around inside, but I kept the ISO so low on these shots, the fish got blurred out.  I do have some higher ISO shots of the fish I will add at a later date.  They were these little blue-colored fish.  I think they were trout, but I'm not totally sure.  Anyway, I felt lucky to be here in the Autumn, just after a small rainstorm, making all the trees nice and moist with a glistening glow.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Guarding the Beaches of LA Being a lifeguard in LA must be a great job.  Or it might be a boring job.  Or it might have occasions of greatness filled with a long periods of boredom.  There was a lifeguard sitting here in the station on Manhattan Beach when I took the shot.  I guess I could have asked her while I stood outside her station for 10 minutes with all my glass aimed right at her.  I kept giving her a nod of confidence, indicating that everything was okay.  I was really just waiting for the colors to get right in the reflection.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
New York, New York Is it a sad thing to say that one of the most fun things I did in Vegas was walk around by myself and take photos?  Yes, I think that sounds kinda sad.  But it's true!  What a great place for photography.  The lights are insane, the textures are off-the-wall, and everywhere you look is a feast for the eyes.  It's also a real challenge to try to get everything just right in the photo.  With so many light levels working against one another on your sensor, it takes a bit to get it right.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Sheep Aren't these some cool-lookin' sheep?  I was driving through the countryside of Iceland and there are these super-bushy sheep that float around the fields with their busy little legs underneath.  Then, from a distance, I saw these mega-bushy fellas all piled up on top of one another.  They were quite far away, so I attached my 70-200 mm lens to get a tighter shot at f5.6.  I had to make a wide variety of strange animal noises to get that guy on top to look at me.  Luckily, I was alone with the sheep.  That sounds funny.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Lunch at Chateau Rodin I had been hiking around Paris with way too much equipment for several hours.  Whenever, I'm in photo-gatherin' mode, I am fairly tireless.  I go from spot to spot like a Navy SEAL...  but this day, I actually planned to have lunch at Chateau Rodin, the famous estate of the great French sculptor.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Inside My Secret Cloning Chamber I would love to have a mad scientist lab that is only accessible via a retinal scan and a special dance.  Inside I would have all kinds of fabulous things, including a clone chamber where I would clone myself several times so that I could keep track of all my various social networks. The clone would, of course, have the same retina, but it could not gain access into the mad science lab because it would fail the special dance bit.I'd very much like to record a music video in here alongside Flight of the Conchords.As you can see from my intricate tagging system, this was shot in Chicago.  Who is the first to know this location? And my Chicago insider is not allowed to say!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
About to Cross the Stream on the Hike, Approaching the Blue Glacier This is about 20km into our backpacking.  The fertile soil from recent glaciation sprang colorful life everywhere, even as the valley was changing colors for autumn.  Little streams trickled here and there and fell into larger streams.  Fording some of these was always a little sketchy when carrying a bunch of expensive camera equipment, but it was always worth it.I can't explain how often I stopped to take photos along this hike!  I am sure it took about 4x as long as needed, but that was the point of the whole trip, after all...If you zoom into the large or  original size, you can see the glowing blue glacier there, spilling out from between the edge of the Andes.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Approaching the Glacier after a Stormy Sunrise We left while it was still dark to reach this spot by the morning.  The glacier is already a deadly blue, but the morning light gets into the nooks and crannies and makes the blue reflect around like an argon laser.It was really cold when I took this.  And raining.  And windy.  I had a panoply of towels, rags, and other drying agents in various pockets, constantly wiping down the lens.  I also had the sweet lady D3X inside of a clear plastic bag to protect it from the whipping rain.  Every 30 minutes or so, I could hear an ungodly creaking and ripping of ice as another cleaved off into the water below.  I understand if there was going to be a huge piece cleave off that the splash could actually make it all the way to me.  I both wanted it to happen and didn't want it to happen at the same time.  I think my indecision made it not happen.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

New York, New York


Is it a sad thing to say that one of the most fun things I did in Vegas was walk around by myself and take photos? Yes, I think that sounds kinda sad. But it's true! What a great place for photography. The lights are insane, the textures are off-the-wall, and everywhere you look is a feast for the eyes. It's also a real challenge to try to get everything just right in the photo. With so many light levels working against one another on your sensor, it takes a bit to get it right.

- 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(742624074,'',XLarge,'',1024,678);">New York, New York Is it a sad thing to say that one of the most fun things I did in Vegas was walk around by myself and take photos?  Yes, I think that sounds kinda sad.  But it's true!  What a great place for photography.  The lights are insane, the textures are off-the-wall, and everywhere you look is a feast for the eyes.  It's also a real challenge to try to get everything just right in the photo.  With so many light levels working against one another on your sensor, it takes a bit to get it right.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

New York, New York


Is it a sad thing to say that one of the most fun things I did in Vegas was walk around by myself and take photos? Yes, I think that sounds kinda sad. But it's true! What a great place for photography. The lights are insane, the textures are off-the-wall, and everywhere you look is a feast for the eyes. It's also a real challenge to try to get everything just right in the photo. With so many light levels working against one another on your sensor, it takes a bit to get it right.

- Trey Ratcliff

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