This is Vespucci I'm leaving Italy today...  Between meetings I had time to explore around with my camera and iPod in overdrive.  I saw a lot of interesting faces, so I collected a series of portraits that I have collected into a little portfolio set on Flickr called "What they Dream and What they Do".  If I ever saw someone with an interesting face, I thought perhaps they might have an interesting story too, so I've organized the set by the motif of what people do with their lives.  Here are the first eight pictures from the series.  I will probably add to this collection in the future, or at least until I ask to take someone's picture and they punch me in the face.Vespucci's dream is to find his son and tell him important things.  He twists his head quickly at me with a lost and quizzical look, and then he returns to a thoughtful gaze.Vespucci is currently homeless and cannot remember where his son is.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Flying on a Harley This was shot in downtown Austin during the recent ROT Biker Rally.  This guy was flying by at about 20 MPH down 6th street.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
This is Ranjit Ranjit's dream is that he gets to work in the factory again.Ranjit is currently sitting in front of an old restaurant on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.  He used to work in a nearby factory, making aluminum parts, but he was replaced after his cataracts got too heavy and he began making mistakes.  Ranjit does not like being a burden on his son, who doesn't come to see him much anymore.  He says, motioning off into the distance behind me, "The boy is in Putrajaya, living in government house."  He keeps reaching out in that direction, groping around, as if he is trying to find a light switch in the dark.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Alone at the Taj Azed Baba would not tell me much about himself except for what his name means. Azed means "freedom" and Baba means "spiritual man". We sat around and watched the sunset at the Taj together and I asked if I could take his picture.After I while I rubbed my House-like stubble since it has been a few days since I shaved. I asked him if he liked my beard. He gave a grunt in response which was either a laugh or a grunt of general disgust at the state of my beard.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
A Neo-Rockwellian Christmas When dad is a photographer, then there is a major degree of pressure to deliver photos on all the requisite holidays and celebrations! So, I decided to try to re-invent the family Christmas photo with HDR. Please note that many of my inventions go down in flames, but, as Winston Churchill said, “success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm”.Christmas scenes have a lot of light levels. The lights on the tree, the deep greens withn the branches, a roaring fire, lights in the room, reflections off the ornaments, and the like. It’s wild! I’m pretty sure this is why people like Christmas scenes so much - a wonderful treat for the eyes that is rich in texture and rich in light. Traditionally, it’s been very difficult to capture so much richness in a single photo, saving a lucky and heroic combination of shutter speed, aperture, ISO, and lenses.The tree lights made the faces of my three stunt-children (who are also my real children) glow perfectly. No flash could have achieved this, unless you are the kind of Rambo-flash guy that would go bury one inside the tree to hit their faces from the left. But, let’s face it. That’s hard.This was a 5-exposure HDR. You will notice that I often use 5 exposures, but note I could have done it with 3 exposures at -2, 0, and +2. Some silly Nikon cameras, like the D3X I use, will not let you step by twos, so I had to take 5 at -2, -1, 0, +1, and +2. The middle exposure, from which the kid’s faces were masked in and perfectly lit, was shot at f/4 aperture, shutter speed of 1/250, 100 ISO, and at 28mm.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
This is Nathaniel 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!Nathaniel's dream is to get closer to God and to make sure his mom is happy.Nathaniel is currently four years old and carrying wood with his two sisters down a dusty cart-road in an unmarked Amish village somewhere between Allegheny and Tionesta, Pennsylvania. In pauses between talking to me, he looks sideways at his older sisters, who peacefully nod towards him. I tell him that he looks big and strong and then I help him carry the wood to his parents' home, where he lives with his other nine brothers and sisters.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

This is Vespucci


I'm leaving Italy today... Between meetings I had time to explore around with my camera and iPod in overdrive. I saw a lot of interesting faces, so I collected a series of portraits that I have collected into a little portfolio set on Flickr called "What they Dream and What they Do". If I ever saw someone with an interesting face, I thought perhaps they might have an interesting story too, so I've organized the set by the motif of what people do with their lives. Here are the first eight pictures from the series. I will probably add to this collection in the future, or at least until I ask to take someone's picture and they punch me in the face.

Vespucci's dream is to find his son and tell him important things. He twists his head quickly at me with a lost and quizzical look, and then he returns to a thoughtful gaze.

Vespucci is currently homeless and cannot remember where his son is.

- Trey Ratcliff

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

This is Vespucci


I'm leaving Italy today... Between meetings I had time to explore around with my camera and iPod in overdrive. I saw a lot of interesting faces, so I collected a series of portraits that I have collected into a little portfolio set on Flickr called "What they Dream and What they Do". If I ever saw someone with an interesting face, I thought perhaps they might have an interesting story too, so I've organized the set by the motif of what people do with their lives. Here are the first eight pictures from the series. I will probably add to this collection in the future, or at least until I ask to take someone's picture and they punch me in the face.

Vespucci's dream is to find his son and tell him important things. He twists his head quickly at me with a lost and quizzical look, and then he returns to a thoughtful gaze.

Vespucci is currently homeless and cannot remember where his son is.

- Trey Ratcliff

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