Prismatic Steam in Yellowstone
This is the beautiful grand prismatic spring, which you have probably seen featured here before ... 

Read the rest of this entry at the Stuck in Customs blog.
A Night with Harley
These bikes are really a fun subject for photography.  I get excited every time I head out for one of these events.  There are so many styles, customizations, and characters behind them... you never see the same thing twice.

Setting up for these photos is also somewhat of a fun challenge.  Getting the right "background" is very important to me... sometimes it just does not work out, so I have to move on and leave a pretty bike alone.  The other thing about these bikes, which you don't realize until you take thousands of photos of them, is that you probably only have a 12.5% chance of getting a good composition and background.  I break it down thusly:

Read the breakdown and some info on wide-angle lenses at the Stuck in Customs blog!
Hearst Castle in San Simeon Did you know that Hearst Castle is only a few hours north of LA?  If you ever end up in LA for a trip, be sure to set aside a few hours for a trip up to see this place.  After you get out of the LA city-scape-area, the terrain totally changes - so does the "feeling".Towards the end of the day, all the tourists had left.  I had an escort with me for most of the day.  This gentleman was a retired LAPD officer who spends a few days per week working up at Hearst Castle.  There are several of these guys and gals that help keep the place secure.  They take the job pretty seriously, as you would expect from any LAPD-type.  After a few hours, I was able to wear them down with humor.  I found they responded very well to anti-lawyer humor, btw.  So keep that one in mind in case you ever get in a pinch.Everyone there was extremely nice, and I loved the opportunity to capture Hearst as it is meant to be captured.  I kept returning to this fountain time and time again -- until the skies and light was just right...- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Once You're Dead, it's Too Late I don't know why I enjoy visiting cemeteries so much.  They are great motivators for me, really... to get out there and start doin' stuff.I try not to let things I really want to do go by the wayside, but some things can't be controlled, I assume.  I certainly go through life with a no-fear attitude, and I guess I shouldn't expect everyone around me to be exactly the same...Anyway, maybe cemeteries only make me think this way about stuff, especially desolate, remote cemeteries like this one in the cold windy plains of southern Iceland.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
 The Place in Texas Where They Found the 17 Bodies Now this is a proper Texas ghost town! It was always one of those things that fascinated me as a child.  Pretty much anything with the name "ghost" in it was cool back then, including my "Choose Your Own Adventure" books.  I remember there was one called "Deadwood" or something like that, which always had a creepy ghost town feel to it.Anyway, this is a strange abandoned town outside of Brenham, Texas (Home of Blue Bell Ice Cream!).  And no, 17 Bodies were not found here... just being a bit dramatic.  Or maybe there WERE 17 bodies here but the authorities are just covering it up.  It's all true.  I heard Alex Jones say it.Last, I have updated my Nikon 14-24 Review and my Nikon 24-70 Review with new photos and the like.  I know that only about half of our audience is photographers, but some people are looking to get into it more seriously, so maybe those will be helpful to you!- 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.
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.
Moonlight over Everest If there is one thing that is almost as cool as being deep in the Himalayas, then it's being at Disneyland after dark near the Expedition Everest ride.  This is probably one of my favorite rollercoasters, and I endeavored to stay here late one night to try to grab the moon in the right spot.  The whole area is riddled with excellent little Buddhist offering temples, where you can submit fruits of offering in exchange for the blessing of not tossing your lunch right before the Yeti takes a swipe at your runaway train.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Cartier on the Champs-Élysées at Christmas I was working on this photo this evening with a friend to show him some of the techniques that have evolved since HDR started getting popular. I find my methodology changes and evolves about every two months or so. I look back at my old stuff in horror!Ah yes… the wet streets of Paris here… Seems like an idyllic place for this little store called Cartier, eh?- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

The Place in Texas Where They Found the 17 Bodies


Now this is a proper Texas ghost town!

It was always one of those things that fascinated me as a child. Pretty much anything with the name "ghost" in it was cool back then, including my "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. I remember there was one called "Deadwood" or something like that, which always had a creepy ghost town feel to it.

Anyway, this is a strange abandoned town outside of Brenham, Texas (Home of Blue Bell Ice Cream!). And no, 17 Bodies were not found here... just being a bit dramatic. Or maybe there WERE 17 bodies here but the authorities are just covering it up. It's all true. I heard Alex Jones say it.

Last, I have updated my Nikon 14-24 Review and my Nikon 24-70 Review with new photos and the like. I know that only about half of our audience is photographers, but some people are looking to get into it more seriously, so maybe those will be helpful to you!

- Trey Ratcliff

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

The Place in Texas Where They Found the 17 Bodies


Now this is a proper Texas ghost town!

It was always one of those things that fascinated me as a child. Pretty much anything with the name "ghost" in it was cool back then, including my "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. I remember there was one called "Deadwood" or something like that, which always had a creepy ghost town feel to it.

Anyway, this is a strange abandoned town outside of Brenham, Texas (Home of Blue Bell Ice Cream!). And no, 17 Bodies were not found here... just being a bit dramatic. Or maybe there WERE 17 bodies here but the authorities are just covering it up. It's all true. I heard Alex Jones say it.

Last, I have updated my Nikon 14-24 Review and my Nikon 24-70 Review with new photos and the like. I know that only about half of our audience is photographers, but some people are looking to get into it more seriously, so maybe those will be helpful to you!

- Trey Ratcliff

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