Destination Luxury has been scouring the internet for beautiful images and came across the stunning portfolio of Trey Ratcliff. These images are shot in a special HDR style which bring out the vivid colors and contrast of each image.  Each shot is mesmerizing and evokes a distinct emotion.  Part of living a luxury life is experiencing the beauty of nature and Ratcliff does a stunning job capturing this beauty.  Enjoy these 50 stunning images of places you need to experience in the world.
Deep in the Guangxi Province of China

Downtown Beijing After Rain Just about the only time you get a break from the smog is after a good rain. I’m sure all that nonsense just ends up down on the ground and soaks slowly into the groundwater.Anyhoo, this is the CBD (Central Business District) of Beijing. And yes, I took this with the Sony NEX-7. I’m working on that other piece I mentioned above and will put it up on the blog soon!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Bamboo Forest While exploring Kyoto, I eventually found my way to this fanciful bamboo forest. There had been a light rain most of the morning and everything was quite lovely. The rain does strange things as it moves its way through these sorts of trees. I waited and waited, and that was nice too. In the early afternoon, the rain stopped while the sun peeked through the top. It shone down while the earlier rain misted down from the tops of the trees.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Underearth

Moonrise Kingdom This is one of my favorite new pieces from this year! I just shot it a few days ago.It was shot waaaay after the sun went down in Big Sur, California. This is a crazy waterfall that pours off onto the beach. You can’t see it from the road, and it requires a short walk. I found it thanks to Stuck On Earth, although I am sure other locals have known about this semi-secret place forever! You can go here too… it’s not terribly difficult. It’s called “McWay Falls” and it’s beautiful any time of the day.Also, btw, I’d like to thank those of you that have been ordering more prints recently — I am honored! :) You can always click just below the photo to check sizes and prices to find something to fit your budget. Thanks again!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

The Long Road to New Zealand This is one of countless beautiful roads that crisscross New Zealand. I'm afraid I've forgotten exactly where I was when I took this photo! I know that is very lame, but I bet people around here can help me pinpoint the area.As far as the camera settings, this is the kind of shot you can get with something called "compression," a method where you use a zoom lens and zoom in quite far. It takes images in the distance and makes them larger than life.- Trey RatcliffRead more here at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Mysterious Rock of Wonder The day in Death Valley was about 115 F (46 C). It wasn’t a dry heat either… there has been a lot of humidity here and there is flash lightning in the day and night. This location here took a lot of time, effort, and 4×4 to find. I took five gallons of water, a map, and some warnings from the place that rented the jeep that this area was inaccessible because of recent road wash-outs from rivers. Well, they were right! So getting the 4×4 over and through the washed out rivers took many more hours than expected. I only suffered one minor injury when my head slammed into the rollbar during a clumsy maneuver. But after I finally found this place I’ve always wanted to visit, it was late afternoon with plenty of time to hike around before night fell.I look forward to your theories (from the boring to the surreal) of what makes these rocks move across the playa on their own!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the entire post over at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Walking Home

Aurora Australis Galactica

Nightlights
The Chinese Technopolis How boring does the "Beijing Planning Museum" sound? Very!How surprisingly awesome is the "Beijing Planning Museum"? Very!The museum features a few giant city-models. And I mean GIANT! You can get a sense of the size of this thing by looking at the waist-height red rope around the outside. Not only is this a fully detailed model, but each of the buildings light up individually in a cascade, corresponding to a dreamy Chinese voiceover. The voice describes each sector of the city and what makes it unique. There is music playing in the background that I could have sworn was the same music as "Jurassic Park", so that was a very strange addition to the scene.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Lijiang at Night This is the old town of Lijiang, China, where I spent the week with Tom Anderson (the MySpace guy). I think I mentioned him before. Anyway, we got to be friends over the past several months, and we ended up spending a week together here in the south of China.Tom had first been here many years ago when he was setting up the MySpace office in Beijing. He had great memories, and he thought it would be great for a big return now that he is getting more into photography. So, it was definitely a week full of non-stop photography action.One late night after the sun had set, we weaved through the old streets until we found this place. Looking up, I knew it would be a wonderful place to take a photo, so I set up for this one.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Secret Crystal Lake<br /><br /><br /> This remote lake was so icy cold. You would think it's about 33 degrees or something, right? It felt like absolute zero. I dropped a little piece of my tripod in here and my hand almost froze off trying to retrieve it.In the distance you can see where the glacier comes into contact with the glassy lake; it gives a sense of the epic scale here.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
-The Gentle Path to the Beyond-</p><br /><br /> <p>The little train that carried me into Hakone started winding through misty mountains. The trees were thick and a fog was rolling in. I had a feeling that it would stay wet, moody, and fairly perfect. It had that heaviness that made you feel like it would remain like that for a few days, and it did.Before I get on train rides, I have a wonderful but dangerous habit of loading up with pastries. Train stations seem to have nice little selections of all sorts of foreign twists on the usual subjects. And, since I consider myself an explorer, I thought it would be good to get a TON of pastries and try them all. It's very nice... sitting there... looking out the train window at a new land... rain falling... eating pastries... (and I'm only a little ashamed to say that, upon arrival, my pastry bag was empty.)

