IASAS Rugby 2010

This past weekend, Jakarta International School hosted the IASAS Rugby Tournament which is a competition between 6 South Asian Schools...Jakarta, Singapore, Bangkok, Taipei, Kuala Lumpur and Manila. Jakarta won the tournament in front of record crowds...it was really cool!!

I took a ton of photos, and still going through them all...here are a couple that I converted to black n white...

Skywatch Friday - Sunset in Bali

Happy Friday!!

My skywatch photo today comes from Bali...

Be sure to see other great skies from around the world HERE...

Have a great weekend!!

From The Archives

For those of you that have been following my blog for a couple of years, you may remember this photo...it is one of my favorite portraits from India. The trouble with my photo blog is that only the past 10 days or so show up on the front page....after 10 days, the photos get buried into my archives. Unless someone takes the time to go through my archives, some of my hidden gems (like this photo) are never seen again...so new readers never see the "old stuff"...so, why not from time to time, drag out some of the "old stuff" and re-show it??

Closed Up For The Day

So, I was reading A World in HDR by Trey Ratcliff, and he mentioned in his book that some of his images are double tonemapped. So, I gave this a try on the image below...it can give your images a kind of ethereal look. I like it...

The Ruins of Prambanan

I hit this temple (Prambanan) late in the afternoon, and wanted to get away from the crowds of people, so hiked around to the back of the temple where hundreds of old blocks from the original temple were just lying around in the grass...it was just me and some goats back there....the perfect spot to get a nice photo....I love it when things work out perfectly like that...

Underwater HDR

How about this for something different? An HDR underwater shot...processed from a single RAW photo in Photomatix, and then touched up in Photoshop...

Under The Passage

One of my favorite dive sites in the world..."The Passage". One could certainly argue that the most beautiful parts of Indonesia are underwater...

Skywatch Friday - Annapurna in Black n White

Happy Friday!!

Hope you have a great weekend...I know I will...cause I LOVE weekends!!

Be sure to check out all of the great skies from around the world HERE...

Elephant and Man at Work

In Northern Thailand, they still use elephants to work in the fields and in and around the village. They are always fascinating to watch, and they share a very special relationship with their trainers...

The Famous Brooklyn Bridge

One of my goals during my three days in NYC was to see the Brooklyn Bridge. My wife and daughter did not want to come with me...it was just too cold...so, I set out alone to find the Brooklyn Bridge. I braved the subway, and somehow found the right trains to get to the bridge...I was proud of myself for that. When I emerged from the subway, I was hit with a strong, cold wind in my face. I walked all the way across the bridge with the wind in my face. I thought my face would fall off, but I reached my goal, and got some nice photos to remember my time on the Brooklyn Bridge...

I debated whether to post the color version or the black n white version...I kinda liked the B&W as the sky that day was a boring plain blue...

A Nice Summer Morning in Santorini

I know many of you are probably freezing....it is a COLD winter...maybe global warming is taking a year off? So, if you are feeling cold, just place yourself into the scene below on a nice warm summer morning in Greece...feeling warmer??....Photography is magic, heh?

Ayasofya

Istanbul rocks...just a great place for travel. One of my favorite sites in this city is the Ayasofya....An incredible place to visit with an amazing history...

B&H Photo in New York Now Proud Sponsor of This Site

As you know, I have been a fan of B&H photo for many years. It is a great place to get literally anything you need for photography. They have competitive prices, and are very reliable. The customer comes first with them, and that is important to me.

This is their super store in NYC. Like I said before, if you ever get the chance to visit this store while in New York, it is an amazing place. When you are making your list of things to visit in New York, put B&H in your top five...you don't want to miss it.

B&H Photo is now a sponsor of this site. That means if you use my provided link (to the right) to make a purchase at B&H, I will get a small commission. It does not mean you will have to pay more...it will just help me out...and that would be great!! So, if you want to buy a new camera, a new lens, some new software, a new Mac, or whatever, use my link...they will ship Internationally!!

Skywatch Friday - Pier in VIrginia

Happy Friday, and Happy New Year!!

