Reflections on the Eiffel Tower Isn't it romantic?  What could be more perfect than a beautiful sunset here in Paris?There was a big storm all day long, but I could see the clouds were beginning to break up a little to the west, and I knew there was a possibility the sun would dip into an opening beneath the heavy clouds.  So, with that intense possibility, I headed over to the Eiffel Tower area hoping the light would turn out right...I also made a behind-the-scenes video.  Since you guys have been so nice over on Google+, I'll share that video exclusively there first, so be sure to stay tuned... I'm still editing the thing together!- Trey RatcliffRead more here at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Unknown Land After a while, my boat driver thought I was insane.  We started before the sunrise and kept going, and going, and going, and going... he kept giving me the international head movement for "we really should be returning for a spot of tea," but I kept motioning him further up the river.To me, the river got most interesting when we saw no more people, except for the occasional fisherman that still had remote hut for his family along the river.  I had plenty of battery power, amazing music on my iPod, a full array of snacks, a ton of drinks, and nothing to do for the rest of the day and night... so I was perfectly content just going until our gas tank reached 50%.  And that took a long time... and who would want to stop with views like this around every other turn?- Trey RatcliffRead more, including some exciting news about our YouTube channel, here at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Off the PCH at Sunset Whenever I go to California lately, I have meetings in both Los Angeles and San Francisco.  Rather than fly between the two, I like to take my time and drive up the Pacific Coast Highway.  It's such a famous highway, but it's usually fairly empty.  There is always a beautiful sunset... it's pretty much a guarantee.  I popped out of my car and hiked through the brush a bit to grab this one so you can see what it looks like.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Tableau Vivant of California Dudes I've had a nice ten days or so here in California.  I started in LA, went up to San Francisco, then came back down here just before the Oscars.  My agent invited me to some fancy-schmancy party in Hollywood.  It was quite a problem to figure out what to wear to something like that.  I felt like a girl.  I mean, with the confused-about-what-to-wear thing...  this is not something I usually think that much about.It was interesting and fun.  I didn't even really fit in...  here's the basic conversation:  "Are you a director?"  No.  "Are you an actor?"  No.  "Oh, you must be a producer!?"  No.But that night, I ended up staying at the Hotel California.  I put a little photo there to the right... I found out I could check out any time I liked but...And for our California photo above, here's a bunch of guys that I guess have nothing better to do than walk around the beach all day with incredible bodies.  Since I don't have this, I can only rely on my personality, which frankly runs out after about five minutes.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Approaching the Ranch This photo is a new one from just on the north side of Yellowstone.  I took it just after one of those afternoon thunderstorms that sometimes pass across the countryside.  This path was made by many years of horse-drawn wagons.  There's a ranch out this way, and motorized cars are forbidden... so it took a long time to make these tracks.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Icelandic Sheepdog Here is another one of these unusual-looking horses from Iceland. When Rebekka took me out to the fjords to go shoot horses, I did not expect that the horses would be nearly so hairy. I was thinking it might have been seasonal because of the cold, but then again, I have very little business determining anything about Icelandic wildlife.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Morning Fisherman Now, getting to this place was not easy!I arrived about 1 AM at a tiny family-run inn by the river.  I was meeting a local guide at 5 AM, so I didn't get a lot of what I would call "quality sleep".  Anyway, I got up very early and went downstairs in pitch black.  There seemed to be a big white cloth box I had to go around to find the front door.  My guide was outside.  The door was locked and we could not figure out how to get it open.  Everyone at the little inn was sound asleep and I was totally confused.  Then, from inside the big white box, a body flew out of it!  There was a 60-year-old Chinese guy inside that was sleeping until I woke him up with all my lock-manipulations.  His naked limbs in the white sheets scared the bejeezus out of me and woke me right up!And then we were on the river about 5:15.  It was still completely dark outside.  And I mean COMPLETELY DARK.  It was a thin bamboo raft with an outboard motor.I turned around to ask my guide, "How the heck does the boat driver know where he is going?!?"He calmly said, "Oh, no worry.  The river is very wide."I not-calmly said, "Well, that's great and everything, but I can't even see the edge to the river!"He calmly said, "But it is so wide."This line of questioning was not getting me anywhere, so I just decided to sit back and enjoy my possible last moments on Earth.  Then the sun started to rise, and we moved the boat over to the best bank for the angle.Want to hear something amazing about these fishermen?  You won't believe it... but maybe others can confirm this! The fishermen use these two trained cormorant birds that have their throats tied.  The birds dive into the water, eat a fish, but then can't swallow it because of the rope.  The fisherman rudely pulls the fish from the bird's throat and drops it into that basket behind him.  The bird then goes over to a tiny keyboard and sends out the tweet, "WTF".- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Sunset in Ibiza Ibiza is a fabulous island off the coast of Spain that is the "in" destination for all the Euros that like to get trashed, party, dress in white, do medium-level-drugs, and stay on the beach without many clothes.I saw this girl bouncing around and very happy about something, so I went over and said hello, introducing myself.  She didn't speak much English, but I managed to ask her if I could take a photo of her.  She enthusiastically said yes, and I explained the sitch as we walked over to the water, mostly using interpretive dance to span the language gap.  She was Italian and her name was Wendy.  I think that is a strange name for an Italian, but I didn't question it.  Anyway, I asked her just to walk off into the ocean and I would take a photo.  She did just that, and I grabbed this shot just as the sun was dipping below the horizon.- Trey RatcliffThe rest of this entry resides here at stuckincustoms.com.
Under the Umbrella at Sunset We took this during our fun PhotoWalk in San Clemente. It's a wonderful beach there - not too crowded, a perfect beach, and an idyllic pier.  Just throw in a few clouds, and we end up with a perfect sunset!Every 100 feet or so, these thatched-roof umbrellas are spread out.  Composing with these and a wide-angle lens is kind of challenging, but fun.  I noticed that after I got a wide-angle lens that it opened up a whole new range of compositional complexities. Walking around a scene has to be done with a whole new perspective, since you are able to capture more than a human can see in a single viewing-cone.  But, the challenge is kind of fun to compensate for the lens and try to put together something that feels right. - Trey Ratcliff The rest of this entry can be found here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Icelandic Sheepdog


Here is another one of these unusual-looking horses from Iceland. When Rebekka took me out to the fjords to go shoot horses, I did not expect that the horses would be nearly so hairy. I was thinking it might have been seasonal because of the cold, but then again, I have very little business determining anything about Icelandic wildlife.

- 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(1135081103,'',XLarge,'',1024,732);">Icelandic Sheepdog Here is another one of these unusual-looking horses from Iceland. When Rebekka took me out to the fjords to go shoot horses, I did not expect that the horses would be nearly so hairy. I was thinking it might have been seasonal because of the cold, but then again, I have very little business determining anything about Icelandic wildlife.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Icelandic Sheepdog


Here is another one of these unusual-looking horses from Iceland. When Rebekka took me out to the fjords to go shoot horses, I did not expect that the horses would be nearly so hairy. I was thinking it might have been seasonal because of the cold, but then again, I have very little business determining anything about Icelandic wildlife.

- Trey Ratcliff

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