Queenstown from the Air I’m happy to be back home in Queenstown!It’s strange to me to come “home” to the kind of place I used to go on vacation. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it. There is a very nice feeling when the airplane approaches this place. If you ever have a chance to fly in here, then you will know what I mean.Airplane pilots have to go through some kind of special training or planning before an approach here. They have to spiral down and get between the mountains. I don’t know much about it, obviously. But I do know there is a very nice pilot on Air New Zealand that is a frequent reader of the blog! He came up and said hello to me when I was on his plane one day. Hi Captain! :)- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Kayaks Along Lake Wakatipu I’ve never taken a kayak out onto that lake. I’m not much of a kayaker, but also, I’m not a big fan of deep bodies of water. Actually, I will just go all the way from “not a big fan” to “outright afraid”. You never know what kind of nonsense is happening underneath you, you know? I don’t like swimming to being in a little boat on top of deep water. I don’t mind being in a big, sea-worthy boat. That’s fine. But swimming and being in a little boat… that’s not for me. This is strange, because I know it’s irrational. And I don’t really have any other irrational fears… but I can’t figure out a way to get around this one (nor do I see the need to do so, which is probably part of the problem itself).- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Hay for the Winter You may remember this photo from the New Zealand Landscape tutorial video I released. I’m glad everyone is enjoying those videos btw!This is my first Autumn in Queenstown. I watched these fields grow all summer long, and it’s cool to watch them all be cut down and rolled into these nice bales of hay. I notice that most farmers seem to wrap them up in plastic to protect them from the water… they are not as pretty then, so I was happy to get this photo before they were wrapped up!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Hijinks in the Golden Fields And here we are a day before the workshop in New Zealand began, goofing off in the fields along the lakes and mountains of New Zealand. That’s Karen Hutton there taking a photo of Curtis Simmons. It’s very meta and all that. You can also see my new truck there on the right. It’s a Volkswagen Amorak. Who’s ever heard of that? Not me! I didn’t even know Volkswagen made trucks till I moved here. Everything here has a different name… it’s kind of like a parallel universe when it comes to cars. The focus of this paragraph has shifted.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Wild Horses in Queenstown This is Max Patte’s latest creation. I saw them by accident while I was playing golf at The Hills here. I came over the hill to this little par 3 and I thought they were real! I was so shocked… it was a very strange reaction, actually. I’ll never forget it. It was surreal… and I love that feeling of not knowing if something is real or fantasy, and really getting lost, even if just for a moment.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Endless Fields of Queenstown On the final night, we all started walking around these fields together to take photos. The sunset wouldn’t quit! It just kept going and going… like a painting that changed every few minutes. And a few steps this way and that way would completely change the color situation on the bottom half of the photo. Honestly, there were not many bad combinations!If you get the full video of the New Zealand Tutorial, you’ll hear me talk more about this shot, and you’ll also get to see full post-processing of seven different photos. I hope you love it! :) I’m sure you will!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Rowboat at the Still Lake We walked around The Hills one morning, and we came to this place after the sun was beyond its “sunrise” phase. The sky was the peaceful morning infinite blue and the water was still as ice. There were many good angles to shoot across this peaceful scene, and most of us chose this view! :)It was cool to do this and be with so many other nice photographers that were taking similar shots. I liked seeing their versions as well.Anyway, if you end up getting the video series mentioned at the blog, you’ll get to see me edit this photo from beginning to end! :)- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Gardens of Queenstown The class took a nice stroll through these gardens. I challenged people to try to get five different photos of this bridge, and this was one of mine.The actual shot I took was much bigger, but I decided to crop down in post to focus on the water. I liked the way they all looked like brush strokes. It made me begin to understand why Monet spent so much time trying to capture the strange light that comes from water and plants.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
A View From Our Balcony at Amateras We stayed in two different places on Virgin Gorda while we were waiting to move to New Zealand. This is one of the two places, and this outdoor area was a magical place to come out and read each night. I remember I was reading a physics book then called “The End of Time” by Julian Barbour. I recommend it if you’re into geeky science stuff like me! :)- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Queenstown from the Air


I’m happy to be back home in Queenstown!

It’s strange to me to come “home” to the kind of place I used to go on vacation. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it. There is a very nice feeling when the airplane approaches this place. If you ever have a chance to fly in here, then you will know what I mean.

Airplane pilots have to go through some kind of special training or planning before an approach here. They have to spiral down and get between the mountains. I don’t know much about it, obviously. But I do know there is a very nice pilot on Air New Zealand that is a frequent reader of the blog! He came up and said hello to me when I was on his plane one day. Hi Captain! :)

- 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(2489191939,'',XLarge,'',1024,657);">Queenstown from the Air I’m happy to be back home in Queenstown!It’s strange to me to come “home” to the kind of place I used to go on vacation. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it. There is a very nice feeling when the airplane approaches this place. If you ever have a chance to fly in here, then you will know what I mean.Airplane pilots have to go through some kind of special training or planning before an approach here. They have to spiral down and get between the mountains. I don’t know much about it, obviously. But I do know there is a very nice pilot on Air New Zealand that is a frequent reader of the blog! He came up and said hello to me when I was on his plane one day. Hi Captain! :)- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Queenstown from the Air


I’m happy to be back home in Queenstown!

It’s strange to me to come “home” to the kind of place I used to go on vacation. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it. There is a very nice feeling when the airplane approaches this place. If you ever have a chance to fly in here, then you will know what I mean.

Airplane pilots have to go through some kind of special training or planning before an approach here. They have to spiral down and get between the mountains. I don’t know much about it, obviously. But I do know there is a very nice pilot on Air New Zealand that is a frequent reader of the blog! He came up and said hello to me when I was on his plane one day. Hi Captain! :)

- Trey Ratcliff

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