Where is Ben?

Back from Dubai

I started my Dubai trip with an adventure in the desert. We took a Toyota Land Cruiser into the dunes with a group of about forty vehicles. We power slided across dunes and went down hills that were so steep that I thought the back tires might come off the ground in the process.

Here's the view from the edge of the dunes.

Once we were done cruising around the dunes, we headed to a private desert camp where we enjoyed a nice dinner buffet.

Live entertainment included a belly dancer (the image above should show up as an animation if all goes as planned).

The day after exploring the desert, we paid a visit to the markets. You could buy just about any brand of watch or handbag (all fake). The vendors were more than happy to have their photos taken, like the one above who had a huge collection of watches.

Interesting characters greeted us while exploring the gold market. I bought a bottle of water from this gentleman who is posing next to David Nightingale from Chromasia.

Here's an example of the gold that was for sale at the market.

Back at the hotel I had some fun light painting Chris and Jaclyn from cubangroove.com who happened to be staying at the same hotel.

After speaking at the Gulf Photo Plus conference, I headed to Abu Dhabi to photograph the grand mosque with my friend Charlie Borland. On the way there, our cab driver took the wrong exit and decided to back up and cut across the two-lane exit to get back to the freeway. That's when we got t-boned by a small Toyota. The drivers door was smashed in and we were all shaken. The driver of the other car was taken away in an ambulance. This happened within view of the grand mosque and we eventually flagged down another cab and made it to out destination.

Here's an other all shot of the mosque that is a composite of about 35 photographs.

The interior was amazingly beautiful... those little blue specks on the left are normal-sized people.

After returning to Dubai, I looked into using  blogger as a possible replacement for the service I use to host this blog, but had little luck since the site didn't appear in English.

Since returning to the states, I've been visiting friends in San Diego and will be heading North starting tomorrow morning. I'll be making a stop at Vintage Vacations to talk to Craig about the possibility of outfitting a 1940's bus was a new interior. That's just a little research related to a crazy idea I have. I haven't acted on anything yet... I'm still in the research phase. I should end my day somewhere near Los Osos, California which is where I'll be teaching next week.

Lightpainted Salsa Dancers

I took the Photograph above at my hotel in Dubai. That's Chris and Jaclyn from cubangroove.com who are three time World Salsa Champions. I met them while enjoying a beer in the bar at the hotel I'm staying at here in Dubai. After showing them some of my photos, we decided to do a quick photo shoot at the rooftop bar.

The only light source in the shot is a simple flashlight. I opened the shutter and started painting them with light. The white streaks indicate where I had the flashlight pointed at the camera.

Exploring Dubai

I've made it to Dubai after crossing eleven time zones and spending over 20 hours in flight.

Today I went on a jeep trip through the sand dunes, rode a camel and had dinner in the desert along with a belly dancer.

The shot below is my buddy Charlie having a beer.

Yes, I know that I've been using my fisheye lens quite a bit lately. Both of these photos were taken at ISO 3200 on my Canon 5D.

Digital Fine Art Nude Class

I have a Digital Fine Art Nudes class coming up at the Lepp Institute on May 12-16. This will be a great combination of theory (how to think about capturing a 3D subject in a 2D medium), shooting (both studio, outdoors, under natural and artificial lighting) and Photoshop (how to enhance your results to bring them to the next level). You'll learn how to interact with the models, how to make sure the lighting is flattering, how to pose them for dramatic effect and special techniques for making sure you end up with an image worth framing. I'm really excited about the class since this has been a passion of mine since I started college.

We need a few more signups to make this class a reality, so please let anyone you know that is interested in the subject matter know about the class (I'd really appreciate it). You can see some examples of my nudes after the jump (if you're offended by nudity, please don't click). I have many other examples that I am not allowed to show on-line since the women pictured don't want to be able to be recognized. This class is about fine art nudes, not anything raunchy.

Heading to Dubai

I'll be flying out to Dubai tomorrow morning and will be back in just under two weeks. I'll be speaking at an event called Gulf Photo Plus. This should be a fun trip because, unlike last year, this time around I have at least three full days off to explore (last year I only had a half of a day). There will also be a bunch of friends at the event, so it should make for a grand time.

The photo above was from last years visit to Dubai.

Tucson, AZ to San Diego, CA

I drove the bus to Mexicali, CA yesterday and then continued on to the outskirts of San Diego today. I really should give myself more time between international trips since it doesn't look like I'll get around to doing simple things like laundry this time around.

Back to Quito, Ecuador

I've made it back to Quito after spending about a week exploring the Galapagos Islands. I had a great time and shot many gigabytes of photographs. I'll be in Quito for another day before heading to Orlando for a night and then Phoenix for a night before jumping in the bus and heading toward San Diego, which is where I'll fly out of for my next international adventure.

The photograph above was taken with my Canon 15mm fisheye lens. It's a bracket of three shots that were shot hand-held and merged into an HDR image (as described in my HDR DVD).

I'll be marking all my blog photographs with obvious copyright notices since people have been steeling the images and using them without crediting me or linking back to this site.

Lazy Blogger Update

Since my last post, I've driven the bus to Tucson, AZ. I then drove my Jeep to Phoenix and shot an abandoned mine with my buddy Jim and looked into a 1950's bus as possible future vehicle (it's just research, I haven't made any decisions or changes yet).