Hong Kong from the Peak on a Summer's Night If you want to see how I made this (and how you can too!), visit my HDR Tutorial. I hope it gives you some new tricks!I had a long day waking up at 5 AM to take a series of subways and trains up to Shenzen for some meetings. I had a Chinese VISA, which you don't need to get into Hong Kong, but I had to use to cross the official Chinese border after getting off the train. I didn't realize that it was a one-time use VISA, and I had to go to Shanghai the next day. This caused a lot of problems with the Chinese officials, a body of government with which I do not enjoy causing problems.Anyway, after I got back to Hong Kong after a day in Shenzen, I was hot and sweaty and in the sort of meeting clothes that aren't great for being hot and sweaty in. But, everything about Hong Kong was still awesome and I had too look hard for things to complain about. The sun was setting, and I made it up to The Peak just in time for a shot.This was a 5-exposure HDR shot at 100 ISO, and, of course, a sturdy tripod to get all the lights as steady as possible.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Secret Underground Caves
The Infinity of China
The Space Between
The Sprawling City I’m experimenting with this style of city photography. I like this idea of reflection that is imperfect. I shot this from the top of one of the only television stations in Beijing. It was a perfect night without any wind. There was a lot of pollution, so the warm city lights cast a red glow into the ether…- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Treetop Temple Protects Kyoto I'm just finishing up almost two weeks in Japan, and it has been an amazing trip! Usually I try not to start posting shots until the trip is at its close, and this is the first.While there, I spent time all over the country. I got a rail pass and just jumped on the bullet train to take me from one remote spot to another. I ended up with a few days in Tokyo to do my best to capture the city. I'll be posting photos from the trip throughout the next few weeks, months, and years, as usual. I hope this is a new line of photographs that will be interesting to you.Photographed here is the Kiyomizu-dera temple in Kyoto. The city is known for its traditional Japanese architecture, slower-paced life, natural beauty, graceful geishas, and zen peacefulness. I probably could have stayed in Kyoto capturing scenes the entire trip. I remained here until the sky turned black, and then I headed back down some winding streets to find an old small restaurant where the food was mysterious and every course was served with a gentle bow.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Impossible Mountains The mountain is very spiky and narrow, and it’s embedded in a very rough patch of peaks.So I did my best to capture it in context. There are great super-hairy horses everywhere, and four of them were playing on one side of the river. I set up… and waited…waited…waited…. for them to get in the right spot and then finally took a photo.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Pandora from Avatar Getting to this place isn't easy, either. I wish I could tell you how tired my legs were and still are. I added about another 1/4 inch of calf muscle in the last week. Climbing these spires with all my equipment is not cake walk. I climbed to the top three times in my hikes, and my first day had about 10km of unforgettable pain. 10km is one thing. 10km that involves these kinds of verticals is another thing.I also climbed one of these at night. Alone. That was exciting. I don't know if exciting is quite the right word for it, but it certainly was an experience (that word said with French accent). On the way down, I ran into a big snake that would have liked nothing more than to rock my face off. I'll have a full story on that in a later post from this area.- Trey RatcliffRead the rest here at stuckincustoms.com.
Peaceful Evening in Wanaka I had a peaceful evening in Wanaka. There is this tree that sits out in the middle of the lake. It’s so unusual. I love the way it reflects back on itself in the smooth water. I was by myself, listening to music on my iPod, and just watching the water as it would calm down then get excited, then calm down again. I swapped out lenses a few times and kept moving around to admire it from different angles. This one was one of my favorites. - Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Across the Crystal Lake
The seedy part of Tokyo Well, it’s not that seedy. I mean, it’s not dangerous. Maybe if you stay till the wee hours of the morning things might get crazy, but I don’t think so. Despite all the houses of ill-repute, there were still a ton of people walking around… all types, all ages, and everything in between.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Navigating Across the Rivers of New Zealand in the Morning Mists I woke up in the morning before everyone else to go on an extended scouting mission. I arrived around this river just as the morning mists were lifting enough to give me a view into the distance.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.


