Awesome Ship in Sydney Harbor Tom and I walked down to the Rocks one night, which is one of the oldest parts of the Sydney Harbor. I was wondering, actually, if I should spell it “harbour” now that I live down thisaway. I do like the British spellings of things… they seem so much more… well, British and sophisticated. I guess I’ll just stick with “harbor” – I don’t want people thinking I’ve turned native so quickly.Anyway, the ship was moving a lot in the sea, so I had my ISO up pretty high to compensate. Usually, what I’ll do in this situation is take a normal set of brackets at a low ISO to get a nice HDR shot, and then I’ll take another at high ISO to freeze the movement… and then I do my best to Frankenstein it all together.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Frogs in the Paris Opera Can someone explain this to me? I cannot figure it out. Maybe they are just being quirky.I took this with a fisheye lens inside the Paris opera. I can’t imagine what the internal bureaucracy is like within the Paris Opera for various art displays inside. And I can’t figure out how this one got through. But maybe there is a major art meme that I missed that includes well-dressed amphibians.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Tom in Sydney That’s Tom Anderson there (the MySpace Tom). We had a very fun time running around Australia together, and especially here in the State Theater. It is an amazing place! The entryway, as you can see, is insanely ornate. And then once you enter, you go through one hall to the next, each as grand as the previous one.I’d love to have an event here one night… I don’t know what I would do… maybe just bring in a bunch of people and we can all post-process all night together! :) That sounds lame but also kinda awesome.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Ceiling of the Paris Opera House I stole this photo-taking idea from Matt Knisely! At first, I would lay down on my back and try to get the shot. But that was frustrating and bothersome. Then I saw Matt just put his camera on the ground with a timer then run away! So that’s what I did to get this shot… although it took a few takes to get it to line up right…- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
On Stage at the State Theater in Sydney What an amazing place! I don’t think it is that secret, but I had no idea that such a grand place existed, hidden away! Well, it’s not exactly hidden, but I don’t think anyone walking by on the street past the humble entrance would know what awaits inside.This is next-door to the QT Sydney (link to previous blog entry about that hotel), where I stayed while I was there. I toured around inside here with Alexia Sinclair, and she’s always been keen to shoot it too in one of her more dramatic pieces. Maybe we’ll see one of these in the future! :)- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Paris Opera I went by this building several times before I even thought about going in. For some reason, it never occurred to me that I might actually be able to go inside and take photos! Of course, I really wanted to go inside, so I was happy when Curtis told me that it’s no problem to get in there.Next time, I think I’d like to go on a private tour and get some special angles and whatnot. I did get in trouble for using my tripod, but not bad trouble. Just a little trouble. A little trouble ain’t so bad… - Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Mysterious Places of Paris Isn’t this room amazing? It’s not in the main part of the Paris Opera House, but it had the most ornate and Inception-esque room I’ve seen in a while. I took this photo while in the middle of experimenting with the Nikon fisheye lens. It seemed to fit the bill for these ornate grand locations that are still in a relatively confined space. - Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Sydney Opera House I’ve waited a very long time to see this famous building in Sydney! I’ve been meaning to come to Australia for a very long time, but this whole plan was delayed because of my move to New Zealand. Since I knew that I would be moving to NZ, I figured Australia would be a much more convenient trip. And now that I am here, it is! In fact, it’s just a 3 hour direct flight from Queenstown. But, since it took me longer than expected to get to NZ, then it took me much longer than expected to get to Australia! But now, I can make up for lost time, and spend more time across the Tasman… - Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Chinese Mothership Look at this magical place in Beijing... it's on the edge of belief.I could hardly fathom the nature of this place.  I expected the lights to appear on the grid with melodic tones a mystical, alien language, like in Close Encounters.  But none of that happened...  So I just stood there for a long time, thinking about how incredible this place was... and took my time, setting up my system for a fitting photograph.Remember when we were kids, and we never finished our food, even under the threat of starving children in China?  Now, I say to my kids, you better eat your food, or else Chinese children will grow up and create an economic powerhouse.  Well too late for that!This is the amazing National Centre for the Performing Arts, or as I like to say, the 国家大剧院 -- I find that rolls of the tongue a bit easier.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Awesome Ship in Sydney Harbor


Tom and I walked down to the Rocks one night, which is one of the oldest parts of the Sydney Harbor. I was wondering, actually, if I should spell it “harbour” now that I live down thisaway. I do like the British spellings of things… they seem so much more… well, British and sophisticated. I guess I’ll just stick with “harbor” – I don’t want people thinking I’ve turned native so quickly.

Anyway, the ship was moving a lot in the sea, so I had my ISO up pretty high to compensate. Usually, what I’ll do in this situation is take a normal set of brackets at a low ISO to get a nice HDR shot, and then I’ll take another at high ISO to freeze the movement… and then I do my best to Frankenstein it all together.

- 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(2441045994,'',XLarge,'',1024,683);">Awesome Ship in Sydney Harbor Tom and I walked down to the Rocks one night, which is one of the oldest parts of the Sydney Harbor. I was wondering, actually, if I should spell it “harbour” now that I live down thisaway. I do like the British spellings of things… they seem so much more… well, British and sophisticated. I guess I’ll just stick with “harbor” – I don’t want people thinking I’ve turned native so quickly.Anyway, the ship was moving a lot in the sea, so I had my ISO up pretty high to compensate. Usually, what I’ll do in this situation is take a normal set of brackets at a low ISO to get a nice HDR shot, and then I’ll take another at high ISO to freeze the movement… and then I do my best to Frankenstein it all together.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Awesome Ship in Sydney Harbor


Tom and I walked down to the Rocks one night, which is one of the oldest parts of the Sydney Harbor. I was wondering, actually, if I should spell it “harbour” now that I live down thisaway. I do like the British spellings of things… they seem so much more… well, British and sophisticated. I guess I’ll just stick with “harbor” – I don’t want people thinking I’ve turned native so quickly.

Anyway, the ship was moving a lot in the sea, so I had my ISO up pretty high to compensate. Usually, what I’ll do in this situation is take a normal set of brackets at a low ISO to get a nice HDR shot, and then I’ll take another at high ISO to freeze the movement… and then I do my best to Frankenstein it all together.

- Trey Ratcliff

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