I look forward to many more adventures with you this year and in coming years. We have a lot of things to do, don't we? Mais oui!
Change and tumult and highs and lows will come and go with the winds, but I will always be here, ready to take you on fun new adventures with unexpected discoveries. This year has had a lot of unexpected things happen in all corners of life, and I don't expect the next to be any different. In the end, I'll do my best to keep pushing forward and exploring the world and the world of ideas with you.
If life gets kind of confusing or you get down, come visit to take your mind where it would rather be anyway. At best, it will be a deep experience, and at worst, it will be a pleasant distraction. I'll take the worst if that's the best I can get!
For the last photo of the year, I hope I have selected a great one to set the tone for the next year. I've been in artful concert with this one for what seems like ages. This happenstance scene is from a remote Hindu temple in the Indonesian jungle. It was a horribly stormy day and I could have easily found myself quite miserable... but I had seen this before, seen these patterns, and I knew I'd have the chance to see the sun again. Just for a few moments, the sun appeared there, and it was timeless. I didn't think about the future, I just sat there, unconsciously moving around the temple and capturing the moment forever.
Okay, so... moving into left-brain mode now (getting practical logistical things done...), there have been a number of changes to the blog at www.stuckincustoms.com !
1) I updated my HDR Tutorial! It has been almost completely revamped. I have a few minor things to fix - let me know if you see any typos, because, as you know, I am horrible at catching my own... (anyone want to be my editor out there?)
2) A new Header Photo and CSS Background! Hit Refresh on your browser in case you don't see it
3) A new "Reviews" section. You can see that over on the right.
4) A new "Popular Articles" section to catch some of the cool stuff that is now buried deep in the blog
5) Minor fixes: Comment font sizes, Comment entry box streamlining, Safari problem where the fonts were huge for single posts...
6) Enabled comments on "Pages" - things like the "About Me" and "My Equipment" pages did not allow comments before
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Sujatmi's dream is that her grandkids grow up to be brave and smart.
She is currently sitting in a makeshift annex area in a bustling riverside community in Jogjakarta, Indonesia. Dozens of tiny thatched and improvised houses are cobbled together and brightly painted. There are kids running around and other adults running after them, trying to get them to sit still so they can begin school. I've accidentally interrupted the whole affair while getting confused in the tiny alleys, no wider than a set of shoulders. She's thrilled by the excitement as she looks on, nodding at me and the kids.
From the blog at www.stuckincustoms.com
More from this portrait series at www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/sets/721575942039392...
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This peaceful buddha looks out across the mist and fog on a relaxing morning...
from my daily photo blog at www.stuckincustoms.com
Tags: Hdr StuckInCustoms d2x Indonesia Jogjakarta Borobudur indonesian buddha buddhist statue fog mountains jungle peace meditate pray peaceful treyratcliff beautiful travel travelphotography adventure hdrtutorial tutorial fun, Bright, Vibrant, cool, magical, Overwhelming attractive bewitching catching magic Love colour tones ruins
I was absolutely deluged by kids that had never seen a white person in person before. After the sunrise, when I was pretty much alone, a bus pulled up from a remote part of Java and tons of kinds poured out and started running all over the temple. All of them wanted their picture taken with me, as if I was some sort of goofy Baluga that had washed up on the temple steps. They were all very happy and fun, so I asked them to sit on the corner of Borobudur for a group shot.
Tags: Indonesia borobudur kids fun indonesian java school happy party temple children joy sunrise playing games cute innocent lovely HDR Photographer StuckInCustoms Pro Nikon Photography Trey Ratcliff Panorama details Perspective Shot Shoot Capture Images Photos Pictures Edge Perfect exposure painting Unicef Unesco
The morning fog coming off the top of the jungle trees was not like anything I had seen before. There was just enough morning light to give everything a twilight blue and paint the mountains in the distance a deeper color.
I tried something a little bit different with this photo. I was holding two flashlights to help me climb the temple in the morning. I think I got there about 5:30 AM when it was still pitch black, so the flashlights helped me find the right footholds and whatnot. Anyway, this was an extremely long exposure, so I used some of that time to "paint" the inside of the bell cages with the beams of my flashlights. Each of those bell cages held a solitary outward-facing Buddha. I'm glad I was there alone, because I'm sure I looked like a loon running around shining the flashlights in patterns to illuminate the Buddhas inside.
from the blog at www.stuckincustoms.com
Tags: Sunrise Sunset d2x Indonesia Jogjakarta Portfolio statue Buddhist buddha burobudur indonesian seasia asian heart morning fog jungle trees twilight blue mountains deep colors photo Trey temple climb early pitch black flashlights bells shining illuminate illustration fantasy artist work technique dreamy pretty surreal stunning scene overall memories shot superb serene calm blues treatment experience tones silhouette background technical visual expertise classical art modern top100 stupa chorten chedi dāgaba tope garbha reliquary mandala travel