Exploring the Medieval Mont Saint Michel I think if you ever go to Mont Saint Michel that you should really try to stay up on the island. Hotel space is extremely limited, but it gives you the chance to walk around the old walled city deep into the night. All the tourists are gone, and the only people around are the supposed 46 people that live there, according to Wikipedia.Here, an old man walks home after a day at work.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Driving Along the Lakes of New Zealand When I drive along the countless electric-blue lakes of New Zealand, I keep thinking, “This reminds me of Switzerland!” But this is actually a strange thing to think, because I’ve only spent a short amount of time in Switzerland. Really, you can make the case that New Zealand is more like Switzerland than Switzerland. This is a very confusing thing to say, but maybe you know what I mean.For this one, I’m afraid I did have to jump a fence. But this lake near Wanaka (Lake Hawea) is pretty much completely devoid of houses or any lake-side habitation. You can drive for hours and never see anybody or anything. I’m not big on jumping fences, but it seemed pretty harmless here… and, besides, I just HAD to take a photo of this tree! You know how it is…- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Infinity of Tokyo
The Lonely Trinity It must gave been a five hour drive from one end of Montana to another. After just a bit, you get mesmerized by the wheat fields.Driving along, I always start to play games with the clouds and the objects on the horizon. This might sound strange, but I do enjoy seeing them in Euclidean geometric formations... so much so, that I had to jump out of the car to capture this.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Weather Station<br /><br /><br /> I don't think I could exactly geo-locate this photo if I had to. But, believe me - it's in the middle of nowhere.</p><br /><br /> <p>I'm not completely sure, but I think this is one of the many remote weather stations scattered around Iceland. They are these perfect little triangular things that sit there, as lonely as can be.</p><br /><br /> <p>- Trey Ratcliff</p><br /><br /> <p>Read more (and some Black Friday love) here at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Prison of Marie Antoinette What an amazing (and somewhat eerie) place this is! You all have heard of the famous Marie Antoinette and know of her fate... but maybe you've never seen her lavish French prison? It's called the Conciergerie, and now it's on my must-visit list! I got the hot tip from one of my workshop students in London... an unexpected find. Okay... I'll be quiet and just let you enjoy this photo.P.S. This was made from a single RAW... it was handheld. - Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Lava in the streets of Tokyo I had a few people look at this photo and tell me that it looks like lava is flowing down the streets. I never thought of that, but now that I see it, I can’t un-see it! If only we could see Mt. Fuji in the distance, then I could photoshop in a little bit of a volcanic eruption to make the whole effect complete!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Approaching Mount Fuji from the Old Village What a perfect place this is!I’ve been to Japan many times, but I never had the chance to visit Mt. Fuji! This time, Tom and I made a point to do it, and this was one of our fist stops. You can see much more about it in the video above!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Bryce Canyon National Park
Finding Dinner in the Alleys of Kyoto After exploring an area (and era!) of ancient temples in Kyoto, I was absolutely starving. I tend to get in a "shooting mode" where I do not undertake basic human necessities like eating, sleeping, and making regular bathroom breaks. In fact, Nikon makes this great set of diapers you should try. They're Japanese so there are little buttons that dispose of everything and leave you fresh as a daisy. Anyway, after shooting, I headed down into the old part of Kyoto to find a traditional Japanese dinner. I sat there for a long time, enjoying myself thoroughly.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Lower Antelope Canyon
The Road to Mount Cook along Lake Pukaki These lenticular clouds are pretty rare — but not on the south island of New Zealand! This is called the land of the long white cloud… I’m not sure of that means these lenticular clouds or not. Maybe a smart reader here on the blog can tell me!Anyway, I do love this photo… I think it is one of my new favorites…- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Electric LA at Night I took this a few nights ago in Los Angeles. I’ve always wanted to get a good shot of the downtown action, and Stuck On Earth helped me get it.Luckily, I saw a few hints of this kind of a shot from other photographers that had geotagged shots in the area. I went out there with Tom Anderson and we spent a few hours exploring the area. We got countless great shots and this was the first one I processed.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Jack’s Point in Queenstown I went out with Eden Brackstone the other night to take some photos. After he decided to wade callously into this crystal clear water and ruin the placid reflection, I had about five minutes to contemplate life while the ripples settled down. And then I took this one!Man, I do love this Sony NEX-7. And no, Sony didn’t pay me to say that or give me my camera…- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

