*-)- welcome aboard *-)-
just me. my current interests and stories for the interwebs.
Being without my family or my wife stinks. Plain and simple. I love the job, but it's really bad when you have a crew of slam clickers (those who go to the hotel and don't do dinner or sightsee) and you find yourself at the hotel playing Clash of Clans for hours.
Here comes a beautiful app appropriately named "Without" by Mr. Jeremy that brought the amount of buttons pushed from 17 down to two! Awesome idea, amazing app. Check it out and share it with your loved one.
I'm totally just being facetious with the title, but in all seriousness, Instagram's newest video promoting their latest software update screams just that. Maybe I'm totally out of touch now as I'm getting older but wow. It's an interesting feature but when I send a photo to an individual, I'm not scared about it being cached or kept. I also don't use Snapchat (but yes I have it installed) but I've always felt like sharing with everyone. That's just me. If I need to send a photo to my "friends" or "family", then I just send them via iMessage. How about you?
Looks like the offer that Facebook and Google both gave Snapchat a while back is looking a little better. Oh well, as they say, hindsight is 20/20.
After sending, you’ll be able to find out who’s seen your photo or video, see who’s liked it and watch your recipients commenting in real time as the conversation unfolds.
And looks like this was washed away rather quickly as news, but Twitter coincidently released a new feature that allows pictures to be 'Direct Message'. Have you used that feature yet?
Devastation all around.
NPR photographer David Gilkey has photographed in extreme situations — from the surge in Afghanistan, to bombings in Gaza, to the tsunami in Japan, but he says nothing could have prepared him for what he saw in the village of Barangay 68 in Tacloban City, Philippines.
At first glance, there were no signs of life. You know many have died here and that their bodies are somewhere close. There is a heavy, unmistakable smell of death.
There are multiple ways to help out and donate to a relief fund as I mentioned in a previous post. Have you donated yet?
Austin Mann takes Apple's iPhone 5s, and only the iPhone 5s as his primary camera on a trip to Patagonia. Okay, he actually also brought along an iPhone 5 for comparison sake but he did leave his $6,800 Canon 1DX DSLR at home.
Now, after a full week of testing the iPhone 5S in Patagonia I'm beyond impressed with what it can do. We had our hands on two iPhone 5S's just minutes after they were released… a couple days later, we were bound for Patagonia to field to test the iPhone 5S camera against it's predecessor the iPhone 5. All the fancy new features like fingerprint scan are nice and nifty but as a travel photographer, all I really care about is what this camera can do.
He shows off a quite few impressive panoramic shots depicting the enhanced dynamic range capabilities of the iPhone 5s and this alone, in my opinion, is reason for the upgrade. Arghh... looks like the next time I'm around an Apple store, I'm trading in my iPhone 5.
via Austin Mann
This demonstration is reason enough. Created by Rishi Kaneria, this video shows you just how awesome what you can do with 120 frames per second in your pocket. Also, it matches the GoPro Hero 3.
Here's Apple's video demonstration on the iPhone 5s camera capabilities. http://youtu.be/kK0_OVn_uxA
I originally titled this article "iPhone 5s...OMG I WANT" but thought that was too crazy. It's late.
I love the Micro 4/3 platform but more importantly, the fact that my wife can easily handle the camera makes for a HUGE plus. I've also thoroughly enjoyed using my Olympus OM-D E-M5 for the past year. With that in mind, Olympus just unleashed their second OM-D body raising the bar yet again.
Continuing with the confusing naming scheme, the OM-D E-M1 is debuting along two amazing M.ZUIKO Digital ED "Pro" lenses both with constant f2.8 maximum aperture. Upgrades include the newly redesigned 16.3-megapixel micro four thirds sensor utilizing the latest TruPic VII image processing engine which allows for FAST (Frequency Acceleration Sensor Technology) Autofocusing. (sorry for that long sentence)
The technology is getting good enough that inexpensive DSLRs no longer really make sense. Once upon a time, "real" photographers would have cringed at the thought of using an electronic viewfinder, but that's just not the case any more.
via Gizmodo
update: Steve Huff just posted his first impressions. Definitely a great read!
I went to Underbelly for my ramen fix three times within a seven-day span. My wife called me obsessed yet I brought take out every single time for her. =) Some people on Yelp ridicule the broth for taste and / or variety (they only have one) and their choice of meats. Plain and simple, I enjoy it for what it is. It's ramen conceived with the chefs' persona and he made it his own. That is all. Enjoy it for what it is not for something you were thinking it would be. Norah sure did!
