Uploads from Stuck in Customs, tagged family

Brushing a Miniature Horse

nobody@flickr.com (Stuck in Customs) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 13:58:54 -0800

We took another trip out to Kerry & Simon Brackstone’s farm in Gibbston with the kids. My two girls, Isabella and Scarlett, love that miniature horse! They spent a very long time brushing it… apparently this is something that all little girls enjoy doing. We always hold this out as a carrot for them if they are being good, and they they can hold out a carrot for the miniature horse, and it will be a neverending circle of carrot-based incentives.

- Trey Ratcliff

Click here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

The Dance Recital

nobody@flickr.com (Stuck in Customs) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:15:44 -0800

Stuck in Customs posted a photo:

I feel like I go to about 20 dance recitals a year! If you have a daughter in dance, then you know what I mean.

This was a cold one, and I mean supa-cold. It was about 20 degrees outside, and then recital was, for some reason, outside. I was going to go sit down and cover up, but the blanket was only big enough for the rest of the family. So I decided to keep moving and take a lot of photos. I went back behind the crowd to get this one just before the show began...

- Trey Ratcliff

Click here to read the rest of this post, including my thoughts about dance recital photography policies, at the Stuck in Customs blog.

The Old Market

nobody@flickr.com (Stuck in Customs) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:10:30 -0800

Stuck in Customs posted a photo:

I have another Disneyworld trip coming up, and I was reminded of this place. This is Epcot, one of the best spots for photography at sunset and into the evening.

This area makes me long to go to some of these places for real. It's all so wonderfully fake around Disney, but that is nice in its own way. I have several more places in the Middle East to visit, and I hope to make that happen over the next few years. Before I actually decide on a place and land on the shores of Tripoli, I'll be sure to blog about it!

- Trey Ratcliff

Click here to read the rest at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Sailing Away to Akaroa

nobody@flickr.com (Stuck in Customs) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:38:55 -0800

Stuck in Customs posted a photo:

Thanks again for all the recommendations! So many of you recommended that we visit Akaroa on our visit to New Zealand, and it was a great suggestion.

You can walk along and see most of the commercial part and the harbor in less than an hour. One end is a long dock where they launch a few ships per day. Just as I got out to the end, this sailboat was pulling away from the dock.

This photo came from a single RAW file. There was way too much movement to let me do a multiple exposure in this one.

- Trey Ratcliff

Click here to read the rest of this post, including info on the podcast, at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Anyone Wanna Buy a House in Austin?

nobody@flickr.com (Stuck in Customs) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:52:06 -0800

Stuck in Customs posted a photo:

Contact me at wildcard (at) stuckincustoms.com if you are interested in finding out more... this is just a little teaser with some photos.

It's in a great area of the hill country, about 15 mins from downtown (with no traffic!) Austin. The neighborhood is called Jester, and it weaves in and out of a natural preserve. It's mega hilly with tons of trees. Our house, as you can see below from the backyard shot (the fourth one) backs onto a natural preserve... so there is nothing for miles and miles except for little creeks and hilly forests.

The house itself is 5 bedroom, two stories, contemporary design, with all sorts of nice-to-haves. I'm even leaving the media room with the projector, big screen, and all that stuff.

Here is another view of the front of the house at Christmas time.

- Trey Ratcliff

Read more and see all the pictures here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Anyone Wanna Buy a House in Austin?

nobody@flickr.com (Stuck in Customs) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:51:54 -0800

Stuck in Customs posted a photo:

Contact me at wildcard (at) stuckincustoms.com if you are interested in finding out more... this is just a little teaser with some photos.

It's in a great area of the hill country, about 15 mins from downtown (with no traffic!) Austin. The neighborhood is called Jester, and it weaves in and out of a natural preserve. It's mega hilly with tons of trees. Our house, as you can see below from the backyard shot (the fourth one) backs onto a natural preserve... so there is nothing for miles and miles except for little creeks and hilly forests.

The house itself is 5 bedroom, two stories, contemporary design, with all sorts of nice-to-haves. I'm even leaving the media room with the projector, big screen, and all that stuff.

Here is a view off the back deck. The first dip you see down below leads to a quaint little bubbling brook that tumbles away on rainy mornings, like when I took this photo.

- Trey Ratcliff

Read more and see all the pictures here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Anyone Wanna Buy a House in Austin?

nobody@flickr.com (Stuck in Customs) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:52:03 -0800

Stuck in Customs posted a photo:

Contact me at wildcard (at) stuckincustoms.com if you are interested in finding out more... this is just a little teaser with some photos.