A Sunset Over Central Otago
Sleeping In Driving from Reykjavik to Isafjordur is just about one of the longest possible drives you can make in Iceland in a day if you have a reasonable level of sanity. There comes a point when you feel like you're getting close, when you start weaving in and out of fjords. They are huge and each one seems to take over half an hour to drive around.In the midst of one of these, I espied an old house up the side of one of the valleys. It was partially obscured by a hand-built stone wall. I stopped the car and started hiking up the side of the valley to investigate. Once I got up there, I began to think that maybe this place was actually occupied! There were new lace curtains hanging in the windows and everything seemed to be in pretty good repair.So then, I felt like I was intruding, and not just exploring an old ruin. But, it was 3 AM in the morning, and I figured if anyone was indeed inside, they must be fast asleep. So I set up for a shot and then made a hasty elf-like egress.Read more here at the Stuck in Customs blog.
An Amazing Night in Bora Bora
Gateway to the Temple of Heaven I had an amazing opportunity in Beijing to get private access into the Temple of Heaven one morning. Well-costumed officials from the government met me before sunrise just outside the gates, where hundreds of early risers were already outside doing exercises and preparing for a national holiday. The nice men pulled out ornate keys and opened up the private doors to let me in. I had about 90 minutes to take photos of everything as the sun rose. It was a great day of shooting!This is one of those places that has many perfect lines, shapes, and other interesting angles for composing photos. It's almost impossible to take a bad shot! There were nice clouds and nice light on this cool morning, so I considered myself very lucky in many regards!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Horseshoe Bend

Awesome Car In Tokyo
On Camel, Across the Sahara Desert

Romantic Evening in the Alps<br /><br /><br /> The best time of day. (To me.)When you are in a new place and there are too many things to see and do. There are too many places to eat and explore. There are too many streets and alleys to visit and photograph. This is a good thing. It is a nice feeling of being overwhelmed by it all. So, in these times, there are no bad decisions. Just go whichever way the night takes you... get lost and find pretty little things.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this entry at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Chicago Thaws into Spring
Farewell India I had a truly wonderful time in India and I can't wait to return. After spending most of the day exploring the Taj Mahal, I found a car to take me across the river. The bridge was over 100 years old and crowded with every type of locomotion - from donkey to pull cart to bike. After working my way down to the river, I found I could not quite get low enough to take the photo I wanted. So, reluctantly, I took my camera off my tripod and buried it in the mud, about half an inch above the water. I spent all night in the bathroom saying I was sorry to the camera... cleaning her up back into her old self once again.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Under the Basilica of St. Thérèse, Lisieux After the adventure with so many great people in Paris, Tom and I rented a car and started a little road trip through Normandy. We ended up here in Lesieux, thanks to sweet sweet Stuck On Earth. The cathedral is quite amazing, and, if you go, don’t forget to go look at this extremely ornate chapel underneath the larger one. The intricate tilework must have taken ages…- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The River Runs Through the Andes Getting to this position was not as long a hike as the others around Patagonia, but it was no cakewalk! It was one of those strange river-rock strewn areas where the rocks seemed to be the perfect size for spraining your ankles. I had the tripod extended to act like a walking stick, although it's not the most handy walking stick with a giant Nikon on one end of it!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Reflections on the Eiffel Tower Isn't it romantic? What could be more perfect than a beautiful sunset here in Paris?There was a big storm all day long, but I could see the clouds were beginning to break up a little to the west, and I knew there was a possibility the sun would dip into an opening beneath the heavy clouds. So, with that intense possibility, I headed over to the Eiffel Tower area hoping the light would turn out right...I also made a behind-the-scenes video. Since you guys have been so nice over on Google+, I'll share that video exclusively there first, so be sure to stay tuned... I'm still editing the thing together!- Trey RatcliffRead more here at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Poems in the Moonlight in Milford Sound
The Secret Passageway to the Treasure After the crowds of Angkor Wat, it was nice to go find a remote temple in the jungle and be alone. This temple laid under the jungle, completely undiscovered for centuries. The hallway and mysterious chambers seemed to go on forever.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Ducks and Tree and Snow
The Beautiful Space Shuttle Blooms Inside a Cloud As soon as the Endeavour worm-holed into the cloud layer, the strange staccato-bass of torn air came skipping across the water into the press area. The sound was not at all what I expected, but it was awesome dot com. - Trey Ratcliff Read more here at stuckincustoms.com.

