Shanghai looks huge and amazing no matter what side of the river you are visiting! I think I went back and forth 8 times to see it from one angle then the next as the sun was setting. There is this electric train that goes in a tube under the water that is surrounded with enough flashing neon to send the average Japanese kid into seizures. It’s all fantastic and electric — and both banks were covered every night with people admiring the view… Normally I don’t like tourists in my shots, but this one was kind of about the viewers of the city viewing the city.

I’ve probably been to Yellowstone almost 10 times in the last 10 years. After the mega fires, some areas have been quick to rebound while others have not. This is one of the burned black trunks that remains, defiant.

One thing that was news to me, that I found out recently from a ranger, was that certain pinecones only spread their seeds once they burn and explode. This means, of course, that fires are necessary for the forest to grow; quite fascinating eh?

I sat down on the curb on Main Street to watch the Disney parade come by. Normally, frankly, I don’t like parades. I am very easily bored, and I need to be extremely visually or mentally stimulated or else I just zone out… But the Disney parade was great… they throw everything at you, and then some. Once these ghostly dancers started moving down the street, I felt like I was in some kind of a dream sequence…

I got a heads up this evening that one of my shots was on Digg (thanks for all the positive diggs!). It was this first one of The Duomo from Milan. The second one I posted is of the exterior.

I don’t know if I can describe this place as well as Mark Twain did in Innocents Abroad in 1867, so I will just let him do it:

What a wonder it is! So grand, so solemn, so vast! And yet so delicate, so airy, so graceful! A very world of solid weight, and yet it seems …a delusion of frostwork that might vanish with a breath!… The central one of its five great doors is bordered with a bas-relief of birds and fruits and beasts and insects, which have been so ingeniously carved out of the marble that they seem like living creatures– and the figures are so numerous and the design so complex, that one might study it a week without exhausting its interest…everywhere that a niche or a perch can be found about the enormous building, from summit to base, there is a marble statue, and every statue is a study in itself…Away above, on the lofty roof, rank on rank of carved and fretted spires spring high in the air, and through their rich tracery one sees the sky beyond. … (Up on) the roof…springing from its broad marble flagstones, were the long files of spires, looking very tall close at hand, but diminishing in the distance…We could see, now, that the statue on the top of each was the size of a large man, though they all looked like dolls from the street… They say that the Cathedral of Milan is second only to St. Peter’s at Rome. I cannot understand how it can be second to anything made by human hands.

I was barely able to squeeze off this final shot before my battery died. Going by farm after farm throughout northern Montana, I kept looking for the perfect barn and the right kinda clouds over golden fields of wheat. And then, once I finally found it, I looked at the power left on the Nikon and it was scary-low! I held my breath and ran out into the field, hoping to hear that satisfying little click!

After I was back in the car, I clicked the preview button to see what I had shot, and it did not even come up… then I spent the next few hours wondering if this one even made it to the old memory card!

Today I saw on Flickr that someone started a fan club for Stuck In Customs on Facebook. So be sure to join it and get one of the last remaining spots since, well, it can hold an infinite number of people. Maybe we can prove the inverse paradox of Zeno by filling it up slowly and never getting to the halfway point. The previous sentence was a very nerdy joke and I apologize…

You guys can also find me on Facebook right here, so you can add me and we can be BFFF.

Moving on… I get nice emails all the times from all kinds of interesting people around the world. I got this one over the weekend from a nice chap named Tony who seems to have opened up a new photography chapter in his life!

Hey Trey, About 1.7 years ago i last emailed you. I saw your fireworks shot and it inspired me to leap into photography. I scored some gear and went shooting/learning. Since that email almost 2 years ago i have moved up a bit in know-how and rank as a photographer. Recently i have made the leap and started taking commercial photos. I have now shot and sold numerous works. I am retouching for authors and PR companies. I am shooting book covers, PR shots, Sr. photos, modeling/fashion..the list goes on. I didn?t even know what F-stop was when i started.

I recently made 1st place in explore with a clients shot that allowed me to post. It’s all thanks to a glimpse of your photo on a gawker banner while i was looking at gizmodo.com at work. I have plans to quit my day job (Sr. Director of Operations for a national credit card company) in the next 3 months… i just wanted to tell you that your work was the motivation for my new and wonderful life. I have never been more happy. I went to a flickr meet-up in my home town and i was like a celeb…people knew me i was the bell of the ball. I never thought for a moment i would ever get here. Today a man wrote me an email, he said he saw one of my HDR’s and it inspired him to take up photography. He wanted me to see his first HDR…it was a proud moment and i thought of the email i sent you a while back? it said the same thing… thanks man.