It's in a great area of the hill country, about 15 mins from downtown (with no traffic!) Austin. The neighborhood is called Jester, and it weaves in and out of a natural preserve. It's mega hilly with tons of trees. Our house, as you can see below from the backyard shot (the fourth one) backs onto a natural preserve... so there is nothing for miles and miles except for little creeks and hilly forests.

The house itself is 5 bedroom, two stories, contemporary design, with all sorts of nice-to-haves. I'm even leaving the media room with the projector, big screen, and all that stuff.

Here is a photo from the street, looking down the hill at our house on the left.

- Trey Ratcliff

Read more and see all the pictures here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

The Cheerful Austin Christmas Dragon

nobody@flickr.com (Stuck in Customs) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:25:58 -0800

Stuck in Customs posted a photo:

It was a great PhotoWalk in Austin last night! Remember to tag your photos with #gplusaustin -- and click around to see some stuff. We had over 100 sign up on plancast, and it got pretty crazy because a lot of people brought friends and family. It was a lot of fun to meet people.

We had one guy come in from South Africa, a gal Karen Hutton come in from California, and many more from all around the Texas area. Everyone we very nice and fun as usual.

I had an autographed 2012 calendar to give away, but I forgot! Sorry that was lame of me... I had it on the floorboard of my car and everything, but with getting the kids out and everything, I forgot - you know how it is.

- Trey Ratcliff

Read more here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Boy and Grandfather at Tiananmen Square

nobody@flickr.com (Stuck in Customs) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:00:03 -0700

Stuck in Customs posted a photo:

I was walking through Tiananmen on a white-out cloud day taking photos of people. I had on my earphones and was kind of drifting in and among the crowd. It's a bit like being in a movie when you do this... anyway, I'm sure you've heard me mention it before, so I won't go into details. It's often a very nice way to make things timeless... to separate people and objects from their place and time.

These two were on the ground wrestling and having fun. I squatted about 15 feet away to take a photo, and they were most delighted!

- Trey Ratcliff

From the blog post at www.stuckincustoms.com.

Eclectic BBQ With Neal Stephenson

nobody@flickr.com (Stuck in Customs) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 08:02:52 -0700

Stuck in Customs posted a photo:

My plane arrived in the evening, and I went out immediately to start taking photos of the city. Just as I was getting into a groove, I received a text to come over to Neal Stephenson's house to help build a unique steampunk BBQ Grill. To this, I cannot say no.

So I arrived and then spent about four hours with Neal, Chris Young (master chef who wrote Modernist Cuisine), Nels Peterson (paleontologist++), and a few other people to build a crazy BBQ setup. Neal has this crazy BBQ every year and they try to do something off-the-wall. For this one, instead of spinning the pig over the fire, it was decided that the fire should spin around the outside of the pig.

Many hours later, the creation was assembled, and we turned it on to watch the giant columns of metal begin to spin around the central base. It felt a little like a wormhole generator that would enable fully cooked pigs to come into our world.

Then, the next day, when the BBQ officially started... here is a photo of the festivities.

- Trey Ratcliff

Read the entire long-form blog post here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Sleeping In

nobody@flickr.com (Stuck in Customs) — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 09:51:14 -0700

Stuck in Customs posted a photo:

Driving from Reykjavik to Isafjordur is just about one of the longest possible drives you can make in Iceland in a day if you have a reasonable level of sanity. There comes a point when you feel like you're getting close, when you start weaving in and out of fjords. They are huge and each one seems to take over half an hour to drive around.

In the midst of one of these, I espied an old house up the side of one of the valleys. It was partially obscured by a hand-built stone wall. I stopped the car and started hiking up the side of the valley to investigate. Once I got up there, I began to think that maybe this place was actually occupied! There were new lace curtains hanging in the windows and everything seemed to be in pretty good repair.

So then, I felt like I was intruding, and not just exploring an old ruin. But, it was 3 AM in the morning, and I figured if anyone was indeed inside, they must be fast asleep. So I set up for a shot and then made a hasty elf-like egress.

- Trey Ratcliff

Read more here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

A Girl and Her Grandma in Beijing

nobody@flickr.com (Stuck in Customs) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:51:54 -0700

Stuck in Customs posted a photo:

As I came out of a museum, I saw this young girl sitting with her grandmother and reading books. They were sitting on a simple bench and there was a wall of bamboo behind them. The light was falling perfect, so I dropped down onto one knee and took a quick shot.

Do you like taking photos of strangers in public? Or maybe you have a bit of a problem with it? If so, I wrote an article last year called "Five Tips for Photographing People" (click link to read).

Journey of a Lifetime in Africa

nobody@flickr.com (Stuck in Customs) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 09:09:09 -0800

Stuck in Customs posted a photo:

I have never been to Africa, but it is very high on the list. Very very high. And I understand from many of my friends that it will get very deep into me, and I'll want to go back many times. That's okay... and I look forward to that feeling!

