Romance in India My first impression of romance in India came from Bollywood.  I was pretty sure that everyone fell in love then spent a long time dancing around a grapefruit tree.    There are other dancers involved, nearby, of course, as well as a series of fountains, slow-motion cattle, Hinduesque yodeling.But then, after being there, I saw romance was the same as just about everywhere else.  I did capture this couple together, exploring Humayun's Tomb in the middle of Delhi.  Enjoy!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
La Recoleta - The Crypts of Buenos Aires We are getting ever-closer to the release of the new Stuck In Customs Textures tutorial.  The video is now over 90-minutes long and it's full of all sorts of examples and new techniques that I've figured out over the past few years.  I'll go ahead and post the results of one of the finished products.  I recorded video live of all these things... didn't know how they would turn out before I started.  I kept it live and voiced aloud my "thinking process" around accomplishing these images.Everyone who has bought a previous Textures Tutorial will get a coupon for either the same level of product or an upgrade to a new "Ultimate Package".  The coupons will be very fair because we want to take care of all previous buyers.This shot is another from the outdoor crypt area of Buenos Aires called La Ricoleta.  The airlines lost my bags, so I did not have my tripod!  I had to walk around this awesome place without a tripod.  So I had to do everything I could to wedge myself against statues and scary-spikey-gargoyles to try to stay stable.- 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.
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.
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.
A Razor to the Sky As is the case with every day here, I have also included a photo.  This is of the indomitable Fitz Roy at sunrise buried deep in the Andes, in the hinterland between Argentina and Chile.  To get this shot, it was none too easy!  First, I "woke" up after a sleepless night in a two-man tent with Yuri.  It was perhaps the worst night of my life and I've never had a panic attack before, but I honestly felt like I was pretty close.  The smell combined with the pitch black, the snoring, the freezing cold, and the tiny tent was almost more than I could bear!I woke up around 4:30 AM with -7 Celsius temperatures.  It was bitter cold.  I got dressed QUICKLY in the pitch black cold and then headed off with two of my Russian friends to begin scaling the mountain.  They had lights on their hats;  I did not.  I walked between them, trying not to slip on the icy "trail" between the dodging shadows cast by their headlights.  I'll never forget it for the rest of my life.  We ascended 1,500 feet in less than 45 minutes so we could catch the pink rays of sunrise just as they hit the peaks.Last, I have been interviewed about photography and more on the Pro Photo Show.  It's a free podcast that you can listen to if you want to know more about the process or just hear me ramble on about stuff you may or may not find interesting!- 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 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(742624062,'',XLarge,'',1024,680);">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.

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 Ratcliff

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