No, it’s not a scene from Blade Runner. This is the Yan’an Interchange in Shanghai, one of the wildest on the planet. During the weekend the city turns on these blueish Tron lights underneath the highway. It wasn’t easy to get this shot. We had to pay off a security guard to let us on…
I’ve always wanted to create surreal images. I remember the first time I saw Salvador Dali’s mind-altering melting clocks. It was both out of this world but from it at the same time. It made me think in a way no other art form has. As I started to learn about different photographic genres, I came…
I really like long exposure photography. There is a small learning curve, but when you get it, you can produce some really cool effects with your images. This photo here is from a great spot in Malaysia called Penang. It’s the country’s second largest city but there are parts of it which make it feel…
Sometimes I sit in front of my computer and edit images all day. Today was one of those days. It was raining out. I put on some Groove Salad, “a nicely chilled plate of ambient/downtempo beats and grooves,” as their site says. Then drank coffee, lit some incense, and made this image. I got so…
I wanted to get to the Taj early to avoid the crowds. As soon as got in I sprinted to this one spot where I knew I could catch both the Taj and the sunrise in my frame. Even though it was a distance from the entrance, there was already a small group of photographers…
I looked out my window and saw fog rolling in from the sea. I couldn’t believe it because it was the first week of March, and fog season here is usually from May to July. I stood there wondering if it was for real, and if I would finally get the shot I’d dreamed of. I…
I came to Rajasthan to live out my own Steve McCurry fantasy, to travel to the same places and photograph the same faces that he did. So this morning I went to Dhai-Bhai Kund, a 500-year-old step well in Bundi, India. This guy was sitting nearby. I asked him if I could take a photo…
I saw photos of the Taj from a boat on the river. As the story goes, there is a guy who will take you out on his rowboat. You just have to follow the outer wall down to the water. When we got there a guy asked, “Do you want a boat ride?” It wasn’t…
Are you spending too much time editing your photos? I’d rather spend my time out shooting than in front of my computer. I use these Adobe Lightroom presets when processing my travel photographs. 19 Lightroom Presets that will help you create beautiful images and speed up your workflow. [twentytwenty] [/twentytwenty] Presets: Master Blaster +…
Ansel Adams said, “A good photograph is knowing where to stand.” Being in the right place at the right time is one of the most important aspects to creating images with impact – even more so when it comes to travel photography. In fact, photographers often see an image in their head before it happens….
Some friends told me there was this island in Korea unlike any they had seen before. They said it reminded them of something out of Jurassic Park or Lord of The Rings. I’d heard overblown comparisons before: the Hawaii of this or Santorini of that. Then the Lonely Planet included Ulleungdo in its 2012 list of…
There’s a saying that success leaves clues. One of the best ways to improve your photography skills is to study the greats. For me, and a countless number of other photography enthusiasts, Steve McCurry is a legend. He’s a National Geographic and Magnum photographer, but most people know him for one of the most iconic images…
One of Dubai’s most overused phrases according to Time Out magazine is, “It’s just like Ibiza/Vegas/Paris/New York/London here.” It’s true there’s an endless summer vibe to Dubai, like a Balearic Calvin Harris club anthem when the bass drops. For some the city is an escapist fantasy. “What happens in Dubai stays in Dubai!” And of course there…
The sound of monks chanting echoes through the forest. Birds chirp in the trees. The humming sound of cicadas lowers and rises in waves. At the end of a tree-lined trail is a stone bridge covered in white lanterns known as Paradise Bridge. It crosses over a lazy stream where water bubbles over smooth stones….
35 years ago my family moved from America to Jeju Island. We lived there for just over a year. I was six then. While we were there, my father took a bunch of photographs. But they got buried away in a pile of boxes, stored along with all the other stuff families collect.
In 1979, Iranian militants seized the US Embassy in Tehran, the Russians invaded Afghanistan, and Margaret Thatcher became the new Prime Minister of England. The album of the year was Saturday Night Fever by the Bee Gees. The song of the year was Just The Way You Are by Billy Joel. Apocalypse Now and The…
My exhibition (June 15 – July 28, 2013) will kick off Saturday the 15th at 5pm. It will be held at the IUM Art Space Gallery in Ulsan, Korea. I’ve posted details and directions below. Admission is free. Hope you can make it!
Nothing lights up Busan like the sea of lotus lanterns at Samgwang Temple on Buddha’s Birthday.
An impoverished Korean neighborhood looks for salvation in art. Rows of brightly colored ceramic birds with smiling human heads perch along the edge of a roof, welcoming passers-by. Silver dragonflies the size of people cling to a school wall. Three metal flowers resembling dandelions sprout from a sidewalk and tower as high as a two-story…
After posting a photo of looking down from the 80th floor of the Zenith Tower, I got more questions about how I got on the roof. So, I thought I’d talk a little more about rooftopping in Korea. According to the Urban Dictionary, “Rooftopping, also known as Buildering is an off shoot of urban exploring or urbex, which…
When I first visited Beijing in 1993 many of the locals looked at me like I was from another planet. Okay, I’m 2 meters tall so that might have had something to do with it. However, it still seemed as if they had never seen a foreigner before. And if I stopped to talk to…