Unbelievable Colors in Queenstown and Arrowtown in the Autumn

Autumn in New York at Sunset Despite my kind Tweet to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, they would not let me take a tripod on the day I arrived. So, I was forced to do a hand-held HDR shot from the roof at sunset. It was a beautiful night across central park, and I did my best to hold it steady.In Photomatix, I did choose to "Auto-Align" images. It did a pretty good job. I always suggest that you check "Do Not Crop", so that you can line everything up easier later in Photoshop. When it auto-crops, it resets the 0,0 x/y origin and will mix up the alignment later on for final cleanup.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Mighty Glaciers of Alaska
Mountains Forever During the Yosemite PhotoWalk, the sky was beyond belief for the first few nights. The second half of the trip had fairly mundane skies. So, I was happy I went out there and got a lot of shots in the beginning!I’m often optimistic about the “future” of the trip, assuming that the sunsets will always get better and better. This rarely is the case, so I don’t know why I’m consistently optimistic about the prospects.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Epic Harbor of Buenos Aires<br /><br /><br /> I think I should not have been here.</p><br /><br /> <p>After I was roaming around this area, a few of my Argentine friends told me it was quite dangerous. There is a popular area nearby that is much safer, but I heard it attracts the criminal element... and they are more likely to pick off the weak wildebeests on the outskirts... this was definitely the outskirts.</p><br /><br /> <p>- Trey Ratcliff</p><br /><br /> <p>Read more here at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Moeraki Boulders at Sunrise A group of people from NZIPP went out for an overnight road trip to this amazing place on the east coast. I’ve always wanted to shoot them at sunrise, but it kind of requires you to sleep pretty close by. I live in Queenstown, which is about 3-4 hours away, and that would mean a 2 AM wake-up time in the summer!One of the tricky things about these boulders is ensuring you arrive at low-tide. At high-tide, they are almost totally inaccessible… so timing a sunrise with a low-tide takes a bit of planning. Thanks to Jason Law and NZIPP for the nice invite!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
I've Made it to the Edge of the World This was shot in the final hours of daylight, near the southern tip of Argentina and the edge of Chile, just a glacier's throw from Antarctica.In the morning, we woke up at 4:30 AM in -7 degree cold. I hardly slept 30 minutes the whole night. I was in a tiny 2-man tent with Yuri. The noxious fumes of our tiny prison reminded me, if you will, of the inside of a tauntaun that had spent its life consuming cognac and cigarettes. Furthermore, his snore had the sonorous bass and carrying power of a humpback whale with none of the beauty.I started on one edge of these rugged peaks and moved around to this side, to get the view from the glacial lake. The spiked mountains there are Cerro Torre, and I was very lucky to see them without cloud cover. I understand they are covered up 90% of the time, so to have crystal clear air was fortunate. The glacier there, which presents on the right but really goes back behind many more mountains, is called "glacier grande".I did a lot of other things this day too, including a 45-minute 1500-foot ascent up an icy trail that was not really a trail at all. Dima and Vulva (Vulva is one of the other Russian gentleman who joined us on the trip -- it's hard to pronounce with a strange V-W sound, but he seemed to respond when I called him "Vulva") went up the mountain with me in the pitch black, using only headlamps. I'll have more on that story later because it was pretty sketchy. But, alas, we were able to see Fitz Roy as the sun turned the tips pink. After that, we began the long additional 10km hike that brought us to this location. I stayed here watching icebergs float by until the last morsels of dusk remained.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Running Wild, Across the Meadow I was just returning from one little adventure and then I stumbled onto another one! Every day, about this time, a few dozen horses from the ranch run free across the meadow to graze in distant pastures. They stay cooped up inside the corral for most of the day, so they love the chance to run free. The cowboy rides behind them, cracking his whip. It echoes through the valley and everything seems right in the world. - Trey Ratcliff Read the rest (and help me pick my new phone!) here.
