Under the Docks in California Some of you remember the great photowalk we had down in San Clemente.  I really had a good time there.  On my photowalks, typically I stop from time to time and tell the assembled crowd what I am doing.  Well, I finally got a chance to process this quintet!I felt fortunate to have a good friend that had an amazing condo that overlooked this same beach.  Frankly, after a long day and night of shooting, I felt spoiled and happy just taking a few more steps to my pad...  grabbing some cool drinks... opening the patio doors to listen to the surf... good times!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Solar Flower - The Giant Robot of Buenos Aires This thing is enormous.  In grinds and churns as it follows the sun.  The metallic petals flex and bend with the light as the sun sweeps across the sky.  I had never seen anything like it in my life.  It sits in a park and public walking area of Buenos Aires, Argentina.  I walked around it for a while to get a good angle of the monster.  My tripod was stuck in customs, so I had to do this one handheld... and do my best to keep the camera as steady as a T-1000.In less than 24 hours, I will endeavor to introduce a new type of photography to you guys.  I don't have a name for it.  It's experimental.  You'll have to help me come up with a good name for the technique.  People that get the Newsletter (it's free!) will get a sneak peak tomorrow a little early.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Meditation It's sort of hard to find time to meditate nowadays, eh?  I mean, there is a lot of stuff going on.  I wonder if the old-school Buddhists would be as good at meditating if they had broadband.  It's quite easy to distract yourself online.  By the way, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for distracting yourself with the blog!  I guess I'm happy to be a source of distraction for you.And, should you find the inspiration to meditate a little, maybe this shot from Siem Reap, Cambodia will help.- 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.
Exploring the Valleys Beyond the Fjords of Akureyri I had always wanted to visit fjords ever since reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as a kid... picturing Slartibartfast carving them up was something that always stuck in my mind.  The first ones I got to visit were in Iceland after I went up north to stay in Akureyri for a few days.  I had actually intended to go one place that my friend Helga suggested, but I ended up getting lost, which is okay enough.  This fjord valley kept going and going as the sun started to rise over the edges.  I pulled over every few miles whenever the moment seemed right to shoot, and it seemed right so often!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Old Wild Stampede These horses  came thundering onto the scene while I was walking down the road.  I got myself behind a tree so I would not get trampled like Mufasa.  I was lucky that they started kicking up dust in the right position relative to the sun so that their legs cast shadows through the cloud.  I can't take credit for that one!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Surf in LA as Night Passes There's this moment in California when the sun hits the horizon that I am quite sure most of the natives take for granted.  The gradation of sky from the burning sun to the deep blues can only be really appreciated if you swing your head around and purge your short-term memory.  The effect is not dissimilar to the optical illusion of the giant full moon on some evenings, seemingly magnified by our inability to establish a frame of reference.  I think something along those lines happens with color as the sun dips.  You can see this from space, as the sudden band from light to dark rips around the earth -- that same viewing cone can be seen from anywhere on the surface, and it can be best noticed in places like LA, with the nearly infinite horizon.- 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.
The Morning Steam Through the Forest in Yellowstone I woke up just before 5 AM today so I could get out there and do some sunrise shooting.  It was a great morning and I found all kinds of interesting spots.  I drove by a bank of trees that had some steam from a nearby river flowing through them... and it looked so cool that I hiked around the forest to find a nice configuration of trees and steamy fog.I was exhausted after shooting most of the day.  I drove over the the Firehole River to have a swim.  There was no one else around, and I didn't have a swimsuit, so I just went in my undies.  This seemed like a great idea until my underwear ripped on a rock.  This, combined with very sensitive feet that make me look crazy when walking on a rocky shore, made for quite a scene.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

The Surf in LA as Night Passes


There's this moment in California when the sun hits the horizon that I am quite sure most of the natives take for granted. The gradation of sky from the burning sun to the deep blues can only be really appreciated if you swing your head around and purge your short-term memory. The effect is not dissimilar to the optical illusion of the giant full moon on some evenings, seemingly magnified by our inability to establish a frame of reference. I think something along those lines happens with color as the sun dips. You can see this from space, as the sudden band from light to dark rips around the earth -- that same viewing cone can be seen from anywhere on the surface, and it can be best noticed in places like LA, with the nearly infinite horizon.

- 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(742623504,'',XLarge,'',1024,708);">The Surf in LA as Night Passes There's this moment in California when the sun hits the horizon that I am quite sure most of the natives take for granted.  The gradation of sky from the burning sun to the deep blues can only be really appreciated if you swing your head around and purge your short-term memory.  The effect is not dissimilar to the optical illusion of the giant full moon on some evenings, seemingly magnified by our inability to establish a frame of reference.  I think something along those lines happens with color as the sun dips.  You can see this from space, as the sudden band from light to dark rips around the earth -- that same viewing cone can be seen from anywhere on the surface, and it can be best noticed in places like LA, with the nearly infinite horizon.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

The Surf in LA as Night Passes


There's this moment in California when the sun hits the horizon that I am quite sure most of the natives take for granted. The gradation of sky from the burning sun to the deep blues can only be really appreciated if you swing your head around and purge your short-term memory. The effect is not dissimilar to the optical illusion of the giant full moon on some evenings, seemingly magnified by our inability to establish a frame of reference. I think something along those lines happens with color as the sun dips. You can see this from space, as the sudden band from light to dark rips around the earth -- that same viewing cone can be seen from anywhere on the surface, and it can be best noticed in places like LA, with the nearly infinite horizon.

- Trey Ratcliff

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