This photo below is taken in Disneyworld in the Animal Kingdom. The Imagineers run around and make everything look all Africa-ey and authentic... I don't really know how authentic this is... but I certainly liked the feeling and style of this wall, so had to take a photo!

from the blog www.stuckincustoms.com

The Mystery of the Orient

nobody@flickr.com (Stuck in Customs) — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 21:37:03 -0800

Stuck in Customs posted a photo:

The biggest mystery here, which you may have guessed by now, is that this is not in the orient at all. This is in the World Showcase area of Epcot. In some ways, I think, Epcot has the least exciting rides and attractions of the four Disney parks in Orlando. But what it lacks in rides, it makes up for in photo ops!

My best suggestion for photographers is the following. First, if you are staying in a Disney resort, then you get special "night hours" at different parks. Be there on the Epcot night, and make sure you are as far away from the exit as possible when the park closes. Then, you can take your time walking back to the entrance and take as many photos as you like! Everything is well lit, there is nobody around, and security doesn't even seem to mind. No one rushes you out... it's very relaxing and perfect. And, of course, the World Showcase has all sorts of cool buildings, architecture, and landscaping... countless opportunities for great compositions.

I took this photo right outside of a great Japanese restaurant. I forgot the name, but I had some pretty good sushi. I think this place and the California Grill have the best sushi at Disney, if you are into that sort of thing.

from the blog www.stuckincustoms.com

Natalia on the Farm

nobody@flickr.com (Stuck in Customs) — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 16:28:02 -0800

Stuck in Customs posted a photo:

Natalia on the Farm
After getting back from one of those long hikes in Patagonia, I stayed with my Russian friends at a small hotel in El Chalten. It was a little family-run operation and the daughter Natalia helped out by running errands and these sorts of things. I took her around with me to take some photos in the little town, and she was happy to pose! It was plenty easy to find all kinds of interesting backgrounds, since El Chalten is a picturesque little town with old buildings, horses in fields, and mountainous backdrops.

Read more here at my travel photography blog, Stuck in Customs.

To Another World

nobody@flickr.com (Stuck in Customs) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 20:27:13 -0700

Stuck in Customs posted a photo:

There are no short days at Disney! They are all long escapades, filled with happiness, crying, sticky fingers, strollers hitting you in the achilles tendons, and scary people that should not really be allowed to the buffet area.

Read the rest here at stuckincustoms.com.

Indian Family on Motorcycle

nobody@flickr.com (Stuck in Customs) — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 20:12:01 -0700

Stuck in Customs posted a photo:

When traveling around outside of the usual spots, I continually see entire families on motorcycles. This one is in India, but I've seen this all over southeast Asia as well... but don't think I ever posted a photo!

From the blog at www.stuckincustoms.com

The Ultimate Carnival

nobody@flickr.com (Stuck in Customs) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:01:25 -0700

Stuck in Customs posted a photo:

I've been to Disney World many many times, but this is my first time as a grown-up to Disneyland. I always feel strange, by the way, calling myself a grown-up!

Disneyland has two parks on the premises. This one is from California Adventures, the second and newer park. Towards the backside, there is this perfect street, full of carnival-like activities. As most of you know, I'm a big fan of graphic design, so it was great fun to look at the delicious details in all of these signs.

Read more here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

The Lego Dragon

nobody@flickr.com (Stuck in Customs) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 09:19:59 -0700

Stuck in Customs posted a photo:

There are these Lego stores popping up everywhere it seems. That's okay with me... Who doesn't like a good Lego set?

This one is just outside the Lego Store at Downtown Disney in Orlando. They have a few of those gigantic Lego beasts that were mysteriously built. Anyone that is sensible knows that it takes many hours to build something roughly the size of a human hand. So, these monstrosities must be either built by aliens or an army of industrious Germans that parachute in during the wee hours.

from the blog www.stuckincustoms.com

Balloons at Disney

nobody@flickr.com (Stuck in Customs) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 22:52:13 -0800

Stuck in Customs posted a photo:

I've been trying to capture a shot of balloons at Disney forever... it took a while before I found something with which I was happy!

Do you know these balloons cost $10? TEN DOLLARS! A ten dollar balloon... but they do light up. So that's kinda cool. What isn't cool is that you have to buy one for every single kid in your retinue.

One other cool thing (kinda secret) is that if it ever goes flat or pops, you can bring it back to get a free one. Technically, you could even bring it back the next year and still get a new one. This might go against the spirit of the deal, but it is a ten dollar balloon for the love of Disney-god.

Read more here at Trey Ratcliff's travel photography blog, Stuck in Customs.