I haven't solved my post processing / editing workflow problem yet and keep on delaying. I've come up with reasons such as, I don't have my new MacBook Pro Retina Display w/ Haswell yet or I don't have my new iMac setup or my home cloud server isn't setup the way I want it, but nonetheless, I'm falling way behind. Yesterday when I posted a couple of images, I thought about watermarking. I know that you can use either Adobe's Lightroom or Apple's Aperture photo editing software, but because I don't have a computer to install these applications on (another excuse), I was left to find something minimal. And I'm glad that I did. I stumbled up Photobulk by Eltima Software. They are having a 20% off sale right now on the Mac App Store or you can download a free demo from their website. Takes seconds and the results were as expected. The biggest draw to me was that it was drag and drop. You can even set multiple presets and bulk edit your pictures. At the sale price of $7.99, it's a no brainer. And no, I was not paid to post this article.
http://youtu.be/uZnZnyo8qbg
Let me start off first with saying that I love my Olympus OM-D E-M5. My wife wasn't sold on full frame cameras such as the Canon 5D Mark III or Nikon due to the sheer size and weight so we ventured in the next best thing; Micro Four Thirds. The Sony NEX-7 was heavily delayed and hadn't arrived yet but it's little brother, the NEX-5N was just released. As enticing as it was, I just didn't "love" either camera nor did I care for the operating system. With a modest budget and a baby looming, I needed a camera and lens that I could quickly acquire and learn. One major hurdle was that the camera needed to have an autofocus hence eliminating the coveted Leica M9, and the available glass ecosystem had to be great. At the time, the Olympus OM-D E-M5 was proved to be the answer. I paired it with the Panasonic/Leica 25 1.4 Summilux and haven't taken it off since. Here are a few pictures that my wife and I took at the San Diego Safari Zoo the day of our daughter's first birthday.
Since then, Olympus has released two amazing micro four-thirds cameras. The E-P5 and the E-PL5 with the former being the Pen series flagship. Highly capable and pocketable depending on which lens you attach, they both make for a very portable and pleasurable experience. They have also become my recommendations to my peers that are looking to get into photography. It's a perfect starting point especially for those that want something smaller and don't want to lug around the bulk of the full frame cameras and lens combo.
Steve Huff posted an amazing and thorough review of the OM-D E-M5 which I highly recommend you check out. He also recently reviewed the amazing Panasonic 20 1.7 II lens while equipped on the E-P5 (pictured above). I guarantee, if you're getting into photography, his website is amazing start! I can't begin to tell you how much I've learned from him. Of course, I couldn't have even thought of Steve Huff as a reference without the guidance of Mr. Range Traveler himself, Gage Caudell.
I know that the title and post are redundant but it marks the day that I said the special two words, "I do" to my lovely wife. We've actually been dating for over ten years (wow time flies) but only married for three of those. Things have only gotten better and it couldn't be more perfect especially with the added bunting. Happy anniversary sweetie!
Exactly one year ago to the date and time, we welcomed my daughter into this world. Everyday since then, my wife and I have been living a truly blessed life with such a vibrant, loving, huggable, and curious little munchkin. As cliché as it sounds, I really can't believe how fast time has gone by. Happy Birthday to you Ms. Norah Renée. Momma and I can't wait to celebrate and share more life experiences with you! Here's a photo of Norah at six months pushing herself up and staring back at me. Not staged, not planned, my wife captured this wonderful moment. The photo below is also unedited.
I've also just entered the photo into the I Shot It Child Competition 2013 No 3 for kicks and giggles. So far, with my entry, I'm at number 470. Ends in five days and there are so many great photos!!! Wish us luck.
If you really want to know more about the composition and the photo, check out Jeffrey's Exif Viewer. Here are the basic details: Olympus OM-D E-M5 ISO 800 1/40 f1.4 25mm
I've been meaning to buy a Joby GorillaPod for sometime now and I finally made the decision to go ahead with the GorillaPod Hybrid. It's small enough while still providing support for smaller DSLRs weighing up to 2.2 pounds; my Olympus OM-D E-M5 weighs just under one pound without the lens so I'm hoping that it'll hold. I'll be getting it shortly and will update you with photos of my own. I mainly am looking forward to using the Pod for my video reviews and other photos of my little girl.
I snapped this photo on the 2nd of September, 15 days after she blessed us with her presence. I used my new her new Olympus OM-D E-M5 paired with a Panasonic "Leica" DG Summilux 25/f1.4 and just brushed a warmer effect on Aperture. I'm still learning the ins and out of photography again and using my new micro 4/3s camera. If you have any tips and tricks, leave a comment!
Of course this shot was inspired by none other than my friend Gage Caudell. Check out his photo titled "Our Future". It's definitely a much better composition and a wonderful shot of his little girl. The month by month progression is fantastic!