I was late getting this post up as my internet was down....arrrrgh!

This shot is from Virginia Beach, and it was COLD...at least for me it was...to all you Norwegian's, I am sure it was balmy....ha ha....

Be sure to check out all the other great skies from around the world HERE...

Need Some Ornaments For Your Tree?

Yep, some pretty BIG Ornaments...

The Wall Near Katz's Deli

I had read on Scott Kelby's blog that he highly recommended Katz Deli for lunch. So, we got in a taxi to the lower east side and found Katz's Deli. It was REALLY crowded. Since we had Kelly (my youngest daughter) with us, we had the stroller, so it was difficult to get inside with the place packed to the hilt. The door man asked, "Do you REALLY want to come in?" But after the expensive taxi fare, we were not about to turn around...besides, we were hungry. Luckily, at just the right moment, a Korean couple sitting at a table in front of where we were standing got up, and we launched ourselves into those seats before others could react. I then pushed my way to the counter to order our food. The hassle was well worth it....I had the best Reuben sandwich I have ever had, and I am picky with my Reubens...The bottom photo is inside the deli....crowded, right?

Anyway, just across the street from Katz Deli, I saw this wall...I couldn't resist taking a photo...

This is the scene at Katz Deli...

The Flat Iron Building In NYC

I just love this building...I saw it on the tourist map, and it was not too far from where I was staying, so I braved the cold and walked to the building, and then stopped at B&H Photo Super Store on the way back...THAT place is incredible, by the way...B&H Photo...every photographer should go there at least once in a lifetime...a dream world.

Anyway, this is again a 5-shot HDR hand held...I then converted to Black n White using the Black and White adjustment layer in PS...I wanted to use Nik's Silver Effex Pro, but the copy I bought at B&H Photo cracked when I made my trip back to Indonesia...I am now waiting for my replacement copy from Nik Software...I have heard such great things about that plug-in, and can't wait to try it out....

Which of these do you like best?

Times Square In New York City

Here is another Black and White VS. Color photo...

This is, of course, the famous Times Square in NY the day before New Year's Eve...this shot is a five-photo HDR shot hand-held (I didn't have my tripod with me). Processed in Photomatix, and then finished off in Photoshop (to remove ghosting). I also used Nik Color Effex Pro 3.0 plug-in for the color version...can't remember which effect I used though. Nik Software is awesome, by the way...especially for shots like this where there are tons of colors...you can get really creative, and it is fun and easy to use.

By the way, this blog does not do these photos justice...you should see them full size on my 24 inch Mac...they look very cool! I might have to make a BIG print later and hang it in my office...hee hee....

I will have another color/B&W for you to compare tomorrow...

The Sphere From The World Trade Center

This Sphere was between the two towers in the middle of Austin Tobin Plaza for 30 years, and survived the terrorist attack on the WTC with just a few dents...it is now displayed in Battery Park in honor of the victims of 9/11.

I made a color version and a black and white version...I couldn't decide which I liked better, so posted both of them...

Virginia Beach

On my last day in the States, I braved a very COLD day to walk down the beach in Virginia Beach...it was actually pretty cool walking on a beach during winter...it was like a ghost town and very peaceful. I spotted this wall between stores on the strip...

I Found THE Cube

I don't know if this is cheating or not...

I saw a photo of this same cube on Trey Ratcliff's website before I went to NY. When I was walking with my wife and daughters in the city last week, I stumbled onto "the cube" after we decided it was too cold to go see the Statue of Liberty...it was located a few blocks up from the pier and fairly close to the WTC site. I thought, "hey wow....that's that cube that Trey had a photo of on his site". I told my wife to stay with the kids while I took a few shots of it...but for some reason, I feel like I am cheating even though my photo is at a different angle, and I used different textures on the cube...is it cheating?

On The Road Back To Indonesia

I am on the way to the airport to board an airplane to head back to Indonesia...back to the warm weather...I will have some new photos to post when I get back...the flight is a long one, and we lose a day...so, see you on Thursday...

