Musician at the Chinese Opera It was my second visit to this particular opera and my third visit to a Chinese opera. I was fortunate enough to be able to move freely around the venue, as long as I did not get in the way of the performers. That wasn’t very easy, since the performers would often just start running down and around the aisles! They would dart this way and that, run around columns come in and out of random doors and re-use the same pathways that I was navigating. So I had to be on constant alert!There was one girl that was playing a very unusual Chinese instrument. I’ll never get the name of it right, so I won’t even try… but she had this most unusual hat that I thought was quite nice…- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Glowing Bridge at the TempleThe “Temple” is different every year, and it’s always fun to explore. I usually visit the temple several times before I decide to take photos. It’s fun to show up on the scene completely green and study all the angles and ideas around different compositions with different lighting conditions.- Trey RatcliffRead the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Hiking in Carmel
Just south of Carmel-by-the-Sea is a hiking trail that goes along the coast.  I went down at sunrise one morning to see what I could find.  The entrance to the trail was blocked by a gate, and there was no ranger in the little box-place where rangers stand.  I was bamboozled.  There was no way through or around.  I could have walked, but it looked like the road went on quite a ways before the parking lot.So I waited until some other guy came along to let himself in.  I was parked a ways back, and so I got his attention from afar by grunting and raising my Nikon-on-tripod over my head like a sand raider -- he got the message and waved me through.- Trey RatcliffRead the entire post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
LOVE
Here's another wonderful morning (or night?) scene from Burning Man.  I should remember if this is morning or night!  Hmmm...  Let's see... the sun is over there...  and... well I think it is in that position in the morning.  But then again, I'm awake... and I didn't make it through many mornings there.  I remember Cliff banging on the door of my RV vaguely one morning, but I slept right through that sunrise, like many others...  And maybe this is one of those.  Or maybe it's sunset.  Oh I don't know...  anyway, it's kind of awesome, either way.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the entire post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
A storm of sands.  It comes to remind you of events that happen while you are busy living, and you ride alone through too many of them.  And truly, in the middle of the storm, there is nothing else but the storm.  It ebbs and flows and abates and gives shape and form to others.  And then it dies down and falls away, like a strange dream whose haunting fabric falls away the longer you are awake.
Tattooed Girl with Umbrella
One hard thing about Burning Man is not "getting used to" everything around you.  Believe it or not, after a few days, seeing interesting people wearing crazy clothes and doing wonderful things becomes quite commonplace.  It's kind of like living inside a non-stop Cirque-de-soleil!I was riding by on my bike and there was another photographer taking photos of this girl.  He had just finished, so I swooped in, jumped off my bike, and took a quick photo.  I felt a little bad about jumping in at the end of his photoshoot, but I figured that the Burning-Man-chill-attitude would make everything okay... and I think it did!- Trey RatcliffRead the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Man Burns
I was able to get up on a crane during the main event at Burning Man.  Before I got on, they made 100% sure (and then double-checked) that everyone had gone to the bathroom.  Once you are up on the crane, you're up there for two hours.  I can only assume the crane operator was very serious about this because the worst-possible situation had occurred during an earlier Burning Man when he was at ground-level.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of the post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Across the Top of the Old Village
The old town of Lijiang has these old rooflines that go forever to the horizon.  Part of the problem getting up above the roofline is, well, getting up above the roofline.  You have to head a bit out of town and walk up a hill to get this perspective.  I found the spot thanks to Stuck On Earth.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Village of Lijiang
I tried to get this shot for almost a week!It turns out there is a hill/mountain that requires significant planning and calories to ascend for this dusky time falls.  And I kept miscalculating the time with Tom.  We always thought the sunset would be a little later than it was.  And then we would start to get up into position, and we realized it was too late -- so we went to go do something else instead.This evening, I would snap a few photos and then sit down with my sketch pad and work on a few drawings.  I'd wait about 10 minutes for the light to change between photos... and it was nice just to listen to music and play around with some sketching-ideas...- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the entire post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Tattooed Girl with Umbrella


One hard thing about Burning Man is not "getting used to" everything around you. Believe it or not, after a few days, seeing interesting people wearing crazy clothes and doing wonderful things becomes quite commonplace. It's kind of like living inside a non-stop Cirque-de-soleil!

I was riding by on my bike and there was another photographer taking photos of this girl. He had just finished, so I swooped in, jumped off my bike, and took a quick photo. I felt a little bad about jumping in at the end of his photoshoot, but I figured that the Burning-Man-chill-attitude would make everything okay... and I think it did!

- Trey Ratcliff

Read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Tattooed Girl with Umbrella


One hard thing about Burning Man is not "getting used to" everything around you. Believe it or not, after a few days, seeing interesting people wearing crazy clothes and doing wonderful things becomes quite commonplace. It's kind of like living inside a non-stop Cirque-de-soleil!

I was riding by on my bike and there was another photographer taking photos of this girl. He had just finished, so I swooped in, jumped off my bike, and took a quick photo. I felt a little bad about jumping in at the end of his photoshoot, but I figured that the Burning-Man-chill-attitude would make everything okay... and I think it did!

- Trey Ratcliff

Read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
See photo in original gallery.