Anyway, I thought that was a pretty swell email. You can see his Flickr stream here.

In response to the nice memo and the first photo he saw, I am posting a few old classics from my original photography tutorial, which I suppose sent him down his own rabbit hole!

I’ve got a great selection of music ready to go… I rented out the ballroom here at The Breakers for the grand event. Be sure to bring a few of your favorite MP3s on a thumbdrive and we’ll get em into the rotation!

The sound was deafening in this little canyon a few miles off the main road. I had no idea what to expect before finding this place and was getting worried as soon as I heard the roar of the glacial water. The crashing came in alarming waves just before I started moving my way down into the canyon.

…and then there was the matter of finding a pretty position that showed all the layers and actions of the canyon… and then there was the matter of selecting the right songs for my ipod during the shot to help me figure things out… and then the matter of wondering why I am describing the seemingly OCD analysis.

And now for something a little different. I rarely do this sort of thing… People ask me all the time to come take family pictures (or weddings and these sorts of things) — I always regretfully say NO because, well, I never really have a great excuse other than it takes too much energy to do something interesting. Also, sometimes I pretend to be too busy like George in that one episode of Seinfeld.

So I had an idea to make something unique and vintage and the muse here was up for it… and she had similar ideas around capturing some moments with her little boy. I’m happy with how these things are turning out…

I probably should not have been standing in the middle of this frozen pond.

But when you are raised in Texas and you rarely get to see anything frozen, you get fascinated by large frozen bodies of water. I just stared at it for a long time like a deer that’s never seen headlights in the forest. I felt the saying, "When in Rome", and somehow replaced it with "When in Reykjavik…"

I slowly shuffled my feet out to the middle, using my tripod as an Imperial Hoth Walker to secure my footing. Once I got to the right spot for the lens, I ripped off a few shots before heading over to the safely of the shore.

Okay there is he! No… not really him… but this guy was an incredible look-alike. He had all the mannerisms down pat, which, until recently, I had not realized was based on a drugged-out Keith Richards.

There are a ton of stories about women and randy moms hitting on Captain Sparrow while at Disney with their kids… I dug up one of the blogs at lamag.com/featuredarticle.aspx?id=7016 that you can read… very entertaining!

I’m working on another load of shots from Florida, and here are a few of my favorites, which you may or may not see iterations on in the future! These are all from Palm Beach… the first one was taken while I was having some peaceful time after being assaulted by lawyers in a deposition… the middle one is of a nasty storm that faced me at the airport… and the third one was some wonderful little light sculptures in The Breakers that I thought needed a good treatment.

I’ll take the seat on the left… no… okay, the one on the right. It’s alright… sit in whichever one you like. Where should we put our drinks? Ahhh the grass will be fine… okay, now, what to discuss? So many places to start!

Here are a few other favorites from Hong Kong to go along with the new one from yesterday. I hope these fire off more neurons in your pleasure centers!

Believe it or not, there is a small documentary being filmed about me. I don’t know what to think about it - only to assume it is going to be rather boring! I think it is going to be a lot like Grizzly Man, just without the bear.

As this gal is going about her process of gathering materials, she asked me for a few of the original shots from Hong Kong so she can show them during the documentary. I was going back through my old shots, and found that I had never processed THIS one of Hong Kong, which has a really moody dusk sky, so I spent a few hours to clean it up for publication.

I hope you like it!

Brazilian Girls performance at the New Year’s Eve party in SF.

Very tasty beer. Shot inside 15 Romolo in San Francisco.
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Tilt-shift miniature of a scene in Monaco (faked in Photoshop).

Bay bridge and downtown San Francisco after sunset. Shot from Treasure Island with long exposure.

Rich, sinful, delectable. These are only a few adjectives that describe chocolates by Pierre Marcolini, the "haute chocolatier" of Belgium.

F line streetcar on Embarcadero in San Francisco.

Pipes/tubes on the rooftop of my work building. I was tempted to title the photo "The Internet" in homage to Alaska Senator Ted Stevens.

At merkley’s book release party inside 111 Minna Gallery.

Inside Bigfoot Lodge in San Francisco.

At merkley’s book release party inside 111 Minna Gallery in San Francisco.

One of those late September windy days, the streets are almost empty, summer is going away and
autumn is knocking on the door. I went for a walk through the sea garden and then on the beach
area and took some shots. I am going to miss that care-free rhythm that the summer brings. I?ll miss
those weekends when I run away and have all the time in the world just for me? I am going to miss
those sunny days which make me feel alive and all the little moments which made me feel happy.