A World in HDR by Trey Ratcliff...A Brief Review

I have never done a "book review" or a "camera review" or a "software review" or ANY review for that matter. But being that it is now the year 2010, I will start to do some reviews this year. I will say one thing up front...

I will only do a review of a book, software or other product that I actually have read or used, and I will never get technical as I don't like technical reviews...I prefer to read reviews that sound like a friend is giving me advice, so I will write reviews with that in mind.

So, for my very first review, I would like to tell you about Trey Ratcliff's book on HDR called,
A World in HDR (the cover of his book is below).

As many of you probably know, I have been a big fan of Trey's work for a few years and have had a link to his site, Stuckincustoms.com on my blog since I started blogging. When I first stumbled on his blog, I had not even heard of HDR...but was certainly intrigued with his photography and wanted to learn more about the "art" he was creating. I read his tutorial on HDR photography on his site, and quickly started experimenting on my own. His style and constant innovation is an inspiration to literally millions around the world. His site is probably one of the most popular blogs on the planet and receives millions of hits every month. He admits that there are other photographers just as good as he if not better, but I would find it difficult to find anyone better at marketing on the web than Trey...he is the master. Having said that, he is also one of the few popular photographers out there that is willing to share his secrets, and to help other photographers reach their potential in creating art, and I respect that. His new book is a prime example of his willingness to share.

Reading Trey's blog, I of course knew he had written a book. Frankly, since I was a daily reader of his blog, I was not really interested in purchasing his book as I thought it would be just a collection of his photos that I had already seen and admired. Yesterday, I was at Barnes and Noble browsing books, and saw his book on the shelf nestled amongst some other HDR books. My first impression of the book when I picked it up was that it was smaller than I expected. I thought it would be more of a coffee table sized book (this was NOT a problem, however). I flipped through the pages, and saw some familiar images, but also saw some images I had not seen before...and then I spotted "chapter 5" where he has his tutorial on HDR. I started to read that chapter in the store when my wife said it was time to leave. Based on the new images I saw, and "chapter five", I grabbed the book (the last copy on the shelf) and bought it. When I got home, I read it cover to cover.

I am picky when it comes to books on photography. Most I don't like. There have been only a few that I have liked, and this one I liked....I liked it ALOT. The style of the book reminded me a great deal of another one of my favorite photography books, The Moment it Clicks, by Joe McNally. His images are top notch, and even if I had seem them before on his blog, they were great to see again in this book. Trey is a great writer as well, and his descriptions of each of the photos are entertaining as well as informative, and like Joe McNally, he gives technical advice on most of the photos as well. Us photographers, professional as well as amateurs, like to read that stuff as we can always get better at what we do. Reading what other photographers think about when getting a shot, and how they got a shot is always a good read and helpful.

His tutorial in Chapter Five is updated from his tutorial on his website. I found it very helpful and learned a couple of new things from reading it. That chapter alone makes this book worth buying. Although most of the descriptions of his familiar photos were similar to what he had written in his blog, he added some new details and stories to his descriptions which I enjoyed reading. After reading his book, you feel like Trey is one of your friends.

In conclusion, I highly recommend his book. Although I have never met Trey in person, I get the impression that he does nothing half-way. When he puts his mind to something, it becomes gold, and his book is nothing short of gold.

Hope you enjoyed this review...I will write more in the future from time to time as I run across something I like...

Happy New Year

...and here it is...the year 2010!!

Wow, how time flies...

My family and I were in New York City the past few days. It was great to be in Times Square and wandering around the city...BUT, it was COLD...maybe not so cold for people who live in this part of the world, but for someone who has lived in Indonesia the past 15 years, it was REALLY cold. We had to buy hats and gloves on the street so that we didn't freeze to death.

I still made it out to some of the cool sites in NY....and will share some photos from the city with you, but I don't have my computer and all of my photo editing software, so will wait till I get back home to show my best stuff...I will be back in Jakarta on the 7th of January...

I will be back to my daily photos once I get back to Jakarta...in the meantime, I will post just a few photos before I leave the states...maybe one every two days or so...

Here is one of my daughter, Kelly, peering out our hotel window down at the lights of Times Square...