Autumn in Queenstown, Spearglass Flats Road
The Sorbonne<br /><br /><br /> My friend (and website designer), Fabien Barral, met my wife and I in Paris to take us out to dinner. We left the hotel, and about 30 seconds out the door, we came across this street side cafe right by the Sorbonne, the famous university. Luckily, I think both of them were used to this behavior and chatted pleasantly while I snapped away.</p><br /><br /> <p>I worked on this photo all day. People often ask me how long I work on photos. If you've seen the HDR Video Tutorial here on the site, you know it takes me anywhere from 15 minutes to three hours. This one was on the long side for sure... It was tough work, but I am happy with the results.</p><br /><br /> <p>- Trey Ratcliff</p><br /><br /> <p>Read the rest here at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Rickshaws at the Drum Tower I've visited Gǔlóu many times and never taken a photo.  I just couldn't figure one out.And then, this most recent trip, I walked around the tower several times until I finally got an idea.This is the giant drum tower built about a thousand years ago by Kublai Khan.  An enormous drum rests in front, and it was beat rhythmically to announce meetings. The temple sits in the Inner City to the north of Di'anmen Street.- Trey RatcliffRead more, including a preview of an exciting announcement, here at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Way Above Queenstown
Exploring the Hobbit Holes
The Pond and the Sunset Stormclouds I had a wonderful evening with Eden Brackstone, even though he uses a Canon. I can overlook these trifle matters, but I do not forget them lightly.We were in Gibbston, New Zealand, about 20 minutes from Queenstown. After a wonderful dinner with his delightful family, I popped out onto his farm to shoot some HDR. He started recording video on his aforementioned Canon-thing, and put together the little dealio at the link below. Enjoy!Here is the final photo that was taken just before I we started recording the video.- Trey RatcliffSee the video here at Trey Ratcliff's travel photography blog, Stuck in Customs.
The Beauty of Zion
Driving Into the Far Snowy Hills
Tiny House in France<br /><br /><br /> So, Versailles is a monstrously huge place. I'm not sure how you could see everything in a day. I chose to concentrate this trip out in the royal gardens, and a confusing walk got me into this place. It's not exactly secret, but I didn't know about it until I walked up upon it!</p><br /><br /> <p>It is called "The Hameau de la Reine", and is generally known as the Queen's Hamlet. It was built for Marie Antoinette between 1785 and 1792. It is lovely, and this is only one of the many little places I captured there... more soon!</p><br /><br /> <p>- Trey Ratcliff</p><br /><br /> <p>Read the rest of this entry here at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Deep into the Jungle Mists I was many kilometers down this river away from the town. I got off my little boat to do some hiking up through the hills through the jungle. It was dense. Even when there was a little opening, it still felt like leaves and vines were pressing in on me. On occasion, I would see a wider break that let me see into the mysterious beyond.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Beijing From Above
Alone, In Iceland I went over a high mountain pass that connects one remote part of the country into another. There’s always ice and snow up here. Well, really, it’s mostly ice and very little snow.This little stone and wood framed home stood desperately alone.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Hobbiton in the Morning

Edna
The Ever-Changing Mountains
Queenstown Gardens In The Autumn
La Défense de la Matrix

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