I just finished speaking at PhotoshopWorld in Orlando and I'm now exploring Quito, which is the capital of Ecuador. I'll be spending a few days here before exploring the Galapagos Islands with a group of photographers.

When I return, I'll have about a week to get the bus to San Diego before I fly out to Dubai for a while.

The image above is a shot of the type of bus I looked at in Phoenix (yes, it's the same kind that was used in the movie RV). I'm considering having one restored and using it to promote a future book on Route 66. It's just a dream at the moment and would take a lot more research before I'd know it things would work out.

Austin, TX to El Paso, TX

This morning I met up with Trey Ratcliff from stuckincustoms.com. He travels the globe as part of his work for a computer gaming company. He mainly shoots HDR and posts an image almost every day on his blog. We had a great time chatting about international travel, HDR and photography in general.

I also drove about 576 miles today and made it to the outskirts of El Paso. I plan to continue on tomorrow and want to end up in Phoenix, AZ by the end of they day.

New Orleans, LA to Ft. Worth, TX

Today, I drove to Ft. Worth, TX where I will have a brake job done on the bus. I will then drive to Austin Monday night. I had a great time in New Orleans and now need to buckle down and get some work done.

What to Shoot in South Dakota: Dakotagraph

If you ever plan to visit South Dakota, be sure to visit the Dakotagaph web site before you leave. This is the web site of Chad Coppess who has been the senior photographer for the South Dakota Department of Tourism since 1993. His web site describes the best time of year to shoot different subject matter and gives you all sorts of useful tips for shooting in South Dakota. Go take a look... I think you'll be impressed by the depth of his posts.

I met Chad when he took one of my workshops last year.

Another Before/After HDR image

Here's another before/after example. The image above is my final version that is ready to be printed large while the photo below is the original version I posted on this blog.

FYI: The techniques I used to create this type of image are covered in my HDR DVD.

Exploring New Orleans, LA

I've settled in New Orleans and plan to stay here for a full week. I'm parked within walking distance of French Quarter and have found many interesting potential shooting locations.

I've been spending a good amount of my time refining my Route 66 images and I now have twelve that are ready to be printed at 24x36" Above is one example of an image ready to be printed big. I'm 1/3 of the way to my goal of having 35 images ready for a gallery show.

The version below is the unrefined version that I originally posted on this blog.

Orlando, FL to Mobile, AL

Today I drove about 495.7 miles and will spend the night in Mobile, AL. Tomorrow I plan to continue on to New Orleans, LA. I might spend a few days in that area before heading toward Texas. Let me know if you have any suggestions for what to explore on this journey.

Venturing North

I've started to head North and am planted in Orlando for a few days. I think I'm going to drive towards Texas and then continue on to California (I'll drive down the East coast in the fall). I should be in Austin by March 26th.

The photograph above was taken along Route 66 in Texas. I found this abandoned house in the middle of nowhere.

Featured in Double Exposure

I'm featured in this month's DoubleExposure Images that Inspire feature.

Exploring Phoenix, AZ

I'll be presenting my Photoshop for Photographers seminar in Phoenix today. I'll then get tempted by other bus possibilities at a place called Desert West Coach before spending tomorrow shooting an abandoned mine with my buddy Jim.

I'm thinking about heading up the East coast in a few weeks... possibly making it all the way to Maine. Let me know if you can think of any essential stops on my way. Especially unusual subject matter to shoot.

The image above was created my Regina in my office as a promo for this web site. I'll be using it when I speak at events like the one I'm teaching today.

Exploring West Coast of Florida

I had a great time on my first cruise and am now near Ft. Myers, FL. I'm exploring the area with Lewis Kemper, Adam Jones and Curt (I can never remember your last name). We'll be shooting the Venice Rookery, Sannibel Island, Corkscrew Swamp and more before I fly out to present my Photoshop for Photographers seminar in Phoenix. I won't even return to the bus to refresh my luggage before I get back from those two adventures.

The photograph above was captured on Grand Turk during the cruise. It's a single raw capture adjusted in Adobe Camera Raw... nothing fancy.

Caribbean Cruise Starts Today!

I'm heading out on a Caribbean cruise starting today. My itinerary includes:

Sun: at sea
Mon: Grant Turk
Tue: San Juan
Wed: St. Thomas
Thur: at sea
Fri: Half Moon Cay

I'll be speaking at the Photoshop Fling 5 during this cruise.

Route 66 Poster #3

Here's one more poster version from my Route 66 series. This image received a great response when I unveiled it as a large print during Fotofusion 2008 in Florida.

Severe Weather in My Area

Here's what's going on right now. The red boxes are tornado warnings and the red outlines around stuff are tornado watch areas. That curvy shape is the lake I'm parked on the edge of... I'm located near Pahokee on the map. The white lines indicate severe storms and their expected path.

Of course the tornado watch doesn't end until 7am, which makes for a difficult night since I'll move from the bus to a solid building the second a tornado warning is issued closer to my location. There is a solid place I can go that's only a 60 second drive away.

In trying to keep up with things, I've found the following two web sites to be the best:

Weather warnings list auto-updated every two minutes:
http://kamala.cod.edu/svr/

The weather map shown above (just make sure you turn on the Severe setting at the top of the map), so you can see where tornado warnings are):
http://www.wunderground.com/radar/