The Best Fish Evar I have a restaurant suggestion! The best fish I have ever had is in that little viking-house there to the right. You have to duck to get through the door. Once inside, you emerge into a darkened viking-style dining hall (imagine the great hall where Gríma Wormtongue held powah over King Théoden of Rohan).This spot is pretty well-known restaurant called Tjöruhúsið in the little town of Isafjordur. There is a little window in the back where the fishermen come every morning to deliver the fresh fish in exchange for getting to eat there for free. They bring you the food inside giant iron-clad pans… it was so awesome. I’m going back in a few months and I’m going to gorge myself here with giant dinners before heading out for all-night shooting.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Meandering in the French Streets After Dark I don't sleep much, even when I am home.  I get a good 5-6 hours of sleep a night; but when I travel, I'm so charged up I get less.  These foreign city streets seem to have a romantic sense about them, so that impedes even more on my sleep since there are so many great places to shoot.This perfect little European medieval street was in Lyon, if I am not mistaken.  Sometimes I forget here in my old age.  There's a 10% chance it is in Paris. There's a long path from click to final image and my memory fades betwixt.- 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.
A Canyon Oasis This place is deep inside Glacier National Park.  The only bad thing about photography is I can't show how deafening the sound of the waterfall inside the canyons was!  It ricocheted around the rocky walls and seemed to be perfectly acoustic echo chamber.  I didn't get in, but the water seemed super-cold.  It was a nice spot to stop and take a break for a bit.  You would think the noise would kind of relaxing, but it was less of the alarm-clock-bubbling-brook and more of the 747-emergency-landing...- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Old Bones I Found on the Way to Mordor As for this photo from Argentina, this was found on the second day of hiking into the Andes.  The landscape changes very quickly and we emerged from one forest and were suddenly facing another.  The stark white roots reminded me of bones coming out of the ground and holding up old trees.  In the distance, you can see the final destination of this hike - the mysterious peaks of Fitz Roy.  These are covered by clouds 90% of the time, so to have them on a crystal clear day was lucky indeed.  Tomorrow, in addition to posting the short film,  I'll show you a closer shot of Fitz Roy that was taken around 6 AM the next morning, after an icy hike of 1500 feet in pitch black.  Will there be clouds at sunrise, or will it be visible?- 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.
The Parisian Boulevard Where I Should Not Have Been Standing While I was working on this, I was thinking how nice it would be to have someone near me who could speak French... I always love the sound of it, and the words can make matters seem ephemerally okay.Paris is one of those places where the streets are always a little wet, at least in my head.  If they are wet, then they are slippery and traffic will be crazy...  so it sounded like a capital idea to go out into the middle of the Champs-Élysées to get a quick one!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Sunflowers at Sunset This photo was much harder to take than it might seem!First of all, these sunflowers are tall - and I mean tall!  They must be between 6 and 7 feet in the air.  I was on the ground with them, so, of course, I was looking UP at them.  No one wants to see a shot like that...!So, I put the camera on the tripod, set the timer to 5 seconds, extended the legs, set the manual settings correct, then jacked the whole thing in the air, holding it rock steady while it took the exposure.  Getting a steady horizon while holding the camera 12 feet in the air is not easy... and after a number of takes, my shoulders were just about spent for the rest of the night.- 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 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(742623752,'',XLarge,'',1024,635);">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.

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 Ratcliff

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